Camp -Day 7

We have a windy and nice day. It would be nice to have it a few degrees warmer, but it is not raining, so we can't complain.

We spent the whole morning outside. We had:

• Fishing- water tubs with magnetic fish and magnetic fishing poles.
• We had paper with cut out star shapes and red, white blue paint. The children rolled rollers dipped in red and blue paint over the stars and when they took the paper off they had a 4th of July picture!
• We did a new fun project using rolling pins wrapped with plastic lei's. The children rolled the lei in paint and then rolled it on the paper.
  
• We had water tubs out.
• We had books and small toys on the blankets.
• We ended up putting the sprinkler out today for a little while. The children had fun in it and then wrapped up in their towels and went in the sun to warm up.

All in all, another great camp day. Two more to go this week, then we have a week break and back for three weeks of camp in July, the time has just flown by!

Camp-Day 6

It was a cool day today, with some potential rain, so we planned for an indoor day with some outside fun at the end.

We used colored glue (we make our own - just take the tip of a marker that has dried up and put it in a bottle of glue) and dis solvable packing peanuts. The children dipped the packing peanuts in glue and put them onto paper plates to make creations.

We had out small group games, blocks, legos, the free art tables and we also opened up the halls for the children to go out there to play bowling, climb through the tunnels, and do hop scotch. They could also go into either room to play, so they thought that was really fun. We had some movement music activities and we went outside for about 20 minutes. While we would love to have beautiful weather each day, the children enjoyed today and seem to like the inside/outside days just as much.

See you next week.!

Camp- Day 5- after the storms

We were able to be outside today, but no sprinklers as it was cooler. After the bad storms last night and with most of our families without power, we were fortunate to have power here at school. We had water tables set up, the blankets with books and building toys. We did painting at the brushes with big brushes, and we did fingerpainting with shaving cream mixed with fingerpaint at the tables. About mid morning, some rain suddenly popped up, so we grabbed our stuff and ran inside for the rest of the morning.

Camp- Day 4

We had a hot sunny morning-finally! We were able to get the sprinkler out and a lot of other fun water activities too.

We:

• Used the new Fisher Price ball sprinkler, it was so much fun.
• Used big boxes with paper in them and a variety of balls dipped in paint. Then two of us rolled the balls back and forth to create a design. We had tennis balls, wiffle balls, and ping pong balls- they all created different patterns as they rolled. The art creations are hanging in the halls. This is a great team project.
  
• We had stencils and markers at the table.
• In advance, we froze water in large bowls. We brought it out in tubs with paint brushes and watercolors.
• We had the water tables out with plenty of water toys to explore.
• We had the dinosaurs and sand out on one of the tables.
• We got out buckets, sponges, and fun tools to wash the playground equipment.
• Plus we had books, and some activities to sit on the blankets and have some relaxing fun.
• We blew up some beach balls to toss around.
• We added some new sand toys and some sifters to the sand boxes.
• We also got some more bug catchers- they are the big summer hit!
  

We had a great day and we have a great group of children in camp, every day just flies by!

Fly swatter painting

This fun process art group project is done by putting out trays of bright colored paint and new fly swatters. The children just smack the fly swatters again the paper (which we attach with clips to the easel boards by the fence).

Powder Paint Pictures

This is a cool process art project where the children dip a brush into water, then into the powder paint and onto the paper. We have done it before on white paper and liked it, but the black paper really made the colors pop.

Camp Day 3 - another great day!

We had a nice day outside- not hot, but warm enough to play outside in the playground all morning. We had a few dark clouds come in, but no rain in sight on radar, so the fun continued.

The children played with the water tables full of toys, the sand boxes, and the big hit of the day was the bug catchers! We look for bugs and put them in the bug houses until it is time to go home, then we sent them free!

We did painting with fly swatters and bright colors as a group project on the fence easels.

We did painting on black construction paper with powder paint and water. The children dip the brush in water, then in the powder paint and it made bright beautiful pictures. I will do a separate posting with both projects and pictures.

We also had tubs with wet sand and plastic dinosaurs and buckets with water, magnetic fish and magnetic fishing poles for the children to do pretend fishing.

We ended our morning with music time and said our goodbyes until next Tuesday. We had a great first week of camp!

Camp -Day 2 - rainy day fun!

We had a rainy wet morning that was quite chilly today, so we stayed inside for most of the morning, but we went out to play for the last twenty minutes.

We had fun inside in spite of the weather. The teachers set up activities in the hall, we had croquette, inside basketball, bowling, and a shape game using real people as the pieces. We also had activities in the classrooms including a fun art project that will be a gift for dad for Father's day.

We sang songs, read stories and had some great rainy day fun!

Camp- Day 1

We had a great day at camp today. The weather was a little cool, but dry and warmed up during the morning. We had two water tables out with water toys, the children did chalk drawings on the sidewalk and we had two different art project going on. One was a process art of spraying watered down tempra paint from a hand squeezed sprayed ( so also good for fine motor skills). The process is fun, the children loved spraying the paint, but the more they sprayed, the lighter the colors became until some pictures just looked like we sprayed water on the paper. They definitely enjoyed the process though. The other project we did at the tables today, we had a variety of bug stampers and glitter paint and the children stamped pretty colorful bugs all over their paper.

We also had the sand boxes open, and the climbers we a hit. We had blankets out with books and duplo legos for the children to create. We had a nice snack and we ended the morning with music time.

All of the children got along so well, it was a great day!

Camp Starts Tuesday, June 14, 2011

If your child is enrolled in camp, please bring them to the first floor Tuesday morning. Camp starts at 9:15 and ends at 11:45. Camp is Tue., Wed., Thurs. mornings. (Camp enrollment is closed- we are full)

• We play with water a LOT; sprinklers, buckets of water and sponges, and water tables with toys, so dress to get wet. If the temperature will be above 75 degrees, we will use the sprinklers.
  
• We suggest swim suits most days, the children just enjoy running around in them to play. Put their swim suit on under their clothes when you bring them to school.
• Water shoes, or sandals that can get wet are important.
  
• We do very messy art in the summer, so save to good clothes for other occasions.
• Send in a towel- please write their name on the tag or elsewhere, sometimes two children bring the same kind of towel.
• You were assigned a snack, either juice or crackers, just bring it one time; not each day.
• Put sun screen on your child before you come to camp.
  
• We do not get the children redressed at the end of the morning, you can either take them home wet, or take them into school to get them dressed.
• We always have water available to drink, so no need to send in water bottles.
  

Our basic schedule for the morning is as follows:

9:15 - arrival, greet everyone , story time, play in the room with a few minutes until everyone is there.

9:35- 9:40 - stop in the bathroom on the way outside and head to the playground.

9:40-11:25- enjoy the fun in the (hopefully) sun. We do art, water play, sand play, games, small quiet toys on blankets, books and stories on blankets, and so much more. We also do snack during this time.

11:25-11:45 - clean up and music time to end our morning.

11:45 - pick up your child from the playground.

If the weather is rainy, we do all kinds of fun indoor activities.

Sand and Water fun in a small container

You don't have to have a lot of space or a big sandbox for some sand and water fun. Buy a bag of white play sand (it is cleaner with less dust) and pour a little into each of two containers. Add some empty plastic containers, some small rocks and if you have them some sea shells. You can even add some sticks. Pour water into one of the containers with the sand so your child can explore wet and dry sand. If you have a few toy cars or trucks, they can add to the fun. When you are done, pour off the excess water and let the sand dry out.