LET'S GO CAMPING

The world keeps changing, but children are the same! They love to build tents, hide in tents, read in tents, and play with friends in tents. You can make these tents in your classroom or outdoors with your own children this summer. Give them a blanket, box, pillows, and let those engineering skills begin!

Card Table Tent
Drape a blanket over a card table or picnic table. Spread a sleeping bag on the ground for a cozy retreat.




Porch Railing Tent
Pin one end of a blanket to the railing of a deck or porch. Pull out the opposite end and secure at an angle with bricks or rocks. This is a "cool" place for a game or nap from the summer sun.


Cardboard Castle
An appliance box or other large box can be a "castle" to a child. Cut out doors and a window with a utility knife. (An adult will need to do this!) Let the children decorate with paints, markers, or crayons.

Here's another cool project you can do with a cardboard box.


Car Wash
Cut the top and bottom out of an appliance box and place it on its side so it looks like a tunnel. Cut the bottom off of a large plastic garbage bag. Cut up the seam on one side to open the bag. Cut 2" strips up from the bottom of the bag stopping 3 inches from the top of the bag. Tape the garbage bag to the top of the box to create the swishers, then let the children ride their toys through the box.


Back Pack
You will need a grocery sack, a small piece of Velcro, and two strips of fabric cut 2” by 24” for this project. Cut off three sides of the sack half way down. Fold down the remaining side and secure with Velcro. To add straps, cut four 2 ½” slits on the back. Thread the strips of fabric through that and tie the ends in knots. Let children decorate with markers or crayons.



Come back tomorrow for some snacks your campers will enjoy.

 

TENTS AND CARDBOARD CASTLES

Who wants to do worksheets when you can go outside and play? These dramatic play ideas will be fun this summer at school, at home, or at grandma's house.

Card Table Tent
Drape a blanket over a card table or picnic table. Spread a sleeping bag on the ground for a cozy retreat. 

Porch Railing Tent
Pin one end of a blanket to the railing of a deck or porch. Pull out the opposite end and secure at an angle with bricks or rocks. This is a "cool" place for a game or nap from the summer sun.


Back Pack
You will need a grocery sack, a small piece of Velcro, and two strips of fabric cut 2” by 24” for this project. Cut off three sides of the sack half way down. Fold down the remaining side and secure with Velcro. To add straps, cut four 2 ½” slits on the back. Thread the strips of fabric through that and tie the ends in knots. Let children decorate with markers or crayons. 

Cardboard Castle
An appliance box or other large box can be a "castle" to a child. Cut out doors and a window with a utility knife. (An adult will need to do this!) Let the children decorate with paints, markers, or crayons.

Here's another cool project you can do with a cardboard box.


Car Wash
Cut the top and bottom out of an appliance box and place it on its side so it looks like a tunnel. Cut the bottom off of a large plastic garbage bag. Cut up the seam on one side to open the bag. Cut 2" strips up from the bottom of the bag stopping 3 inches from the top of the bag. Tape the garbage bag to the top of the box to create the swishers, then let the children ride their toys through the box.


Dress Up
Do you have an old suitcase in the attic or basement? Find some old shoes, hats, jewelry, nightgowns, or other old clothes and let the children play dress-up.


Bubble Cups
These are so much fun that even I can't resist doing them. Put a little water, food coloring, and dish detergent in a cup. Practice blowing OUT through a straw and then put the straw in the cup and blow. (If you don't teach the kids how to blow out before you do this project you'll get a lot of soapy mouths!!!)

THE EARTH BOOK

Your students are going to be so proud of this “Earth Book” when they take it home to share with their families.  Yes, it's going to take a few days to construct, but well worth the effort of creating a project from start to finish.

Materials: 8” squares of the following colors:
2 orange, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 brown, 1 purple

To construct the book place down the orange square for the back of the book. Place the “purple sky” on top of this, then the “brown mountains,” “yellow sun,” “blue water,” “green tree,” and finally the front cover with the circle cut out. Staple on the left side. Younger children can read this as a wordless book. Older children can write descriptive sentences on each page. 

Hint! Your students will be overwhelmed to do this all in one day, so stretch this project out by asking them to just do 2 or 3 pages a day.

Here's a pdf with the patterns.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljeDFJVUJzb05xSlU/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-1D8Ns1zqp9yH8z7d9yT4uA




Earth Week Crowns

This is another craft your students will enjoy creating this week.

1st Take children on a walk and invite them to pick up small, light objects from the ground. (Remind them to never pull leaves or flowers off plants.)

2nd  Give them sentence strips, crayons, markers, and glue. Let them decorate their sentence strips with things that they love in nature. Glue the items they collected to the sentence strips and then adjust to their heads and staple to make crowns.

STICK TO IT!

Ever heard of the KISS principle? Keep It Simple Sticks! Here are some hands-on tools to engage children in reading, writing, math, games, and construction with inexpensive jumbo craft sticks.


