How to Make a Pilgrim House
Creating a pilgrim house provides a project suitable for school or a Thanksgiving centerpiece. Common materials form a three-dimensional house that will work as part of a scene or on its own. Pilgrims were early settlers in America who arrived by ship from Europe. Pilgrims constructed timber framed houses with walls covered with clapboards -- narrow strips of wood, according to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Plymouth Colony Archive Project website. The steeply pitched roofs were thatched. Everyone cooked over fire, so houses had fireplaces to provide heat and a way to cook. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Newspaper
- Shoe box
- Scissors
- White glue
- Construction paper
- Lightweight cardboard
- Small box, 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide, such as a box from pain reliever pills or jewelry
- Paint and paint brush
- Nontoxic marking pens
Instructions
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1
Spread newspaper on the table. Tear pages of newspaper in half and wad them up. Fill the shoe box with the wadded newspaper. This will give the pilgrim house more weight and make it stronger so it will keep its shape. Close the lid on the shoe box and tape it shut.
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2
Tape two pieces of brown or tan construction paper together lengthwise -- joining two long sides. The tape forms the peak of the roof. Fold the construction paper roof along the tape.
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3
Measure the width of the shoe box -- the shortest direction. Stand the construction paper roof on lightweight cardboard with the tape at a 90-degree angle to the cardboard. This allows you to use the roof to make a pattern for the end walls of the pilgrim house. Spread the ends of the roof the width of the shoe box. Mark a dot at the peak of the roof -- where the tape touches the cardboard, and at each end of the paper roof. Use a ruler to make lines connecting the dots.
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4
Cut out the triangle. Trace around the triangle to make the second end wall. Cut out the second end wall.
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5
Tape one triangle to each end of the shoe box. Apply the tape from the inside of the attic, not on the outside wall.
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6
Center the construction paper roof on the pilgrim house. It should extend past each of the end wall by a half-inch or more. If it's too long, make a mark with a pencil for where you want to cut it. Take the roof off and use a ruler to mark a straight line, and cut the roof.
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Apply glue carefully to the top edges of both end walls -- the cardboard triangle points sticking up from the shoebox. This is where you'll attach the roof. Apply a line of glue along the edges of the shoe box lid on the long sides -- this will help hold the roof where it hangs down. Pilgrim house roofs came down low on the houses, similar to an A-frame style house.
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Center the roof on the pilgrim house. Press gently along the areas where you applied the glue to help attach the roof.
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9
Hold a small box against one end of the rooftop so that it sticks up as a chimney. Trace the roof point on the small box. This will show you where to cut the box so that it will fit over the roof and look like a chimney. Cut out along the roof point lines on the box and cut the same shape out of the other side of the box, so the box is notched on the bottom on both sides.
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10
Apply glue to the notches you cut in the base of the small box. Fit the chimney 2 inches from one end of the pilgrim house.
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11
Paint the pilgrim house walls and chimney light brown.
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12
Draw the door in the middle of an end wall with a marking pen, when the pilgrim house is dry to the touch. Add dark brown horizontal lines on the walls to represent clapboards. Draw light, fine uneven vertical lines on the roof to make it look like thatch -- plant material used for the pilgrim house roofs.
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Tips & Warnings
The pilgrim house is flammable. Keep it away from candles, smoking areas, incandescent light bulbs and other sources of heat or flame.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit ballyscanlon/Photodisc/Getty Images
