The Wetlands

Made a trip to the wetlands this week. All were impressed! So much wildlife in such a small area. I'd like to go back again (with a bird book), maybe in the spring?

Animal Facts

The plan is to have the kiddies pick a favorite animal, do a little research and then tell us all about it at the zoo. Here are a few useful websites:

National Geographic Kids

Yahoo Kids

Scavenger Hunt

It's amazing how much more you pay attention to things when you're hoping to check off a few little boxes. We had lots of fun on our outdoor scavenger hunt. We crossed a stream, found blue dragon flies, ate wild blackberries, and crossed a few things off of this list.

Camp Wild Things

Here is my list of fun things to do this week:

1. Go to the zoo
2. Go to nature park, bird watch and make nature bracelets
3. Outdoor scavenger hunt
4. Bug catching
5. Make grass seed heads
6. Make plant cuttings

Art Camp Wrap-up

So much for posting every day. Turns out my art camp aspirations were a little high, but we did get two more projects in:

Sock Beanies

Materials:
Small Socks
Glue
Sharpee Marker
Beans or Lentils
Googly Eyes

1. Fill a small sock with beans or lentils (used a funnel from a magazine).
2. Tie a knot in the end
3. Glue on eyes and color in face
4. Done!

Rock Pets

1. Paint rock
2. Dry
3. Decorate! We used pom poms, googly eyes, rick rack, flower lace, & cross stitch floss (made excellent hair and a mustache).

Art Camp - Day 1

So, I looked really hard for shrinky dinks (actually, I just went to one store) and could not find them. Perhaps they are not as popular as they were in the 80's. Anyways, I found these instead:

I found them at JoAnn's in the dollar section. The kits came with a metal frame, crystals that melt in the oven, and a suction cup. The kiddies loved them, but I used the tweezers a bit more than I care to.

We also made creature collages, cutting out random heads, legs, and arms from magazines.

Art camp has already been declared a success! So far, so good.

Summer Camp

I took a long break, but I'm ready to go again! This summer, to entertain and educate the kiddies, I am setting up camp. Each week will have a different camp theme:

Week 1: Art Camp
Week 2: Camp Wild Things
Week 3: Scout Camp (a suggestion from my not-yet-old-enough-for-scouts child)
Week 4: Sports Camp
Week 5: Cooking/Science Camp
Week 6: Pioneer Camp

The plan is to have 2 activities (one for morning & one for afternoon). I will start posting results next week. Wish me luck!

If you want a little preview, this is the master list for Art Camp:

Twig name plate
Watercolor in nature
Collage of creatures
Friendship bracelets
Apple heads
Crayon scratching
Log cabins
Rock buddies
Sock beanies
Shrinky dinks