A Step Back in Time - Prairie Ecology Bus
Participants will experience what life was like for the pioneer children, who lived on the prairies of Southwest Minnesota. They will play pioneer games, do pioneer crafts, and learn about customs. This program will tie in with our summer programs, as we plan on offering a series of programs on the Polish who settled near Ivanhoe in the late 1800's.
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Participants will gain a greater understanding of how settlers to our area lived in the late 1800's. Along with the challenges they faced, they will also realized pioneers also had time for a little fun. Participants will gain a greater understanding of what it took for Southwest Minnesota to become "settled", and how the Pioneers still influence our lives today. Participants will see the library as a place that offers programs for learning and fun. Participants will see the library as a place that connects the community together by providing programs for all age and interests. Anecdotal responses will be collected.
Participants learned how our area of the state was settled. How the early pioneers arrived here, the homes they lived in, foods they ate, and daily life. Participants learned that pioneer life was not all work--early pioneers often got together to share difficult tasks--such as corn shelling or barn raising. They also spent time doing "fun activities" such as quilting bees or dancing after barn raising or corn shelling. One boy in our audience was amazed that corn was shelled by hand, when his dad uses a combine, which automatically shells the corn, to harvest his crop. Participants also learned that many pioneers heated their homes with cattle chips--and were told it was often a child's task to gather the chips from the prairie. We all wondered what their homes smelled like after burning the chips. This was a fun fact that the kids enjoyed learning. Participant also learned that making shadow puppets was a fun activity of pioneer children. Our presenter demonstrated several different animals made with the hands, and our participants were encouraged to make the shadow puppets on the the screen. Some were easy, while others were a little more complicated, but the kids found the activity very enjoyable.
City of Ivanhoe