We have been studying World War II and the Holocaust along with all the European countries, but Auschwitz in Poland has been the most sobering. We explored a lot of Jewish culture during this study!

Navigate this page: Booklists, Cooking, Composer Study, Art Project, Videos

Free Printables

• Crayola.com’s Free printable of Poland Flag and Map
• Seterra.com’s Free printable maps of Europe
• Seterra.com’s Free online geography games for Europe: Poland is grouped in the Eastern Europe Countries game.

Missions Spotlight

• Prayercast.com/Poland: Prayer Points, Summary, Quick Facts
  **parents should preview the short prayercast.com video for sensitive topics that may not be age appropriate.

Top 4 Booklist

The following lists are a sampling of my favorite books for different age groups. (These are Amazon affiliate links that do not increase your price. I may earn a few cents on qualifying purchases.)

Cooking Polish Food with Kids

We had so much fun making Polish food together! “The Jelly Donut Difference: Sharing Kindness with the World,” is a sweet story of a twin brother and sister who share kindness in making Polish donuts for their elderly Polish neighbor and invite her in to share in their lives. We chose to make a Polish apple cake for a nearby elderly Polish couple. My youngest one helped me peel and cut the apples, so he was the one to carry it and present the cake to them. That visit really made everyone’s day!

Poland is famous for it’s pierogis, so of course we had to make them! (This is before I saw bags of pierogis at Costco.) The kids each made their own batch of pierogis, rolling, cutting, sealing, cooking, and frying. I made up the rest and they ate them as fast as I could make them! I realized that they are basically the Polish version of a dumpling.

We also made Krakow Bagels. I had no idea that bagels originated in Poland or were twisted in this manner, but they are awesome. Every single child opted to use the “Everything Bagel” seasoning.

Lastly, one of my kids saw a recipe in “Poland: Enchantment of the World” for Kielbasa soup, so we made that together. One of the reasons I love the Enchantment of the World country series.

Here are the Polish recipes we tried:

Composer Study

We continued to listen to the works of Chopin. I could listen to his complete works forever, but here is a sampling of the types of dances and music he composed for piano:

• Mazurka Op. 67 No. 2, Alexej Gorlatch
• Polonaise in A flat Op 53, Vladimir Horowitz
• Nocturne E Flat Major Op.9 No.2, Valentina Lisitsa
• Waltz Op. 64 No. 2, Evgeny Kissin
• Ballade No.4, Op.52, Seong-jin Cho
• Allegro de concert, Op. 46, Brian Ganz
  I studied piano with Mr. Ganz and he did an amazing series of concerts over a decade, playing all of Chopin’s works. Just search his name on YouTube if you want to hear more of his interpretations.

Art Project

We tried our hand at Wycinanki, a type of Polish paper cutting handicraft. We used this video to learn about the background and printed out designs to cut from That Artist Woman who provides two levels of designs and templates for the rooster wycinanki. My younger children were not interested and my older children were a bit intimidated, so the older children and I worked together on the more challenging design. I thought it turned out well!

YouTube Videos

• Crooked Forest in Poland
• Rick Steves and Geography Now! are a fun and informative resources geared towards adults and older kids; I recommend that parents pre-watch before showing to younger kids.
  • Rick Steves’ Europe: Poland Rediscovered: Kraków, Auschwitz, and Warsaw
  • Geography Now: Poland
  • Geography Now: Poland Flag