Sunday, July 19, 2009

Thursday summer camp

The kids are having a great time, running around in their bathing suits and oblivious to the cool weather. The teachers had cornstarch goop for the kids today, which is a fun, messy, concoction made with just water and cornstarch. It has both a liquid and solid consistency; when you pick it up, it will feel like a solid, but then, it will pour through your fingers too. The great part is, it is easily washable from both kids and fabric. They also took some of the cornstarch mix and used paint brushes to paint pictures on the sidewalks. At the end of the day, we just hosed it all away!

Today we also put up a tent with books inside, the kids loved having the tent, at first almost all of them were checking it out; a few stayed in there most of the morning.

We have one more week of camp, here is hoping for good weather!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Today sure looked like it was going to be another rain out for camp, but the rain stopped by early morning and we were able to be outside all morning. Today, the children fingerpainted, and also painted on large mural paper on the fence (which they then sprayed the paint with water bottles to see the paint run and blend). We also had plenty of water play, with tubs of water, sponges in water, brush water painting, and frozen water! The children were able to take eye droppers with liquid water colors and drop it onto the frozen blocks of ice to see the colors blend and the ice melt.
Another big hit today was that we brought out a tunnel and the children made a fort, so tomorrow we are going to bring out the tent. It is great when their ideas and how they use some equipment brings forth a new plan.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Summer Camp

Summer Camp: This summer weather has been awful here in the Chicago area. But, at least the kids are still having fun and do not seem to mind the weather at all! The teachers have done a wonderful job of coming up with activites and fun, messy art even in this lousy weather. Today the children painted on bubble wrap that was attached to the fence and then they pressed paper onto the paint to make a print. One layer on top of another, one child creating a new painting on top of another's added a new dimension to the project. Then the children having to press the paper on to the bubble wrap on a chain link fence also gave them the opportunity to problem solve.