Iditarod Begins!

The Iditarod is a dog trail race through the state of Alaska that begins in early March each year.

You can track this multi-day race on a state map and take the opportunity to learn about the culture of the inhabitants of Alaska.

Here are a couple of maps that you might find helpful.

This printable mini book would be a great addition to an Iditarod lapbook!

Here's a great activity for kids to do to learn more about the Iditarod and the path it takes.

Perhaps your kids would enjoy making their own paper versions of a dog sled team. Here are two options - a simple version from Scholastic Teachables and a complex version from Woo Jr. When creating the simple version, you can print multiple pages of the dogs and then connect the dogs to the sled using yarn (wrap around the dogs to look like a harness and then string together and attach to the front of the sled).

And here is a craft to create your own dog sled using craft sticks and fuzzy stems.

If you want to expand your Iditarod learning, you might want to adapt the Iditaread challenge. It was originally provided by School Life in 2013 but you could easily use the resources and alter the date to the current year (and if you find more updated resources, please let me know).

You can learn more about the Iditarod and Alaska from the Enchanted Learning website. This site has some free information and a lot of resources available for subscribers.

Want even more great Iditarod ideas? Jen over at Teaching in the Tongas has some great ideas and resources for your Iditarod unit - check her out!

If you want another great resource for learning about the state of Alaska, try this free unit study from Marcy over at her homeschooling blog Ben and Me.

It's easy to tie in many different subjects in your study of the Iditarod - here are some math resources from Education World that incorporate the Iditarod theme.