We went camping last weekend, and so it became a perfect choice for this week's theme.
Previous Summer Themes:
Week 1 - Ice Cream
Week 2 - Monsters
Monday - Math
For our math activity this week, we reviewed shapes with an engineering twist. Marshmallows are a huge part of camping. So we used them with toothpicks to create some 2D shapes. I created this invitation, and left it for when the kids were ready.
I love how well they worked together!
They created a square, a triangle and a rectangle. Here they are, pretty pleased with themselves.
Then I asked them to create some 3D shapes as well. Honey Pot learned the names of them in Kindergarten (such as cube, rectangular prism and pyramid). I had expected the kids to go in that direction, but they interpreted my instructions to mean any 3D construction. I didn't fight it! I let them built as they wished. It started with a simple house.
Then it just exploded into this.
And finally...into this! They had a blast.
Tuesday - Literacy
This week we borrowed a few camping books from the library. We love Ladybug Girl so that was our favorite for this week; as well as the Curious George, which came from our home collection.
In addition to the books we'd been reading this week, I also offered a quick rhyming activity. I made "tents" out of scraps of paper, and provided the kids with pictures that they had to sort into the appropriate tent. First it was Honey Pot's turn. I asked her to create our Rhyme Time Campground by arranging the tents where she wished.
Then I had her name the item in the picture, and place it inside its tent.
In the end, all of the items made it back to their own tents. Little M&M had a turn as well, though we played a little differently, to accommodate his reading level!
Wednesday - Computer and Craft
The kids each had a little time on the I-Pad today, unrelated to our theme. But we also created campfires! First we went outside to collect some sticks. Then I asked the kids to arrange them the way they wanted them; and I used a hot glue gun to adhere them to our cardboard. We scrunched up pieces of crepe paper for our fire. And even added a hand, skewer and marshmallow. Little M&M had been asking to do this craft for a while, since he didn't get to do it with Honey Pot during our previous camping unit in 2014. I think they came out cute!
Thursday - Sensory or Science
We did a quick science experiment today that sort of goes along with camping. On our camping trip we used a lot of sunscreen! Whether we were heading out on an adventure, or just relaxing at the beach at our campground, we applied plenty of sunscreen! I came across this neat idea from Playdough to Plato to show the harsh effects of the sun when sunscreen is not used. I sprayed each child's hand with sunscreen and allowed them to make a hand-print on one side of the paper. Then we left it out in the sun for 3-4 hours. We talked about why we use sunscreen, and I asked them to guess what might happen to the paper.
Later when we came to see if there was a difference, we brought with us an unused sheet of paper for comparison. We could clearly see that the sun had faded the color on the paper, even in such a short time. Though it stayed protected where there was a sunscreen hand-print. Imagine if we had left it out for even longer!
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