Revolutionary War #1 – War is Brewing

It's been an exciting year with our homeschool history for kids as we've dived into lots of fun hands on history time periods from early explorers to colonial america early settlers. Now we are moving into the Revolutionary War and the founding of our nation.

4 Week Revolutionay War Unit with fun, hands on learning activities, free printable lapbook and more to make learning fun for homeschool kids: kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade.

This homeschool history unit is perfect for the entire family to do together with lots of great book, hands on history projects, and a free printable American Revolution Lapbook. So join us as we relive history in our revolutionary war for kids unit

American Revolutionary War for Kids

I found this WONDERFUL resource! It is a cartoon series called Liberty Kids. It goes through the Revolutionary war in about 40 episodes. It includes famous people, major battles, perspective from both sides, is fun to watch (I enjoyed it to!) and does this all in a tasteful, accurate way. LOVE it! We used this entire series. Our local library had it so we were able to check it out. If yours does not, it is totally worth the $12 to own your own copy!!

This week we watched episode 1-5 of video series (1 a day for week).

Revolutionary War Timeline for Homeschoolers

We studied the following events from the Revolutionary War and added them to our timeline.

TAXES on molasses, tea, paper goods (Stamp Act)

Boston Massacre – Goofy found a red shirt to represent the British and we acted out the Boston Massacre.

Boston massacre american history activities for kids

Boston Tea Party (we had a tea party with pound cake) – December 16, 1773

English close Boston Port until Colonists pay back the cost of the tea – the colonists called this the Intolerable Acts

Printing Press & Benjamin Franklin’s newspaper The Pennsylvanian Gazette

Revolutionary War Printing Press -History Project for Homeschoolers

To help Goofy understand the printing press and how long it took to set-up to print the newspaper I came up with this project. We picked a simple thing to print “British are coming!” as I knew we’d run out of letters. We laid them out backwards. Then Goof used a piece of paper and and book to push down to make his press print. Putting all the type in for the newspaper would have been a LOT of work!

Colonial Costume – in The Liberty Tree it explained that men usually braided or pulled back their hair and then put flour on it. It also shows the time period tricorn hats. So we made our own from felt (that we braided) and black construction paper.

Revolutionary War Books for Kids to Read:

The Liberty Tree does a wonderful job explaining history from both sides. It introduces major characters, explains events leading up to the Revolutionary War beginning with the French-Indian War, and has nice illustrations. Although this is all you will need you might also want to check out Graffic Library’s The Boston Massacre or the Time Traveling Twins’ Joining the Boston Tea Party

Famous People of the Revolutionary War for Kids

We studied the following Famous People from the Revolutionary War and added them to our lapbook.

Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, was a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution. His 1768 circular letter calling for colonial cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. In 1776 he helped draft the Articles of Confederation.

(Ideas we didn’t get to to from Squidoo - make root beer (Samuel Adams’ father owned a brewery)

Benjamin Franklin

Franklin was a leading author (Poor Richard's Almanack), printer (The Pennsylvania Gazette), Pennsylvanian politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, diplomat, and American founding father. He invented the lightning rod, bifocals, a carriage odometer, and the glass 'armonica'. He formed the first public library in America and the first fire department in Pennsylvania.

(we made the printing press from letter stamps)

King George III

King George III's reign was marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the revolutionaries in America, despite the opinions of his own ministers.

Patrick Henry

Henry was an attorney and politician during the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. He is remembered as governor of Virginia (twice), saying "Give me liberty or give me death" and "I am not a Virginian, but an American", opposing the Constitution as it would take away from state's rights, and as a proponent of Bill or Rights.

FREE American Revolutionary War Lapbook

Each week we will add more dates to our timeline and learn about famous people from the American Revolution. You can do this unit without buying a single textbook (assuming you have a good local library)!

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More Hands on History Units for Homeschooling Families

Check out the rest of the American Revolutionary War Series below and for more fun history units check out my Colonial American / Early Settlers Unit and Early Explorers Unit below.