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Holidays

Statue of Liberty Math and Measurement

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No trip to New York City is complete without a trip to see the Statue of Liberty.

So, as part of our virtual trip, we let the Statue of Liberty inspire a fun math experiment.

The question we tried to answer: how many Lizzies (or AJs) would it take to be as tall as Lady Liberty? To find out, we had to do some Statue of Liberty math.

Play with measurement and nonstandard units with this fun Statue of Liberty math activity. It's a fun addition to an American symbols unit.

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Learn about the Statue of Liberty

We began with a simple book, Statue of Liberty by Lynda Sorensen, to learn all about this famous American symbol. (Note: this book is unfortunately out of print. The Statue of Liberty by Lloyd G. Douglas would be a good substitute.)

We learned about when it was built and how it was shipped to America. We learned about what it represents.

But, most importantly to this experiment, we also learned how tall it is: 305 feet. I got out the calculator and translated it into inches: 3660 inches tall. Then I measured each girl in inches.

Play with measurement and nonstandard units with this fun Statue of Liberty math activity. It's a fun addition to an American symbols unit.

Statue of Liberty Math Activity

Next, using a roll of brown wrapping paper, we made a scale model of the Statue of Liberty at 36.6 inches.

Now it was time to measure.

We talked a bit about nonstandard units of measurement, because we weren’t going to use a ruler to measure. We were going to use ourselves. I made tiny squares to stand for each of the girls. (And when I say tiny, they were less than 1/2/”!)

Play with measurement and nonstandard units with this fun Statue of Liberty math activity. It's a fun addition to an American symbols unit.

I showed the girls how to measure with their squares. We laid it down, drew a line along the top, and then placed the square on top of that line. They moved up and up and up until they reached the top.

When we were done, we counted our spaces. Lizzie topped off at 62, and AJ at 64. They were wowed!

Play with measurement and nonstandard units with this fun Statue of Liberty math activity. It's a fun addition to an American symbols unit.

But were we correct?

Well, I’ll admit I expected we were not. The girls at 3 and 5 weren’t exactly precise. But, they did their best and definitely learned a lot. They were able to better visualize just how tall the Statue of Liberty is and they learned a fun lesson in nonstandard units of measurement.

How far off were we? About 10 units for each girl. Not bad for a preschooler and a Kindergartner using tiny pieces of paper! I think the next time we use nonstandard units, we’ll try measuring with our full bodies!

Have you ever measured with nonstandard units? Give it a try with this Statue of Liberty math activity.

You may also enjoy one of these New York City inspired activities:

Cityscape Printmaking

Statue of Liberty Dress-Up Kit

Subway Acrostic Poetry

New York City Books and Resources

Dip-Dyed Valentine Banner

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What do you do when you have a supply of pretty lace doily hearts?

Why, you learn to dip-dye of course!

This project was a little bit messy and a whole lot of fun. I love the subtle Valentine loveliness that came about as a result.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Lacy paper hearts
Liquid watercolor
Shallow pan
Clothespins
String or yarn

To prep this craft, I poured both water and liquid watercolor in our pan. I used about 1/3 red liquid watercolor to 2/3rds water.

Add more watercolor for a deeper red color. We wanted a pale pink. If you want red, do not add water.

I showed the girls how to clip a heart with a clothespin and how to dip the hearts. They went through heart after heart after heart.

Some of our hearts were completely dipped, others were half dipped. None of them looked the same.

The paper hearts soak up the watercolor really well, so don’t leave them in the water too long or they’ll start to fall apart!

We laid all of our hearts on newspaper to dry.

After a couple of hours they were fully dry and we were ready to make our banners.

We took string and ran it in one side of our hearts and out the other side.

I tied on the two end hearts so that our hearts wouldn’t fall off once we hung up the banner.

I love the pale pink color we achieved and we had tons of fun dip-dying. Our house is looking much more ready for Valentine’s Day!

How have you used these lacy paper hearts?

12 Candy-Free Valentines

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Every time Valentine’s Day rolls around, I feel like my kids have overdosed on sugar. The idea of non-candy Valentine’s sounds so appealing.

Our Halloween candy tends to last well into December, which leads to Christmas cookies, and candy in their stocking. By mid-January, I am so over candy and so over my girls’ assumption that we’ll always have candy in the house.

That’s what led me to search for some awesome Valentine ideas that contained absolutely no candy.

