DIY Little Passports: Russia

In September, a special package came and my Little Explorer was thrilled. The “World Explorers Club” had finally sent her latest adventure from Russia! It was a struggle for me this month because I had so many great plans for craft activities (like a Snowflake ballerina) that I didn’t have time to go to the copy store and do, so I put it off. I actually ended up running out of renewals for the library materials, and had to re-check them out.

In this Package

• Chalkboard Matryoshka Nesting Doll
• Space Creativity Activity Book
• Postcard, Pin, Stamps for Passport
• Coloring Pages
• Recipes

Additional Resources:

• ​Library books on Anastasia, Colors of Russia, “A to Z” Russia, How to Draw Sights from Russia
• Picture Books from Library: “The Nutcracker”, “The Noisy Paint Box” about Kandinsky, “Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova”, “Tchaikovsky”

Receiving the Mail

My Little Explorer’s souvenirs wouldn’t fit in an envelope so a nice sized box fitted with her Russian stamps was pretty exciting for her to open.

The Letter

Things mentioned in the letter:

• ​Russia is the largest country in the world
• Russian horse tamers
• Anastacia​
• Lake Baikal deepest lake​
• Trans-Siberian Railroad
• Matryoshka
• Russian space station

Cost Breakdown

• Stamps: Included with initial package
• Pin, Postcard: Gifts from Aunt Adelynn
• Matryoshka Chalkboard Nesting Dolls: $10
• Space Creativity Activity Book: $5
• Printed coloring pages and recipes: $1
• Library Books: $4 Late Fees hahaha

Total: $20

How It’s Going

I thought she would go straight for her matryoshka dolls but her favorite thing in there was the Space Activity Book. She did a few activities from it (most were not science based but were fun for her like drawing aliens or designing your own rocket ship or finding what didn’t belong).

When her friend came over later in the week, they tried out the chalkboard matryoshka dolls and spent almost the whole hour on it! She hasn’t finished her coloring pages but it looks like she’s working meticulously on the coloring.

She read all of the books and I think our favorite was the Colors of Russia picture book that told some interesting things that none of the other fact or story books had (like about the Reindeer tribes and Ancient Horse Tamers), followed by the beautiful ballerina illustrations about Anna Pavlova.

Check out all the other places we’ve explored in this DIY Little Passports project here!