Miscellaneous Summer Camp Ideas

This is going to be a busy summer, with six weeks of summer camp for ages 4-5, 6-7, and 8-9. I need a place to write down some of my favorite ideas for different ages, and then I will probably put together some binders at the end of the summer.

use inexpensive washable paint to paint a fallen tree arch in rainbow colors

read The Trememdous Tree Book by Barbara Brenner and do bark rubbings with block beeswax crayons and newsprint

create a Tree ID display of pressed leaves accompanied by bark rubbings

read A Log's Life by Wendy Pfeffer and go on a forest nature walk to look for decaying logs

read The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre and go on a meadow nature walk to look for flowers

read The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and make a collage of the Gruffalo on the forest floor using leaves, berries, stones, and other items found in nature

read Backyard Fairies by Phoebe Wahl and leave offerings for the fairies by a beautiful and mysterious fallen tree

read Turtle Knows Your Name by Ashley Bryan and spell your name out on the beach sand in tiny shells

read Fish Is Fish by Leo Lionni and go on a pond nature walk to look for tadpoles and tiny frogs

read Eliza and the Dragonfly by Susie Caldwell Rinehart and look for freshwater aquatic macroinvertebrates in a pond, lake, or stream

read Earth Mother by Ellen Jackson and put together a terrarium or aquarium that contains a complete habitat

read Owl Eyes by Frieda Gates and form animals out of self-hardening clay

read The Boy Who Drew Birds: A Story of John James Audubon by Jacqueline Davies and do watercolor pencil sketches of birds while looking at taxidermy

read The Raven and the Loon by Rachel and Sean Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley and embroider designs (white embroidery floss on black burlap)

read Oil Spill! by Melvin Berger and do an Oil Spill Clean-Up experiment

read Spiders Spin Webs by Yvonne Winer and find where each spider lives on the Montessori Colored Globe of the Continents

read A Little Bit of Winter by Paul Stewart, do an Ice Cube Race and a Backwards Ice Cube Race

read Where the River Begins by Thomas Locker and follow along a stream or river towards the source of it as far as you can

read Round by Joyce Sidman, look at tree cookies and count the rings

use the sun jar method to dye white wool yarn with natural materials

spread a cotton fishing net between two tall thin trees and weave in natural fiber yarn, feathers, twigs, and other materials to make a Door in the Forest

do "Wreck This Art" by making drawings with watercolor pencils or gelatos on watercolor paper and putting them out in the rain

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