This Summer my sis in law Emily and I tried something new, we created Cousin Camp each week. We traded off houses every Thursday, and when I hosted, I made lunch, and Emmy taught, and when we were at her house, you guessed it, she cooked up some grub, and I taught. We did all sorts of themed activities with the kids:
- Summer- read stories, ate watermelon, worked on AB patterns, and a writing prompt about what we wear in the summer, and made beach scenes complete with sand and shells for crafts.
- Fourth of July- learned history about it, traditional American songs, made homemade vanilla ice cream, weaved paper flags.
- Rainforests - learned about the four layers of the rainforest through song and stories, made a toucan craft, ate tropical snack mix, created hanging butterflies with old milk cartons and sharpies, did a writing prompt.
- Weather- learned about the water cycle and made a hanging craft about it, different weather through books, made Fruit Loop and marshmallow rainbows, ate rainbow cupcakes.
- Nursery Rhymes - played rhyming games, Graph Charts about Peas Porridge Hot, and patterns with peas and beans, made Old Mother Hubbard dog puppets, baked individual peach pie.
- Fairy Tales - Read many fairy tales, compared and contrasted Cinderella stories through a Venn Diagram, sprouted beans after reading Jack and the Beanstalk, made the Three Pigs mini houses with bricks (licorice nibs), Sticks (pretzels) and Hay (shredded wheat), and did a writing prompt about what we found at the top of our beanstalk.
- Lemonade and Treat Stand- Learned about coins and money through stories, and ran a lemonade and treat stand on a sunny afternoon. The kids made $44.48 altogether!!!
- Cousin Camp Out Grand Finale- Played in a tent, made dinner over the fire, roasted S'mores, made wood chip name tags, and friendship bracelets!
It was such a wonderful summer of memories as we got together each week. It was work for Emily and I, but we learned so much as we prepared for our lessons every other week, and we loved teaching the kids. We hope to continue Cousin Camp next summer because it was such a hit with all the cousins.
Here are some pictures from the Lemonade Stand and Cousin Camp Out.........
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| Marco and Eloisa's Grammy and Cousin K |
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| the set-up (we used a kid's table, our Target market place that we have had for years, and an easel that John made the kids a few years ago). |
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| we sold treats too, chocolate chip cookies, and rice krispy treats dipped in chocolate with sprinkles. |
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| The boys with the two flavors of lemonade, raspberry and regular |
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| Gabi with the sign she helped create | | | | |
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| in the tent |
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| Uncle Mike checking on the foil dinners |
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| making crafts |
