Ready to Travel

Okay, here we go!

It’s the first week of  “Summer Camp at Home”.

Getting Ready to Travel:

6/10-6/14/13	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Songs	The Wheels on the Bus	She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain	We’re Going on a Bear Hunt	A Sailor Went to Sea Sea Sea	Father’s Day songs
Story	Felt Board Story	Travel books	Travel books	Father’s Day books	Father’s Day books
Games	Vehicle Memory	Move Like This-vehicle copycat	Blueberry Picking Trip	Bubble Play Day	Fly a kite
Art/Science	Paint Passport	Messy Shirt Smock: tie-dye or paint	Blueberry Picking Trip	Bubble Wand/ Bubble Painting	Travel Suitcase

I had said the theme this summer was Traveling Around the Globe, so this first week is about getting ready to go. We’re making passports and suitcases, getting them packed up and ready for our “trip”. We’ll read stories and sing songs about traveling. Since Father’s Day is this Sunday, we’ll make a project (Painting with Bubbles) that can be turned into a card or poster for Daddy.

Most projects, songs and games have links to instructions found online somewhere. (You’d be surprised how you can find entire preschool curricula online if you know where to look. Like this!) For books, take a trip to your local library for a wide selection on any topic. I have a fairly good collection of picture books built up over the years from Scholastic Book Clubs. These clubs are only available through a classroom or school setting, so talk to your child’s teacher if you don’t already receive book club order forms. Otherwise, you can still get great deals from their website, http://store.scholastic.com/, or Amazon.com, or your local library book sales (often just .50 per book).

I’ll be posting pictures in the Visual Aids category as the week goes by of projects and games. So excited to see how little Monkey Nose enjoys her very own Camp experience!

Summer… camp? A bit of blogkeeping

So, summer is coming, and I want to have a routine in place so it doesn’t fly by before we get anything (fun) accomplished.

Monkey Nose at a splash park last summer

I’m planning on taking lots of trips to the beach, aquarium, park, farm market, etc, and none of that will happen if I just let it “go with the flow”! Also, I would like to work our way through an “Around the Globe” curriculum I used a few years ago in a preschool summer camp. That’s a pretty ambitious looking summer, so a plan is definitely necessary!

Here’s my tentative outline so far:

8:00 – Breakfast

8:30 – Songs and Story time (introducing the day’s activities)

9:15 -** Outdoor time (before the heat of the day) like the baby pool or gardening or a trip to the playground

10:30 – Snack

11:00 – Art/Science activity

11:30 – Freeplay/Games

12:30 – Lunch

1:00 – Quiet time (we don’t always nap, but we always take a rest for at least an hour because Mama needs it!)

**On days that we stay home, we’ll follow this schedule, but on days with a trip planned, we’ll most likely be leaving around this time. That means snack and lunch may be on the road, and art and freeplay are off the schedule. But trips are definitely worth this sacrifice!

Every week, I’ll post up our proposed activities for the week, and then put up some pics, reviews, and cute memories (because we know Monkey Nose will be throwing wrenches in my plans all along the way).

Next week, we’ll start with getting our props for “traveling around the globe” ready, like a cardboard suitcase, play passport, and (of course) a messy shirt/smock for arts and crafts time! We’ll sing songs like “She’ll Be Comin’ ‘Round the Mountain” and play matching games with traveling vehicles. Check in on Monday for song lyrics and game templates.

We’re looking forward to an exciting adventure with you this summer!