Daily Life
What did colonists use for light at night?
Candles.
What did colonial children write on before paper was common?
Slates.
What was a blacksmith’s job?
Making metal items like tools, nails, and he was sometimes the dentist.
What were most colonial clothes made from?
Wool, flax, or cotton
What were popular colonial games?
Playing cards, Graces, Jacob's ladder, or cup-and-ball.
What kind of houses did most colonists live in?
Small wooden homes with one or two rooms.
What did children use instead of pencils?
Quills and ink.
Bonus: How did they make ink here, at Walnut Grove?
What did a cooper make?
Large wooden barrels for storage.
Since colonists did not have big stores back then, what did they do when they needed something?
They would trade goods or make them with what was around them.
What were most children's toys made from?
Wood.
How did colonists keep food cold before refrigerators?
They used dry cellars.
What was the name of the only actual book that they had in school?
The New England Primer.
What did most colonists do for a living?
They were farmers.
What did women use to make clothes?
A spinning wheel and a loom.
What made playing cards then different from how they are today?
No numbers or letters.
What was a common chore for children?
Fetching water or helping with cooking and animals.
What subject did most colonial children learn first?
Reading (to read the Bible).
What did a Whitesmith do?
He used thin sheets of iron coated with tin to make household objects such as lanterns.
How did people get new shoes?
They made new ones using leather from cows.
Besides entertainment, what was the purpose of many toys back then?
Education.
What was the most expensive cooking ingredient for colonists?
Sugar.
Bonus: Who had the key to the sugar chest?
In what seasons of the year did children go to school?
Summer and winter.
Bonus: Why those seasons?
What was a Peruke Maker's job?
He made wigs out of cow, horse, or human hair.
Why did colonial families not have many clothes?
What was a popular dice game for colonists?
Hazards.