Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Colonial Children in America Webquest


Children in Colonial America WebQuest

    Most Americans in the 1770’s  were much more self-sufficient than people are today.  They raised their own food and wove their own cloth for clothes.  They built their own homes and barns, made their own tools and furniture, and even made their own medicines.   

They traded any extra farm products for goods and services that they could not get for themselves. Have you ever wondered what it was like to live back in colonial times? Would you have been able to survive without all of the luxuries that we have today? But what about the colonists' children?  You have been transported back in time to colonial America. You are one of eight children in your family. Your task is to compare your life in this time to your life in the Twenty First Century, and to research the lifestyle of the travelers to the New World.
PART 1  LINK
Answers to the following questions:
1.What is your everyday dress?
2.What might you have for dinner tonight?
3.How do you spend you leisure time?
4.How do your receive your education?
5.What are you career opportunities? Hint: What is a trade?
6. Do you receive an allowance?
Some thoughts to ponder:
What does indentured mean?
What is an apprentice?
7.How will your family celebrate holidays such as Christmas?

PART 2

Research the lives of colonial children.  (Take notes in your notebook please).  You will answer the  questions that you responded to about your own life, but from the view of a colonial child. You will create a Venn diagram to show the differences and similarities between you and colonial American children.

PART 3

You will learn all you can about daily life of families in colonial America. You will need to research to find important facts about your topic and take notes in your technology notebook.  We will brainstorm some ways that can you can present your research once you have gathered all your information.

Here are some topics to research for your report:
  • How did colonists get food?
  • What were their homes like?
  • How did they earn a living?
  • How did they get around?
  • Did they have schools? What were they like?
  • How did they get products or services that they might need?
  • Other interesting facts about colonial life.
Remember to use the index when searching print (books) material.
Be sure to write down URLs (website addresses) to cite (show) evidence of where you found the information.


Was a colonial child's life much different from your own?
Was the family an important part of colonial life?  (These two questions will be used in the conclusion of your radio program.)