A History Lesson

Madison has taken after me in the fact that she is very interested in 19th century history. Like me, she loves looking at pictures and hearing about other eras before that as well, but really enjoys this particular century. She checked out a book from the library on the fashions of past centuries. She had a friend over for the night, and they got this book out and decided to pretend to be girls during that time. They asked me to get them a mirror so they could do their faces with makeup. They even wanted to know if girls during that time liked their faces dark or light. I told them that everyone preferred to be pale. Tanned skin indicated having to work out in the sun, therefore, pale skin was an indicator of wealth. After they had their faces done, I found them some dresses of mine that would be long on them. After they had them on, they wanted me to pin them as tight as I could at the waist to mimic the corsets worn during that time. Then, we did their hair up on the top of their heads. They looked really good :). Even when I took their pictures, they were trying to mimic the way the girls looked in the book...no smiles. In one picture, Madison was trying to stand in the contorted way that some of the corsets made the girls look...haha. When they were finished, I made dance cards for them with little pens attached. I explained that when a girl/woman went to a dance, the men had to sign her card so that she could remember in what order she promised dances to them. They had a good time pretending to go to the dance. It was all great fun and a wonderful hands on History lesson. The greatest thing is that they initiated it themselves!!