CC Adventures Online
The activities on this page supplement the Circle C Adventures Enrichment Guide (eight books). Page numbers are included to show where in the guide the links to these activities are found. Enjoy these activities alone or with the print or instant download guide.
🔎 Jump to a Book’s Activities
- Long Ride Home
- Dangerous Decision
- Family Secret
- San Francisco Smugglers
- Trouble with Treasure
- Price of Truth
- Other Tales from the Circle C Ranch
- More Tales from the Circle C Ranch
1- Long Ride Home
Long Ride Home Chapters 1-5
Page 8 – Andi and Taffy. Click on the image to put together this 70-piece digital puzzle of Andi and her best friend, Taffy.
Long Ride Home Chapters 1-5
Page 11 – California Fly Over. This one-minute video shows scenes from California set to the song “California, Here I Come.” Note: California’s state flower is shown twice. What is the state flower?
2- Dangerous Decision
Dangerous Decision Chapters 1-4
Page 32 – “Race to the Finish Line.” Listen to this “behind the scenes” short story that tells the events when Andi and Cory raced on the Fourth of July, two months before Dangerous Decision opens.
Dangerous Decision Chapters 5-8
Page 41 – Life Cycle of a Butterfly. Watch this two-and-a-half minute video of the life cycle of a butterfly.
Dangerous Decision Chapters 9-13
Page 46 – Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Watch this powerful two-and-a-half minute video of the Gettysburg Address being read over a backdrop of Civil War videos.
3- Family Secret
Family Secret Chapters 1-4
Page 59 – Andi and Her New Kinfolk. Click on the image to put together a digital jigsaw puzzle of Andi, Levi, Betsy, and Hannah. Enjoy!
Family Secret Chapters 5-9
Page 67 – Parables of Jesus. Watch this two-minute excerpt from the popular Jesus Film to learn about the parable of the Sower and the Seeds.
Family Secret Chapters 10-14
Page 71 – Stagecoach Travel. Listen to this tune (“Goober Peas”) and sing along with the stagecoach song from the 1800s that made fun of the hard traveling conditions.
4- San Francisco Smugglers
San Francisco Smugglers Chapters 5-9
Page 88 – San Francisco Scenes. These photos highlight the “City by the Bay” in the 1880s, plus Miss Whitaker’s Academy.
San Francisco Smugglers Chapters 5-9
Page 88 – Cat’s Cradle. Learn to play this fun string game that Andi taught Lin Mei (four minutes).
San Francisco Smugglers Chapters 5-9
Page 90 – A Steamboat’s Paddlewheel. Jenny Grant traveled from Tacoma to San Francisco aboard a paddlewheel steamboat. This 20-second video shows a life-size replica of the paddlewheel from the 1800s steamboat Arabia.
San Francisco Smugglers Chapters 10-14
Page 93 – The Hiding Place. This three-minute movie trailer for The Hiding Place is a sneak peek of the story of Corrie ten Boom’s faith during the Holocaust of World War II and is inspiring. Maybe you will want to watch the full movie after seeing the trailer.
San Francisco Smugglers Chapters 10-14
Page 96 – Chinese Writing. In this fun, 3-minute video, you will learn how the Chinese came up with the characters they use in writing and why they look the way they do.
5- Trouble with Treasure
Trouble with Treasure Chapters 1-4
Page 106 – Panning for Gold. This two-and-a-half minute video shows the author’s family panning for gold in Stockton Creek, near Mariposa, California. Did we find gold? Watch and see!
Trouble with Treasure Chapters 1-4
Page 110 – The Real Annie Oakley. Watch the real Annie Oakley sharp shooting in this 39-second video from the Library of Congress archives.
Trouble with Treasure Chapters 9-13
Page 121 – A Lonesome Cougar. Watch these two fun excerpts from a Walt Disney 1967 wildlife film, Charlie the Lonesome Cougar. This is one of author’s (Mrs. M) all-time favorite movies about a cougar cub raised in a logging camp and sawmill in Washington state.
