Constructing a California mission model is a project for learning about the architecture and locations of missions. Most children take field trips to study local missions, and recreating the mission would help students understand their local history. Students may take measurements of the real missions and build a scale model from old cardboard boxes. Use a thin piece of plywood for the base and cut the walls out of cardboard. Glue the walls together and use corrugated paper for the tiled roof. Paint the model and add model grass and trees.
Fourth-graders can study the daily lives of missionaries and the local natives by reading accounts from real historical figures such as Father Junípero Serra. Students can make food, such as tortillas and visit historical museums with artifacts from the period. Each student can write a short narrative about a person in the mission, such as a priest or a native. Classes can read their accounts and create a video documentary about the daily lives of missionaries and Native Americans.
Games are a hands-on activity that will help students learn more about the facts surrounding California missions. Students may work on one board game or split into groups to make separate board games. Students can use cardboard to make the board and use thick card stock to create any playing pieces for the game. The fourth-graders may make question-and-answer board games, games about building missions, or games about Native Americans who live near missions.
Children can also work on art projects about California missions. After studying the missions, children may draw or paint their own missions on paper. Using air-dry clay, students can sculpt architectural elements found on California missions. Older students may take a field trip and sketch local missions, while some students may work on weaving and pottery based on indigenous artifacts of the mission period.