General Plantation Activity

Objectives
Students will learn how daily life items were made and acquired during the 19th century, and then compare those to goods today.

Age
3rd-5th grade

Enhances
VA.A.1.2.1, VA.A.1.2.2, VA.A.1.2.4, VA.C.1.2.1

Time and Place
Classroom post-visit activity, 1 hour (plus prep time)

Worksheets
How to Make a Pine Needle Basket pdf (118k)
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Background
Begin with a class discussion. Have your students imagine what life at Kingsley Plantation, over 150 years ago, would have been like. Would they have had grocery or department stores? Where would they acquire the storage items, furniture, or toys that they wanted? Some items could have been acquired by bartering, which is when goods or services are traded without using money. For example, someone who grew oranges might trade some of their fruit for a small wooden cabinet made by the local carpenter. For all other items they would have relied upon their environment - everything they saw around them, like the forest or their garden, would have supplied them with the necessary materials. Have students brainstorm ways they could use materials found in the environment for food, building materials, dyes, medicine, etc.