Liberty Bell lesson history American Revolution Fourth of July Summer homeschool holiday

Liberty Bell craft

Mar 16, 2011

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This post is a fun bit of homeschool history lesson and homeschool geography lesson. Homeschool history because the book, Our Liberty Bell*, does a fair job of giving the history behind the Liberty Bell (tieing in great to an American Revolution Unit), but homeschool geography because national symbols is taught as part of geography. I got very lucky and found another intriguing book, Saving the Liberty Bell*, about a farmer and his son saved the Liberty Bell when the British were fixin’ to invade Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War.

So after reading the story, and very nearly being stumped a couple of times by questions from one of the kids. As soon as I was asked why the Liberty Bell was so important it totally flew out of my brain.
To go with this book we made our own Liberty Bell craft.

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Liberty Bell lesson resources

As I mentioned we used these two books:

In addition, here are a few other resources that Future Ticia 2023 has found:

Liberty Bell National Park– check out the online junior ranger program
Liberty Bell– generic US history website

And then a few videos:

And then, a short video about how the Liberty Bell cracked, the iconic part of the bell.

Liberty Bell craft supplies

Egg carton cut into individual cups, yarn*, mini popsicle stick*, acrylic paint (it stays on the foam egg carton better, but I guess you could use tempera)

How to make your Liberty Bell craft

1. Poke a hole in two sides to string yarn through later.

2. Paint the bell, then put it down and wait for the paint to dry (this is when we read the story). Also, notice my son has decided to paint first and then poke holes. This of course leads to messier children.

3. String the yarn through the bell. Now tie the yarn onto the stick close to the bell.

4. I wrapped all of the excess string around the stick so looks like leather ties, but you could just cut it off short.

5. Bonus step all of the older kids wanted to do: draw on the crack.

More ideas to go with an American Revolution Unit or Colonial America Unit

Comments

14 responses to “Liberty Bell craft”

Wonder Mom

March 16, 2011

Ring-a-ling-a-ling! This craft really rings my bell…

(Oh, I am so tired this morning- please forgive my horrible puns- I try so hard to be original, and yet it doesn't always work out a nicely as I hope for…)

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Phyllis

March 16, 2011

That is very, very cute!

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MaryAnne

March 16, 2011

Cute craft!

Visiting the liberty bell is the ONE thing I remember from my family's road trip to Pennsylvania when I was three or four. I was hugely impressed by the crack. And I'm sure it helped my memory that my parents purchased a miniature liberty bell to bring home that I always considered mine, although I think it probably actually belongs to the entire family? I think I had a habit of claiming things as a small child!

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Christy

March 16, 2011

That's a cute craft. I think we made ours out of cups. We also used our Christmas bell cookie cutter and made Liberty Bell sugar cookies; we used toothpicks to make the cracks in the cookies. I enjoyed going to see the Liberty Bell with the kids, but it was so busy that I felt like we were rushed through.

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An Almost Unschooling Mom

March 16, 2011

I like that craft! Very cute. I'm not sure I could answer why the Liberty Bell was so important, either – guess I'll have to look into it, too 🙂

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Raising a Happy Child

March 16, 2011

I think it's a great PA craft. Philadelphia is a fascinating place where history is present is so tied in one. I seem to remember seeing homeless people just a couple of streets away from touristy parts.

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Debbie

March 17, 2011

I think I have seen that book, if not read it. Anyway it sounds familiar. I would have a hard time explaining why the Liberty Bell was so important too.

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Kim

March 17, 2011

I really like that bell. Its very cute.

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Jenny

March 17, 2011

We enjoyed that book a few months ago when we went to visit the Liberty Bell. It was so fun to see. I love learning about things like this, too.

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April

March 25, 2011

Very cute, I am making a USA box with my daughter with little USA inspired things and I think I will have her make a liberty bell like that to include in there.

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