Camps: June 24 - June 28

• TIE DYE with SHAWN
• FAIRY HOUSES with LISA
• JUMP ROPE with JILLIAN
• BUBBLES with BRIDGET
• POTATO SACK RACE with KERRY
• CAMPING with GRIFFIN
• LEAF PRINTS with CAIT

TIE DYE with SHAWN
In tie-dye we had the pleasure of mixing scientific exploration, crafting, and color-theory. We went through the process of setting up our work space, looked at our available materials and talked about their uses, created dye using water and soda ash, wet and bound our material, and experiented with color while dying it. 

FAIRY HOUSES with LISA
We had such a magical, creative time building our small-scale fairy houses! We talked about fairies and what their homes might look like before we started and then took turns adding materials. To create our structures, we used: Popsicle sticks, cardboard, shells, tiles, glass stones, feathers, scrabble tiles, wooded dowels, colored sand, tissue paper and fake grass. Each day, the group made a new house and the results and ideas varied in design. Lulu added a tiny stop sign. She said was not for the fairies, but to keep humans away and Maki was very inventive in his use of fake grass to create a swinging door with a peephole! The finished houses are on display for now in the Science Room. I am going to ask the children in Classroom's 8 and 6 if they would like to use them for creative play in the classroom.

JUMP ROPE with JILLIAN
While summer weather officially set in I had the pleasure of jumping rope with new friends! We practiced the basics of jump rope and learned the importance of boundaries and safety while flinging ropes overhead. With some practice, we then explored use of a larger jump rope and practiced swinging with a friend while another friend tried to jump on in! Other highlights of the week included the creative ways in which friends thought to use the jump rope. We had lassoing cowboys tying up orange cones, fashion designers twisting up jump rope fashions, and we worked together to create multiple jump rope obstacle courses. I was impressed with all the imaginative play at work with the jump ropes and had a whole bunch of fun in the sun!

BUBBLES with BRIDGET
Bubbles was a blast this week. We made our own "bubble juice," as the kids called it, out of dish soap, water and corn syrup. It was a great week to be outside in the sunshine. We used a variety of objects as bubble wands, like jar lids or our hands. The kids also made some of their own wands out of pipe cleaners. Just blowing and popping bubbles was great fun, but we also observed and experimented a lot. Several students noticed "rainbows" on the surface of the bubbles. Then it was discovered that a wet soapy hand could pass right through the surface of a bubble without popping it. They called it their magic trick and performed it for anyone passing by.  What a super, though somewhat soapy week.

POTATO SACK RACE with KERRY
This week we brought new life to the classic potato sack race. Hopping around the room in pillow cases just isn't enough fun so we added some excitement by creating a room-sized obstacle course. We laid out all the mats we could find to create a winding track throughout room 8. We then inserted tables for tunnels, gaps for rivers and even some hot lava. The kids competed against themselves by trying to beat their fastest time around the course. We even started giving stars to the kids that completed each obstacle. We had a blast!

CAMPING with GRIFFIN
In our “camping” summer camp, we loaded up our pretend gear to go on our backpacking hike. We filled our imaginary backpacks with a sleeping pad, a tent, a sleeping bag, a water, food for an overnight hike, a camping stove. After exploring imaginary caves with our headlamps, moving around cliffs, ducking under waterfalls, our campers ended up in the clearing (Room 5) where we had a trampoline campfire pit and a real tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat, and camping lantern! We sang campfire songs after gathering firewood. We learned about using tinder, kindling and fuel wood to both get a campfire started with matches and keep it burning for a long time.
We learned how to “Bear Bag” our food, by hanging it with ropes on a tree to keep animals from being attracted to our site. After we finished making our dinner and roasting our marshmallows to make pretend delicious s’mores, we gathered in the tent to tell bedtime “round” stories. One person began the tale and then we went around the circle and each person added to the story. At night we sent out a pair of explores to check out our campsite and make sure everything was in order.
In the morning we learned how to roll our sleeping bag.
Now we are all ready to go camping in the woods with our families!


LEAF PRINTS with CAIT

We explored different ways to make leaf rubbings this week, using different papers and drawing materials for varied effects.  After trying leaf rubbings with actual (dried) leaves and crumbling most of them, we ended up sticking with plastic leaf molds to make the rubbings.  With stacks of leaf prints in hand, each preschooler had a different plan for what to do with them.  Long strings of different leaves were glued together and decorated, and cards and notes were embellished with leaf rubbings.  As a group, and over a couple days, we also made a tree to add our leaves to.  (One card was also made for the tree, and stuck up in the branches.) A leafy crown finished out a fairy costume, over a conversation about what leaves do for trees and plants.