Pioneer Trek

Pioneer history helps all of us to understand hardships and sacrifice.  This is a great activity for choosing/reviewing songs, as well as sharing a little pioneer history.

You will need:

• a cutout of a covered wagon or handcart that you can move across the board
• a long piece of string or yarn to represent the trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake  (you can draw a path on the board with chalk instead)
• 10 - 12 campfire cutouts (pattern below) to tape on the path along the way

Prepare the board with the trail (draw the trail or tape the yarn up and down on the board to represent the trail the pioneers traveled - much like what you see on a map - preferably not a straight line.)  Write the names of the songs you would like to review on stripes of paper and tape them to the back of the campfires.  On the remaining fires write the word "sacrifice."   Tape the campfires along the trail spaced out from beginning to end. 

Explain to the children that pioneers sacrificed many things to come to the Salt Lake Valley.  Ask a child to move the wagon or handcart to the first campfire.  Ask another child to read what is on the back of the fire.  Sing the song.  If it says "sacrifice," ask the child to tell one thing that the pioneers may have had to sacrifice to walk across the plains.  Answers could include: homes, clothes, certain foods, toys, friends, sleep, etc. Continue in this pattern until you reach the Salt Lake Valley.