Throughout the book, the family encounters many interesting animals.
Start a nature notebook, and draw each of these animals and describe
them, including where they live and what they eat. They also find many
interesting plants. You could also draw each of these plants and describe
what they are useful for.
Chapter 1: The father uses a lever to lift up part of his boat.
Make your own lever to lift something. It could be as simple as lifting
a book with a ruler, or as complicated as you would like.
Chapter 2: There are penguins and flamingos on the island. Try
to figure out where the island is. As you continue to read the book
and encounter more animals, you can narrow the location down even further,
or determine if the place is entirely fictional. You could use a blank
world map. Plot the different animals on the map using symbols or shading
and a legend.
Chapter 3: They find sugar cane. Research the process used
to make sugar.
Chapter 4: They learn you must have a hole in both ends of the
sugar cane in order to get anything out. Try this with a straw. Fill
it with some sugar, but close up one end with tape. Try to suck the
sugar out. Then try it without the end taped.
Chapter 5: They make a sail and rudder for their raft. Learn
the different parts of a ship.
Chapter 6: The mother suggests building a tree house. Design
your own tree house.
Chapter 7: They build a bridge using a pulley system. Try
to recreate this pulley system on a small scale.
Chapter 9: They use geometry to figure out how long to make
their rope ladder. Figure out how long of a ladder you will need
for the tree house you designed earlier.
Chapter 10: They name places on their island. Find out how
your town was named.
Chapter 12: They go back to the wreck to get useful things.
The ship was meant to supply a new colony. What would you have taken
if you were supplying a new colony?
.Chapter 14: The mother plants a garden. Find out
what the growing season is like on a tropical island.
Chapter 15: They find many useful plants. Find out what kinds
of useful plants there are in your area. Try to find some of these and
use them.
Chapter 17: They get a young buffalo, jackal, and eagle as pegs.
Do a little research about these animals and write about whether
or not they would be good pets.
Chapter 18: They talk about grafting fruit trees. Read Romans
11:17. You could also visit a local greenhouse and have them show you
how grafting is done.
Chapter 19: They are gathering provisions for the rainy season.
Find out how long the rainy season lasts in the tropics?
Chapter 20: They find a cavern full of rock salt. They also
preserve fish. Find out where salt comes from. Visit a salt mine
if you are close to one. Compare how they preserve their meat with how
we preserve food today.
Chapter 22: Look up the story of Milo of Cortona.
Chapter 23: Have your own sports carnival.
Chapter 25: They find a whale. Research what else a whale
could be used for.
Chapter 26: Father makes a rowing machine. Invent your own
rowing machine on a toy boat.
Chapter 27: They encounter a boa constrictor. Find out more
about the boa constrictor and what poisonous snakes are in your area.
Chapter 28: They find fuller's earth. What is it?
Chapter 32: They have no tan for tanning bear skins. Find
out more about the tanning process. Find a nature center nearby that
will demonstrate tanning.
Chapter 34: They have a harvest of wheat. How was wheat usually
harvested then and how is wheat harvested today.
Chapter 35: They used pigeons to relay messages. How are
pigeons trained for this? Are they still used today?
Chapter 38: They discover oysters with pearls. Find out how
pearls are formed. Why were the pearls worthless to them?
Do Swiss
Family Robinson Crossword Puzzle. Answers
here.
After finishing the book, have the children write about whether
they would have stayed on the island or gone back to Europe and why.
Disclaimer: All links
are for informational purposes only - a link to a web site does not imply
agreement with or endorsement of that site. Because of the changing nature
of the internet, always preview a site before viewing it with your children.
