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MOAI STATUES
Welcome to our “Wonders of the World Week” an at home week filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to a few of the new wonders of the world! Part history, part cultural studies, this week was definitely a thrilling, whirlwind adventure as we “traveled” to a different Wonder each day, learning a bit about the man-made construction, time period, and culture of each magnificent structure.
Our next wonder is not actually one of the official seven, but it was one of the finalists – the Easter Island Statues! The little ones were fascinated with them, so we just had to add them to our Wonders of the World Week 🙂 Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on the amazing, giant statues on Easter Island!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
The stone statues, or Moai, of Easter Island are so fascinating that we couldn’t pass them up on our Wonders of the World week. Constructed by the ancient Rapu Nui people, these massive statues were carved out of rock formed from the volcano’s eruption and then moved manually to the coast of the island! It was a thoroughly engaging day as we learned all about volcano tuff, statues, and the creativity and ingenuity of these ancient people!
We started off by asking the little ones what they knew about Easter Island and the Moai Statues, as well as what they wanted to learn. Then we revisited their list toward the end of the day to compare 🙂
If you’re looking for some more quick facts, check out these great sites:
- What Happened on Easter Island? By Khan Academy
- Stone Giants by Nova Online
- Easter Island by The Met Museum
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Levers: Raising the Moai on Easter Island
- How Were Easter Island’s Gigantic Statues Actually Carved? By Smithsonian Channel (4m)
- PBS Documentaries Easter Island Origins (52m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
In keeping with trying to snack on something related to our topic of the day, we did a search on what Easter Islanders may have eaten…. What we found was not at all something we wanted to try out… Apparently, Easter Islanders ate little seafood and instead ate rats…. 🙁 Rather than snack on rats, we opted for eating some fruits (mangos & bananas) that are typically found around the Polynesian Islands :):):)
If you’re brave enough, check out these articles for the full read 🙂
- EASTER ISLANDERS ATE LITTLE SEAFOOD by Archaeology Magazine
- Rats! Diet of Easter Islanders Revealed by Live Science
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- Where Is Easter Island by Megan Stine
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: HISTORY, WONDERS, EASTER ISLAND, MOAI, STONE, STATUE
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Easter Island is called ‘Easter Island’ because a European explorer first saw the island on an Easter Sunday. If the island was seen on any other day, what do you think it would have been called?
- If you were an explorer in the 1700s and saw the island for the first time, what would you think the giant stone statues were?
- Moai statues were created to honor important people. Write a short story about how the hero of your tale can speak to the Moai status and get advice from the spirits.
Alternatively, learn and write a few phrases in the Rapa Nui language! Check out the Learn Rapa Nui language from Easter Island Travel
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
For our crafts of the day, we gave them a few options that would help them enhance their pretend play or add in some of what they learned.
- Paper Roll Moai: Using a paper roll, make a few cuts to create a structure that looks similar to a Moai.
- How to Make Paper Moai Statues : Paper Crafts by eHowArtsAndCrafts
- How To Draw Moai Statues Of Easter Island by Art for Kids Hub
- 3D papercraft model of Moai by Super Coloring
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
- Build a Small Lever: As seen in the videos of the day, the Moai status may have been moved using a system of “walking” and rolling, along with positioning using levers. Build a small (or large) lever to understand how this simple but effective tool can help lift heavy objects (or in our case, mini Moai statues)! What happens when you add more items to the other end – does it help lift your statues? What about repositioning the fulcrum? Does that help? There are quite a few different levers and ways to demonstrate, but we followed Simple Machines: How To Make a Lever by Home Science Tool.
- Explore Easter Island using Google. Count how many Moai statues you can find.
- Create a Volcano: using a kit or some craft items from home, create an erupting volcano and observe what is left over. Can you construct a miniature statue with what is left over? Why or why not?
THANK YOU
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other History Weeks as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
