Shop UK Site 
DIY Presidents' Day Log Cabin!
- Patria Lincoln Posted On Feb 11, 2019 | STEM
Four score and hundreds of years ago! Let’s Celebrate Presidents’ Day this February 18 by engineering your own log cabin made of pretzel logs and peanut butter mortar!
Log cabins dotted our countryside hundreds of years ago, serving as a symbol of the American pioneering spirit. Nine United States presidents – Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and James Garfield – we all born in log cabins. Europeans settlers constructed the first log cabins in the American colonies around 1638, where there was plenty of good wood to use. Some of these simple but strong structures are still around today!
So how to engineering your own log cabin? You and your future presidential hopeful should gather:
- An empty half-pint milk or cream carton
- Pretzel sticks (no rods)
- Pretzel snaps (square shape)
- Wheat thins or wheat crackers
- Graham crackers
- Smooth peanut butter (*If there any peanut allergies, almond butter or cream cheese can do the same job)
HOW TO CREATE A LOG CABIN
Before beginning construction, perhaps paint or color a little rolling countryside for your home. We painted an old box left over from the holidays.
LOG CABIN FUN FACT: Andrew Jackson, our 7th president of the United States, was the first president to be born in a log cabin in South Carolina.
Next, rinse out your milk cartons. You won’t want a sour smell.
Grab your pretzel sticks. Measure them up to the side of your carton – they will probably be a little long. Cut with kitchen scissors.
Also, cut out your log cabin’s front door by breaking up a graham cracker. Don’t worry about crumbly corners - nothing has to be perfect! The early settlers did their best, too.
LOG CABIN FUN FACT: A reconstruction of James Polk’s log cabin is open to the public on his family’s farm in North Carolina. Polk was our 11th president and was the oldest of ten!
Next, take a spatula or butter knife and spread the peanut butter very thick on the side of the carton. We found working in sections – instead of covering the whole carton – made it slightly less messy.
Begin to stack your pretzels. Press them lightly into your peanut butter mortar. Place a window on the side for decoration if you’d like.
LOG CAGIN FUN FACT: The father of Franklin Pierce, our nation’s 14th president, purchased 50 acres of land in Hillsborough, New Hampshire, after the American Revolutionary War. Pierce was born on a log cabin there in 1804.
Continue along to all the sides of the cabin, rotating on a safe surface as you work.
Don’t forget the front door! We used a dab of peanut butter and a chocolate chip for the doorknob. FYI: Most log cabin front doors where situated on the south side of the house, to soak up as much sun exposure and warmth during the day!)
To tackle the roof, fill in the carton corners with extra peanut butter. Spread on lots and begin to lay the wheat crackers like shingles. The kids will delight in learning the “buildable” component for which the peanut butter allows.
LOG CABIN FUN FACT: In 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm in Kentucky, before moving to Knob Creek when he was two.
For the final step for your log cabin, grab a big chunk of pretzel or gather a group of sticks to make a chimney. All log cabins have a burning fireplace, so you need a place for the smoke to go!
Finished! Time to place our house in the countryside.
LOG CABIN FUN FACT: James Garfield, the 20th president, was the last of the log cabin presidents, born in 1831. Garfield and his family remained in Orange County Township in Ohio until 1859, where a replica of the log cabin still remains.
Log cabins and America have a longstanding history. Enjoy making your own little symbol of the early American pioneers!
Save it for later!
Sources: worldatlas.com, marthastewart.com
DIY Labor Day Cardboard Community!
READ MORE
DIY Space Sensory Bin!
READ MORE
Celebrate Astronomy Day with Kids
Each year Astronomy Day is celebrated worldwide. The stars have fascinated humanity for literally centuries, and even to this day captures the imagination of kids of all ages. Celebrate this event with them this year and don't worry if you don't own any expensive telescopes. These DIY activities use real life discoveries to inspire your little astronomers!
Track the Phases of the Moon
Bone sticks from across Europe and Africa dating back as long ago as 35,000 BCE that tracked the moon’s phases. Use a simple number line with your kids to track the phases of the moon over the course of a month, from full moon and back again. Do it for several months and see what patterns they begin to observe.
Depict a Celestial Phenomenon
A celestial phenomenon is a astrological event that involves one or more objects. The earliest example depicted was discovered in Germany in 1999. The Nebra Sky Disc dates back to 2000 BC and it depicted a star cluster, phases of the moon and the rising sun.
Use a black paper plate, or even just black paper, and encourage your children to depict their own star formations. If they can’t stay up to observe them at night, project some indoors with this Shining Stars Projector.
Astronomy to Keep Time
The Chinese astronomers kept detailed observations beginning about 600 BC, for the primary purpose of timekeeping. Their records allowed them to predict eclipses, and include the first record of events such as supernovas and comets.
On the other side of the world, the Mayans developed their own astronomical tables for predicting the phases of the moon, eclipses, and the appearance of the other planets. They used these and the cycles of the Sun, the Moon, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and constellations to establish the Mayan calendar.
All of the above astronomy was without a telescope, and you can still observe these astronomical events with your kids today. Check out this astronomy calendar and pick a full moon, eclipse, planetary event, or meteor shower to observe as a family.
Try this simple astronomy experiment to help kids as young as preschoolers understand what makes night.
Just because ancient astronomers did all of this without a telescope doesn't mean your little ones have to! All of the above activities can be done with the naked eye but if you feel like shooting for the stars check out Learning Resources Big View Telescope. How will you celebrate Astronomy Day?
READ MORE
