The Journey of 1000 Miles

From Sugardoodle.net, author: Mary Lou Anderson (changes made from the original idea to be used as a FHE lesson)

Preparation:
2 boxes of toothpicks (500in each box)
Map of the US
Pictures of Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, the pioneer trail, ect.

Song:
"Pioneer Children"

Lesson:
Begin the lesson by asking each child how far they’d ever walked in one day. We then determined how far a mile was by thinking of the distance between 2 familiar businesses in our town. Looking at the US map we pinpointed Nauvoo, Winter Quarters and Salt Lake. I asked them to make a "Pioneer Trail" all around the room using the toothpicks, each representing one mile, remembering that the Pioneers did not necessarily travel in a straight line as they went.

As they worked I began asking some thought provoking questions similar to the following:
• How long would it take YOU to walk 1000 miles if you walked just 2 miles every day?
• Do you like to sleep in your own bed every night? Do you think the pioneer children liked sleeping somewhere different every night?
• What kind of shoes do you think the children wore?
• If there were 10 people in your family and this is how big your wagon was, how often do you think you would get to ride rather than walk? What was in the wagon?
• What do you think they ate for dinner? Where did they get the food? What do you think would happen if the children didn’t like what was served?
• Would you like to wear the same clothes over and over?

Our children counted the toothpicks and mark off each "hundred miles". They soon realized that the pioneer children really did walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk……Since they didn’t want to stop until all 1000 toothpicks were in place.

Treat:
Home made bread and jelly.