This post contains affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy for more information
Most of us are very familiar with the the history of Amelia Earhart, and I have really enjoyed teaching my boys about this strong and amazing woman through an Amelia Earhart Unit Study. As we worked our way through this unit study, we used a combination of different books. For my five-year old we used the, I Am Amelia Earhart.
About the book:
I am Amelia Earhart (Ordinary People Change the World)
While this is an amazing book by itself, we decided to take it a step further and make it into a unit study. My boys seriously couldn’t get enough of hearing about Amelia and talking about aviation. Here are a few things we did as part of our unit study on Amelia Earhart.
Airplanes:
I knew I wanted to do airplanes, but decided what type to do what the question. We considered clothes pin airplanes. We have done these in the past and they are loads of fun. Then we considered turning a big box into an airplane (we may still do that). However, in the end toilet paper roll airplanes won out. My eight-year old is a collector of all things and yes..he even has a collection of empty toilet paper rolls. We could seriously so toilet paper crafts for days. It was pretty basic which was a good thing since I’m not a crafty kind of mom. I did a trial run, and when it worked..we ran with it. 
Supplies:
Exacto Knife
Acrylic Paint/Aluminum Foil/Glitter
Hot Glue
Paper Fastners
Template (Click to download)
Now I admit that I’m not an artist at all, so please forgive my drawings if you choose to download the template. The boys wanted the propeller to have four blades instead of two, so that’s what we went with. I cut the template out on card stock paper.
After we cut printed out the template, I cut those out. and started decorating. My eight-year old decided to paint his, my five-year old wanted all glitter and I used aluminum foil for my trial run. The aluminum foil wrapped card stock is more sturdy. The painted one did pretty good as well. The glitter did ok, but it did weigh the wings down a tad. Since that happened, I then took and wrapped his wings in foil and it was good to go. 
Cheesecake:
I know you are probably scratching your head and how in the world cheesecake fits in to a story about Amelia Earhart. We did a little research because we wanted to take learning into the kitchen as well. During our research we discovered that one of her favorite foods were cheesecake. I mean, I can’t blame her really…it’s one of our favorites as well.
Here’s our recipe for Key Lime Cheesecake
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 32 oz cream cheese
- 1 1/4 C. sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 4 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon lime zest
- 1/3 C. lime juice
- 1/3 C. lemon juice
- Combine cookie or graham cracker crumbs with butter or margarine. Press into bottom and partially up sides of 9 inch springform pan. Refrigerate.
- In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the cream cheese, sugar, lime peel, and cornstarch until smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, blending just until smooth. Add lime juice and lemon juice with mixer on low. Finish mixing by hand. Do not over beat, or cake will crack during baking. Pour batter into prepared crust.
- Bake at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 55 to 65 minutes, or until set. To minimize cracking, place a shallow pan half full of hot water on lower rack during baking.
- Turn oven off, loosen the spring form pan and let cheesecake stand in oven 30 minutes or long with the door open at least 4 inches. Remove from oven. Refrigerate overnight, and up to three days.
>>>>Free Printable Amelia Earhart Bookmarks<<<<
>>>>Amelia Earhart Printable: Preschool-Kindergarten<<<<
>>>>FREE Amelia Earhart Printable: K-3rd 
Be sure to check out the other unit studies we have done for Ordinary People Change the World:
Martin Luther King Jr.
Abraham Lincoln
Lucille Ball
Helen Keller