Pointers 

Glue a large googly eye to the end of a stick. Tell children to “keep their eye” on the word as they track a line of print.
*Can their eye find the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence?
A word wall word they can read? A noun?
*Fake jewels and other small objects can also be used to make pointers.

*Children can "kiss their brains" with the heart.

Space Man 

Glue a picture of a space man on a stick. Children can use “space man” between their words as they write.

Comprehension Sticks 

Write “Who?” “What?” “Where?” “When?” “Why?” on sticks and insert them in a sock. Throw the sock over your shoulder before reading to prompt the children to be active listeners. After reading the story, let children choose a stick and tell that part.

*You could also write “author, illustrator, title, beginning, middle, end” or “characters, setting, problem, resolution.”

Math Sticks 

Use the sticks for making sets, counting, tally, creating shapes, addition, subtraction, patterning, and so forth. They can also make bundles of ten (rubber band ten sticks together) and use them to demonstrate place value.

Games 

Use sticks to make game pieces. Write skills on most of the sticks and write “BOOM!” on two or three. Place in a can. Children take turns drawing sticks and reading the information. If they choose “BOOM!” they must return all their sticks back to the can.

*Fiddlestick is a similar game. Color the ends of the sticks different colors. Write skills on the sticks. Place the sticks with the colored end in the can. Choose a color. Pass the can around, and if a child chooses the designated color they yell, “Fiddlestick” and return all their sticks to the can.

Skill Sticks 

Instead of flash cards, write skills (letters, numbers, words, math facts,
phrases, vocabulary, etc.) on sticks.

                                       

Puppets 

Use children’s photos, drawings, or magazine people to make puppets children can use to retell a story, role play, or in other creative ways. 

Construction Sticks

Give children sticks, tape, clay, glue and see what those little engineers can create.    

MARCH ENGINEERS

Hop on the STEAM bandwagon with these activities. Students could do these independently, with a study buddy, or in a small group.

Flying Objects

Let children design kites, paper airplanes, or other objects that will fly.

Hint! There are lots of good websites and videos where you can learn how to make paper airplanes.


Egg Drop

Give children a lunch bag and ask them to collect recycled materials at home. Divide them into small groups and give each group a raw egg. Can they design a container (using the recycled materials, tape, etc.) that will protect the egg if they drop it?

Stand on a chair and drop the egg.
What happens if you drop the egg from the top of the climber on the playground?
*Let students predict which group’s container will be the most effective.

Leprechaun Trap

Challenge children to use recycled materials to create a trap for leprechauns. They could do this at home with their parents or as a small group project.
*Encourage them to explain their contraption.
*Write creative stories about what they would do if they caught a leprechaun.
*Let them create a leprechaun trap with unit blocks or Legos.

WANTED: ENGINEERS

Engineering is the design process used to solve problems and build things. Children are natural engineers as they play with blocks and Legos, create things in art, or build a fort outside with their friends. Here are a few other activities that will give your little “engineers” a job.

Engineer Planning Book
Write “Engineer Planning Book” on the cover of the notebook. Explain that engineers draw a plan and then try to build their design. Place the book in the block center along with a pencil and encourage children to draw their idea and then try to build it.

Cups and Plates
Little guys to big kids will be challenged to build structures with simple materials like plates and cups.

               

Lunch Bag City
Buildings and houses from lunch bags are fun to construct and use to create a community, reproduce a scene from a book, or design a city of the future. Take 2 lunch bags and open them up. Fill one with crushed newspaper. Insert the second bag on top and then decorate with markers, construction paper scraps, etc.

RECYCLE ME, PLEASE!

You know all those cardboard food boxes you throw away? Well, here's a great opportunity to give them a second life, teach your children to recycle, and make some cool materials for your classroom. Send a note asking families to save their cardboard food boxes for a week and then let the fun begin!

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2015/04_Apr_css/index.html

Cardboard Castle 

Let children use masking tape to create a castle or other play sculpture.

                                     

What's for Breakfast? 

Each child chooses the front of their favorite cereal box. They can write original sentences or fill in the blank "(Child's name) likes (cereal)."

Puzzles 

Cut box fronts into puzzle shapes. Store in zip bags. For younger children use two like boxes. Cut one up and let them place the pieces on the second box.

                                         

Fronts and Backs 

Cut front and back panels off of boxes. Mix them up and then ask the children to match up the ones that go together.

                                                               

*Play a memory game where you place the fronts and backs face down on the floor. Children try to match up pairs.

Stencils and Templates 

Cut geometric shapes out of box fronts. Children can trace these with colored pencils, crayons, or markers.

*Cut seasonal shapes or objects that relate to a unit of study for the children to trace.

                       

Sewing Cards 

Punch holes around the sides of boxes. Children can sew these with yarn, string, or old shoelaces.

                                                   

Weaving – Cut notches around the sides of boxes and let children weave through these with yarn.

Fractions 

Give each child the front panel off a box. Can you cut it in half? Fourths? Eights?

                                                                             
Math – Have children sort the boxes by product, size, etc. Graph favorite cereals, cookies, crackers, etc.