Drawing Boys into the Adventure of History

The Christmas that Sparked the Year of Davey Crockett

It was a crisp Christmas morning when we rolled up to my parent’s house nearly 5 years ago.  The boys were then 5, 3 and 1.5 years old.  With an excited whoop, they ran inside, eager to finally uncover the mysteries lying beneath my parent’s tree.

An hour or two later, they emerged with coonskin caps askew and a wooden stick horse between their legs.  It was the birth of an obsession with everything Davey Crockett and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  In a few short weeks we would embark on the study of frontiersmen.

There is something special about captivating the imagination.  Once you have a child’s interest, their desire and ability to learn about things reaches epic proportions. Do you want to foster a life-long love of history?  Draw them into the middle of it.  Fill their lives with engaging literature (and in this case a classic movie), a few costume pieces and then TIME to play and enter into this newly discovered world.

That is what happened the year the boys received their coonskin caps and other Davey Crockett gear.

With this we were set.  When I gathered my stack of books and we set off on our explorations the boys were primed and ready to go.  We explored his childhood, what he ate, the concept of tall tales (as well as when they are acceptable and when they aren’t), his travels and even honed some of our own survival skills.  After watching the old Disney Davey Crockett movie, they raced outdoors to play Alamo over and over again which sparked another round of books on the Alamo.  I hadn’t planned on going there, but I let their excitement provide direction.

And to think that it all began with a coonskin cap, stick horse, and a few other items at Christmas.

So for Day 5 of my 31 day series on gifts that inspire learning, I want to share some of our favorites for those planning on learning about Davey Crocket or any other frontiersmen/mountain men?

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Disney’s Davey Crockett movie – We love this old Disney movie.  It is good clean fun and leaves your kids wanting to not only entertain people with tall tales and good laughs, but also to fearlessly do what is right even if it isn’t popular.
A Coonskin Cap is a must!  If you want to go all out, you can get the whole costume (S/M/L) Or you can make a costume. I had bought a pattern to make Davey Crockett costumes, but floundered with the pattern.  I’m fairly pattern impaired and gave up after making fringed pants.  A friend of mine swooped in and offered to make the shirts.
Toy Rifle – Ol’ Betsy or one like this. – These wooden rifles add such a feel of authenticity.  As I said in my post on Revolutionary War themed gifts, a basic wooden toy rifle can fit into a variety of historical eras.  But as you can see from the pictures above, our stick horses and hockey sticks have doubled as rifles when needed.
Stick Horse – This is the third time I’ve mentioned this horse and we are only on day 5 of the series.  We love it!
Powder Horn – This immediately makes any pretend play a whole lot more legit!

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