In the 1840's and 1850's the members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were being persecuted everywhere for their religious beliefs. 70,000 pioneers traveled more then 1,000 miles from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah. Many of the Latter Day Saints migrated west they did not have money for oxen pulled covered wagons so they pulled hand carts. Because of the amount of work required to pull hand carts they left most of their possessions behind or dropped them along the wayside as they went.


Every year Pioneer Day is celebrated on the 24th of July. Here is a very simple craft that kids can make to celebrate Pioneer Day.

Miniature Hand Carts
4+ if they are doing the cutting
2+ if the pieces are already cut out for them.
You will need:
-Empty Tissue box
-Scissors
-Glue or tape
-Construction paper
-Markers

If you have a small square tissue box cut the bottom off one inch from the bottom If you have the rectangle style of box cut off one end one inch from the side so you will have a shallow box.

Next cut out a half inch wide section of the box. Cut one side off. Glue or tape the ends on to each side of the box. You can opt to cover the out side with brown construction paper and you can draw horizontal lines around the outside to represent the boards.

To make the wheels Cut out two 2 inch circles and glue or tape to the sides as in the picture.