Fun fact: The cougar who played Charlie was the mascot for Washington State University (WSU Cougars). His name was Butch. As a child, Mrs. M (the author) used to watch Butch pace back and forth in his cage on campus.
Trouble with Treasure Chapters 9-13
Page 122 – Mountain Lions (Cougars). Learn more about cougars (mountain lions) by watching this one-and-a half-minute video.
Trouble with Treasure Chapters 14-17
Page 128 – Rattlesnakes. Listen to a rattlesnake’s buzzing rattle.
6- Price of Truth
Price of Truth Chapters 1-5
Page 131 – Spanish Words. Listen to the Spanish words for question #3 pronounced.
Price of Truth Chapters 16-20
Page 151 – Mother’s Music Box. Watch and listen to learn how a music box works. The key winds up a cylinder, which has small pins sticking up. The pins strike a “comb,” producing the sounds.
7- Other Tales from the Circle C Ranch
Orphan Calf
Page 160 – Feeding Stormy Night. Watch Ellie feed their orphan calf using a kitten bottle.
Orphan Calf
Page 160 – Rare Triplet Beef Calves. The true-life birth of three triplet beef calves.
Andi’s Christmas Ball
Page 162 – The Blue Danube Waltz. Listen to a 1.5-minute clip of the waltz, or listen to the entire musical score (nine minutes) by Johann Strauss.
Race to the Finish Line
Page 165 – How’s Your Spanish? Listen to these Spanish words and phrases. Try to pronounce the words the best you can.
Race to the Finish Line
Page 165 – The Star-spangled Banner. Listen to the national anthem of the United States.
Tarantula Trouble
Page 176 – Tarantula fun. Enjoy this one-minute video of Mrs. M and “Andi” having fun with tarantulas in the California Sierra foothills.
Tarantula Trouble
Page 177 – A tarantula molting. Watch this forty-five second video of a beautiful tarantula shedding its old skin.
8- More Tales from the Circle C Ranch
Roping Gone Wrong
Page 182 – Yokuts Making Acorn Mush. Watch the Yokut People make acorn mush (5 minutes).
Icy Encounter
Page 183 – Fun with Spanish. Listen to these Spanish words and phrases. Try to pronounce the words the best you can.
Icy Encounter
Page 184 – More Fun with Spanish. Listen to these Spanish words and phrases. Try to pronounce the words the best you can.
Icy Encounter
Page 184 – Mexican Hot Chocolate Recipe. At the end of the story, Andi, her family, and her friends enjoy tamales and Mexican hot chocolate. Tamales a little complicated to make, but anyone can make this tasty Mexican drink in less than ten minutes. Makes two servings.
- 2 cups milk and a sauce pan
- 2 Tbsp. cocoa power + 1 ounce dark chocolate
- 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. vanilla
- whipped cream (optional)
- Hershey bar to make shavings (optional)
- cinnamon sticks for stirring (optional)
Over medium-high heat, whisk together the milk, cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Add the dark chocolate and whisk until it melts. Pour into mugs. Add whipped cream and shave the Hershey bar over the mixture. Stir with a cinnamon stck. Enjoy!
A Close Call
Page 189 – A 19th Century “penny-farthing” Bicycle. Click the arrow at the bottom of this one-minute video to watch a demonstration on how to mount, ride, and brake (which Andi didn’t have the advantate of knowing) a penny-farthing bicycle.
Summer on the Sound
Page 191 – Giant Kelp Used as a Bullwhip. See kelp seaweed up close and watch Mrs. M, the author, try to pull Gideon’s trick with a giant kelp (1 minute).
Summer on the Sound
Page 193 – Barnacles and Crab in a Crab Pot. Watch how barnacles eat during high tide. Then watch how you catch crab off the pier (like the Grant kids) but with a metal cage instead of a barrel. (2 minutes)
Andi’s New Year’s Gala
Auld Lang Syne
Page 197 – “Auld Lang Syne.” Listen to the words of this old, old song. The words were written in 1788, and the tune composed in 1799.