Happy FACSessorize Friday, Everyone! Today our FACSessory topic is log cabins. Everyone is familiar with this symbol of Americana, but here are a few FACS facts the you and your students might not know. Feel free to share!
Fascinating FACS Fact: 2016 marks the 100th anniversary of one of the most iconic and enduring of all American toys, Lincoln Logs. Did you know that Lincoln Logs were invented by Frank Lloyd Wright’s son, John? Who knew, right? This would obviously be an interesting fact to share in a child development or parenting class, but it has connections to other FACS content areas as well.
Here are some related FACS facts:
- The log cabin is one of the oldest forms of shelter. Historians believe that the earliest log cabins were built in Northern Europe around 3,500 B.C. This sturdy structure was probably brought to America by Scandinavian settlers. History of the log cabin.
- Several American presidents claim to have lived in a log cabin. This list includes Andrew Jackson, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, James Buchanan, Ulysses S. Grant and James Garfield. Of course, the president most closely associated with the log cabin is Abraham Lincoln.
- The Log Cabin Quilt block became popular in the 1860s. A simplified version of this iconic quilt pattern is a great introductory sewing project because it uses all straight, short seams and can be constructed from fabric scraps.
- The Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder was published in 1932. This book and the others in the series that followed it are an excellent depiction of home life on the American frontier. This would be a good novel to incorporate into a FACS literacy program.
- Cooking in a log cabin presented many challenges. Many of the recipes from this era produced colonial recipes that have become American classics.
Hope you will share some of this information with your students!
This blog entry is an example of the content you will find in FACSessorize!, the latest resource from Fresh FACS, available January 2016.
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