Cooking / Science Camp

We took a break from our summer camps and went on vacation. Much needed.

This week is Science/Cooking Camp!

Ideas:

Food Art
Bubbles Recipe
Rock Candy
Farmer's Market

And as many activities as we can fit in from this website:

http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/sci/

Water Safety

We are off to the pool! Found this website with a download study unit on water safety - it's 40 pages but I just printed off a few. I found the safe swimming rules and buoyancy experiment especially useful.

Grass Heads aka Homemade Chia Pets

We made grass heads! A boy and girl with no names, as of yet. Here's how we did it:

1. Eat applesauce, yogurt, or pudding and wash out the containers.

2. Find an old pair of nylons, cut off feet

3. Add about 1 tsp of grass seed to nylon foot

4. Add about 1 cup soil

5. Tie a knot

6. Keep about an inch of the tail and cut off the rest.

7. Work the seeds into the soil a bit (you can see them a little on the top)

8. Fill container half way with water

9. Place grass head on top with tail submerged in the water

10. Decorate, place in a sunny location, and watch them grow!

11. They will need a hair cut from time to time.

Scout Camp

This one has been a little harder for me to plan. I have no experience with scouts, except a faint memory of my brothers repeating the scout motto over and over again. None the less, here are my ideas:

1. Visit the county fair, see all the animals

2. Indoor camp in a new room each night

3. Go on a hike with a map and compass

4. Bike Safety

5. Water safety at the pool

6. Knot Tying

7. Have a Pinewood derby race

8. Geocaching

9. Fire in a can and roasting marshmallows

10. Rock Museum

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).

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

Camping In

We have a Labor Day tradition that allows the kids to camp, while I sleep blissfully in my own bed.


Play Equipment:

1. Play huts and blankets
2. Flashlights
3. Marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers
4. Toilet paper wick heater

Set up your tent in an adventurous location (like the family room), draping blankets over play huts (or make your own fort). Use your flashlights to make shadow puppets and tell ghost stories (not too scary, you do want them to sleep tonight). Head for the backyard and use the heater to roast marshmallows and make smores.

Optional: get up in the morning and find the closest wildlife area. We went hiking, caught tadpoles, picked wild blackberries, and got plenty dirty. All the benefits of camping, with all the comforts of home!

Better than Paper Boats

Play Equipment

1. Wax paper
2. Aluminum foil
3. Paper boat instructions
4. Sticks to push the boats along

My 5 year old adores origami transportation. Many, many times I have crafted a piece of copy paper into an airplane or boat. The airplanes seemed worth my time, providing at least a half hour of entertainment. But the paper boats always left a bit to be desired, sinking much too soon. Their untimely demise made Chad wonder what we could use instead of paper, and our alternative paper boat experiment began.

Using these instructions, I folded one boat with wax paper and another with aluminum foil. Chad chose the foil, asking me first which one was the hardest to fold (it was the foil). He thought the resistance would make it stronger - and he was right.

The wax paper boat immediately fell apart, but the foil boat lasted for at least an hour! Even when it sank, we just picked it up, drained it, reformed it, and set sail! The foil boat was very popular, Chad even gained a few spectators. After rolling down a grassy hill and poking sticks into the pond, we considered the afternoon well spent.

Need more ideas? Head on over to Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.

Blueberry Fields

I was a little worried this morning, when I realized blueberry season is just about over. As soon as we could get ready, we headed for the blueberry fields.

My little one was a bit of a handful, eating a berry whenever he pleased.


My older two kiddies were much more helpful, gathering about a gallon (most of my berries will be frozen for smoothies or just for eating frozen right out of the bag).



All the while, I dreamed of this.

And on the way out, we paid for our berries with a little blue box.


It's kind of nice to know that there is at least one place that still believes in the honesty of others.

Find a u pick farm near you here.

Road Travel Games

While planning our long trek, I found these websites useful:

Wonder Time Travel Board

Family Fun Puzzles & Games

Moms Minivan Printable Car Activities

Crayola Traveling Games

Scholastic Travel-Time Activities

Nick Jr. Travel

May your road trip miles pass quickly!

On the Road

We just got back from a 1600 mile road trip that was not entirely unsuccessful. The kids did much better than I expected. A few of my favorite items:

1. Printable map: we checked off each state as we found the corresponding license plates. Educational and fun.

2. Chicken Socks Totally Tape: hours of entertainment (hours!) for my 3 and 5 year old. My 3 year old needed help tearing, but had lots of fun applying the tape.

More road trip ideas to come!

Free Movies!

Regal Cinema has a Free Family Film Festival with free admission for the entire family! Every Tuesday and Wednesday they run two different movies (one rated G and one PG). Click here to see if you have a theater near you.

Summer Loot

Just doing my part to stimulate the economy by purchasing a few summer items at the dollar store (The Dollar Tree to be exact). What did I find?

1. A bug kit

2. Badminton rackets

3. Splash balls

4. Bubbles

5. Beach balls

6. Water blaster tubes

7. Swim Ring and arm floats

Did I forget anything? Perhaps a hula hoop. I plan on handing them out one day at a time, just spreading the joy a bit.

Summer Reading Programs

Nothing's better than reading a good summer book, except perhaps when your child is reading a good summer book. Summer reading programs are a great way to keep those pages turning. Here are a few I found online:

Scholastic Summer Challenge

Barnes and Noble Summer Reading

H.E. Buddy Reading Club

Borders Kids Reading Challenge

Don't forget to check your local library!

Need a few ideas for fun books to read? Try the Amazon Reading Zoo, with favorite titles for every grade level.

Summer Prep Idea #2

Thanks to my sister, I have another action plan for summer. Pick a theme for each day of the week! Here are a few ideas:

1. Library Day

2. Arts & Crafts Day

3. Water Day (swimming pool, sprinklers)

4. Friend Day

5. Park Day (visit a new park each week)

6. Cooking Day

7. Gardening Day

The possibilities are endless. I'm going to resist structuring and scheduling, but having a vague idea of the day's events when I wake up might be a good thing.

Summer Activity Calendar

School days coming to a close? Don't panic, just be prepared. I found an activity calendar at PBS Kids that is sure to entertain and educate.