The Baltic States

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We studied the Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, right before Easter. Learning about their traditions was so much fun for us. Fun fact: than half of the land is covered in forests!

Navigate this page: Missions, Booklists, Cooking, Composer Study, Folk Dance, Art Project, PE, Movie, Videos

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Complete Booklist

There were only a few books that had folktales or historical stories for these Baltic nations, so I am including them all below. For my summary of the documentary, “The Singing Revolution,” please scroll down to the “Movie” section. (The following are Amazon affiliate links that do not increase your price. I may earn a few cents on qualifying purchases.)

Cooking Baltic Food with Kids

We made Latvian Piragi and Lithuanian Cepeliani, basically each country’s version of the dumpling. The Lithuanian Cepeliani is difficult to make; all of them fell apart in their potato wrapper, so we salvaged dinner by sautéing and wrapping it up in a tortilla.

Estonian Deviled Eggs
Latvian Piragi
Lithuanian Cepeliani, before it fell apart

Composer Study

Chopin is (another) favorite composer of mine, from the neighboring country of Poland, so we started listening to his music during this study of the Baltic Nations. I could listen to his complete works forever, but here is a sampling of the types of dances and music he composed for piano:

Folk Dance and Music

Music is such a huge part of the culture in the Baltic States. The documentary, “The Singing Revolution,” was a powerful testament to this. Here is a 5-minute summary of it: Estonian Song Celebration (It contains some black and white footage of war from 1:12 to 1:28)

Art Project

I found quite a few websites and videos showing interesting methods of natural egg dyeing in Latvia and Lithuania. Since it was right around Easter, we tried it! Red is the most popular color to dye the eggs in Central and Eastern Europe. We were able to get the eggs a deep red by boiling the papery part of onion skins and soaking the eggs in it for a long time. We also tried using paprika for an orange dye, turmeric for a yellow dye, and blueberries for a purple dye. These Latvian nature eggs are my favorite. We didn’t try this other “tie-dyed” look, but maybe next year. According to this Lithuanian Easter website and this Latvian Easter website, they both do an egg-rolling ramp game at Easter. My kids had a blast and I think that tradition is a keeper!

Red dye from Onion Skins
Purple, Orange, and Yellow Dyes
Naturally dyed eggs
Latvian Nature Printed Eggs
We used the same dyes
Panty Hose is the most effective wrapping
Ramp-Rolling game in Latvia and Lithuania

My daughter loves flags, and we were inspired to make a landscape painting of Estonia’s flag. (The white stripe of the flag turned out too grayish–it had a bit too much silver paint mixed in with the white.) It reminds us that half of the Baltic states are covered in forests!

PE

There is a really interesting sport in Estonia called “Kiiking,” which is basically extreme swinging where you go 360 degrees around the swing apparatus. Check out this kiiking footage! Would you try it?

Movie

We watched the documentary, “The Singing Revolution.” As stated in my video review, I would recommend skipping the 2nd chapter about World War II for kids younger than Middle School. It is just a bit too graphic. While there are images of soldiers and tanks in the rest of the documentary, it is about peaceful protests and the power of song during the Soviet occupation of the Baltic Nations during the Cold War. It’s a very moving documentary. The insert is also a really interesting read about Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, very similar to this information on The Singing Revolution website. Here is a 5-minute summary of it: Estonian Song Celebration (It contains some black and white footage of war from 1:12 to 1:28)

YouTube Videos

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