Little House on the Prairie

 

Laura Ingalls Wilder, who didn’t like to sit and make fine stitches as a young girl, became very good at her handicrafts later in life. She made beautiful quilts, lovely buttonholes for a job in town, and handicrafts to earn money to help send Mary to the Iowa College for the Blind.  Sewing was part of her life and is a lovely tradition that we are celebrating this month with a colorful and delicate hoop project. Learn how to stitch your own beautiful hand embroidery with this tutorial. There’s something fun and adventurous about a covered wagon that sparks a child’s imagination. With a real fabric roof and turning wheels, kids will love to make this recycled covered wagon for their Little House on the Prairie® Wooden Peg Dolls. As a bonus, you can incorporate education into this homemade craft and discuss what it would have been like to travel in a wagon, the supplies that were needed, and the potential challenges you would have encountered. Children and adults alike continue to be fascinated by the engaging tales of the Ingalls family during the pioneer era and the skills they learned to survive in harsh conditions. In a time before central heating, when a warm home in the winter might only be 55 degrees, quilting was a vital activity. Quilts were not only used for bedding but were also hung in windows and doorways to block drafts. Today, we continue to appreciate quilts for so many reasons. Learn to make your own with this Mix & Match: Inspired Scrappy Quilting tutorial. In Laura’s day, household items and personal care products were fashioned carefully and lovingly by hand, using everyday items that were grown, gathered, or foraged in the wilderness. For instance, we all remember Laura’s love of Miss Beadle’s Lemon Verbena perfume in the TV show. This Do-It-Yourself project is a simple and fun way to create your own unique twist on the Lemon Verbena home goods of that time. When Laura, Mary, Carrie, Ma, and Pa still lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, they traveled by sled through the woods to Grandma and Grandpa’s house where they gathered maple sap to make brown maple sugar. Though less common today, families still participate in this activity during the sugaring off season from February to May. We don’t all need to carry buckets full of sap through the woods though to enjoy delicious maple sugar candy at home. This recipe walks you through the process of making your own maple sugar candy, starting with store-bought maple syrup. Are you traveling during the spring and summer breaks this year? Consider checking out the places where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and traveled during her remarkable life. We have gathered this list of historic sites and museums to help you get started! Discover the Little House on the Prairie world in real life! March is National Women’s History Month, and naturally, we think of Laura Ingalls Wilder and all she accomplished in her life. Today, she is remembered as an iconic American figure and a literary legend. But did you know that her daughter played an important role in editing her books? In the history of literature, there’s nothing quite like the relationship between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane. From the beginning, the books were the outgrowth of a unique mother-daughter, writer-editor team.