Log Cabin Village

Reese & I visited the Log Cabin Village today for Preschool Story Time. I've always wanted to try this, but it just never was good timing. What an amazing treat!

There were many neat things about our visit, but Reese's favorite was by far "Charlie."

Charlie is the Village cat, who was more than happy to have tender little hands pet him all morning!

Our first stop was the School House, an 1800s one room school house that was later converted to a home. When we arrived, there was a basket of bonnets, vests, & aprons that the kids could dress up in. Reese chose a nifty red-checker vest & we were set! We read the story Ima and the Great Texas Ostrich Race. Reese wasn't too interested in the story because he wanted to check out the rest of the village! He did sit next to me during the story, and was happy to make a silly face:

The storyteller asked everyone to show their mad face. Reese did a pretty good job :)
Reese's favorite part of storytime was singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes:

After the story, everyone got a bandanna to decorate. Reese said he drew lightning on his. Then we were off to see the rest of the Village!

There were a number of 1800s era log cabins that have been lovingly moved to the Log Cabin Village and restored to show the children what pioneer life was like. So many families had lots of children all in one very small space. We learned that sometimes they all shared one bed because of safety (Ft. Worth was not a peaceful pioneer town!) or for warmth. Some cabins had 1 bed for Mom & Dad, & the children slept in a small crawl space loft up above.

Another of Reese's favorites today was the Dancing Man toy. Pioneer children would use scrap wood & parts to make this dancing man. The docent was kind enough to let Reese try using it & he really, really liked it! We plan to find instructions on the internet for making our own Dancing Man toy. Check out Reese making him dance:

One log cabin held all sorts of weaving tools. On Monday Reese got to see a lady making cotton into yarn using a spinning wheel. She talked about a weaving loom but we didn't get to see one. Imagine our delight when they had one here today! The loom is off to the left of this picture. What I thought was really neat was this measuring tool, with a square shape of yarn wrapped around the pegs. As they turned the tool, the yarn would wrap around the pegs & make a "click" every 2 yards so they could easily measure the amount of yarn they had made. What a simple yet effective tool that uses no electricity!

The blacksmith shop was full of interesting tools, nails, & farm equipment. Reese most liked ringing the "dinner bell" triangle. It looks like this might be used for actual demonstrations, although we didn't get to see any.

The grounds were simply stunning. Lots of big trees, gardens, old log cabins, pathways, a stream. Everything was so peaceful. I want to live here!

Reese found a stream and spent about 30 minutes just floating leaves down the stream.

At the end of our morning, we visited the General Store & Reese chose a peppermint stick candy to eat on our way home. We carefully skip counted by 5s as we paid with nickels for the 15 cent candy piece. I was surprised Reese chose peppermint over the other flavors I offered...grape, watermelon, strawberry, lemon. I didn't even tell him peppermint was a choice. After I read all the flavors, he asked what the red & white striped one was, and decided that he wanted the peppermint. To my surprise, he ate it the whole way home!

We will definitely make a point to return. This was probably the best $5 I've spent in a long time!