These are all perfect ideas for classroom Valentines or just a special little treat for your own kids.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

All is takes are some glow sticks to make these fun Lego Star Wars Valentines from Stitch/Craft.

You can find parachute man Valentines at Paging Supermom along with a free printable bag topper.

I have yet to meet a kid that didn’t like bubbles, that’s why these bubble Valentines from Domestic Charm are perfect.

These friendship bracelet Valentines from [dandee] are a great choice for older kids who like to get crafty.

If you’ve got car-obsessed kids, I bet they’d love giving these car Valentines from Yvonne Byatt’s Family Fun to their friends.

Shop the party aisle for supplies for these A-MAZE-ing Valentines from Crap I’ve Made.

One part Valentine, one part game. These I Spy Valentine cards from A Mom With a Lesson Plan look like super-fun!

These peg doll fairies from Curly Birds is another great option for your crafty kids.

Give your Valentines a fun tool for exploration with these magnifying glass Valentines from [dandee].

I love these “You Color My Heart” Valentines from A Mom With a Lesson Plan and think these may be a great choice for my Kindergartner to give her friends.

Homemade play dough and a heart cookie cutter is such a simple and fun idea from Buggy and Buddy.

Recycle all of your Crayon bits and pieces to make these fun Crayon heart Valentines from Whipperberry.

Do you have any candy-free Valentine ideas? I’m always on the lookout for more!

Valentine Story Stones

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We’ve made story stones in the past. We told tales of princesses, dragons, and enchanted roses.

But, this time we’re telling different stories about secret admirers, cupid, and big boxes of chocolate.

Story stones are fun and a great way to promote storytelling. For older kids, they work perfectly as writing prompts. Younger kids can use them to illustrate a story.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up soon, I though it would be fun to make a set of Valentine-theme story stones.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

Smooth stones with a flat surface
>Valentine illustrations (I used clip art)
Scissors
Mod Podge
Paint Brush

I began with several smooth stones from a package of vase-filler stones. You can find these at the dollar store, discount store, or craft store typically in the floral section. I picked ones that had a nice flat surface for my illustrations.

For my Valentine illustrations, I used clip art. All of mine came from the free Microsoft clip art already loaded on my computer.

You can find a ton of clip art online by searching for “free Valentine clip art.” I found roses, boxes of chocolates, little girls offering flowers, and mailboxes full of love letters.

I copied and pasted them all into a Word document, then reduced the size to fit my stones.

Once printed, I cut them out to fit on my stones.

Once I had chosen the perfect stone for each illustration, I brushed a thin coating of Mod Podge on the surface.

I placed the illustration down, making sure all sides were pressed down, and then brushed another coat over the top.

After allowing them to dry, we were ready for story-telling.

We’ve told tales of love letters, secret roses found in mailboxes, and best friends. There are so many tales that can be told from this simple set of Valentine story stones.

They’re easy to make and would make a fun homemade Valentine’s gift.

Have you used story stones before?

ABC Valentines

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A, B, C,
Easy as
1, 2, 3,
Or simple as 
do, re, mi,
A, B, C,
1, 2, 3,
Baby you and me now…
(Jackson 5)

One of my favorite “dancing with the kids” songs was my inspiration for these easy and cute ABC Valentines.

You just need a few supplies, some willing kids, and dance-able background music for some Valentine crafting.

Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.

Supplies Needed:

White paper, cut in half across the widest part
Alphabet Stamp Set
Thin cardboard (cereal or cracker box)
Scissors
Colorful ink for stamps
Red marker

To prep this activity, I made simple heart stencils for the girls. I took a recycled cracker box and drew 2 different sizes of hearts. I then cut the hearts out. This part is definitely best for the grown-ups, since I needed to use my sharpest scissors for the cutting. I made two different sets, one for each girl.

I showed the girls how to overlap the stamps on the cardboard to help form the shape of the hearts.

For the best heart shape, you’ll need to fill each stencil in with many letters. Lizzie (age 5) did one letter per stencil, AJ (age 3) put multiple letters in each.

You can really get with the Valentine theme by spelling out LOVE or using X’s and O’s.

We just used random letters.

You can see in the picture above how the heart shape is taking form.

Lizzie wasn’t fully satisfied though and asked me to outline each heart with a red marker.

I think they look great either way.

Lizzie finished up each card with a hand-written “I Love You,” the perfect addition.

 

So there you have it. It’s easy as 1, 2, 3!

Have you started making Valentine’s crafts?