Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
My youngest likes to start school as soon as she gets up and going in the morning. I try my best to have everything ready for her, but usually I do not. I wake up, have my breakfast and coffee, and then sit down to look over her work from the previous day and plan and prepare for the current day. I usually find her sitting at my desk… waiting. One morning in particular, I was just not moving at the speed for which she was hoping. She was hovering around me, continually asking for her school work. I remembered a book we recently received through the Review Crew- Famous Figures of the Early Modern Era by Cathy Diez-Luckie from Figures in Motion. The book along with the hole punch and brads that we received were sitting on my desk. I handed them to my eager daughter and told her to get to work!
This turned into a multi- day project. This daughter (9) and my next oldest (11) were thrilled to meticulously cut out the articulated paper dolls and fasten them together with the brads. The book is so user friendly. At the beginning of the book is a “How to Use This Book” page. This gives instructions for both children and parents/ educators. The paper doll figures come in both full color and in line art so children can color them as they wish. Also towards the beginning of the book are descriptions of each of the people represented. My girls would flip through the book and decide which Famous Figures of the Early Modern Era they wanted to put together. They would then flip back to the front and read through the brief biography. The girls took it upon themselves to read the information. They helped each other with the big words. They were exctied to recognize some of the names- they have seen these figures in movies and TV shows and heard about them in books. Not going to lie…. one of the movies they recognized some of these figures from was Night at the Museum!
For us, this ended up being a self- guided venture. My girls were very excited to put together the paper dolls and act out scenes from history (and also made up scenes). Another show they have learned from is the “Who Was Show” on Netflix. When we headed to the library after working through the book, the girls went straight to the biography section to grab some books to further learn about their paper dolls. By the way- the book comes with an amazing list of books for read alouds or independent readers.
Using the Figures in Motion books would also be great in group lessons or throughout the year. When you meet a new figure, you add them to your collection. It would be fun to have the students put on a show using the paper dolls to express what they were learning. There are really so many possibilities!
We received Famous Figures of the Early Modern Era for our review. The book contains twenty-one figures of early modern history including Mary, Queen of Scots, Pocahontas, Rembrandt, William Wilberforce, and more. The dolls are very easy to assemble and are printed on durable card stock. I suppose if you really wanted to, you could laminate the dolls before cutting and assembling… but I don’t think that is necessary. The articulated paper dolls are geared for ages 6 to 12.
I am really loving this idea and plan to purchase Famous Figures of Ancient Times to go along with an Ancient Geography class I will be teaching next year.
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Members of the Review Crew reviewed several different books from the Figures in Motion series. Check out what they have to say by clicking on the banner below:
