Summer Art Lessons

Once again it's Camp GaGa for me with my grand kids. Last year my grandson was the creative one. We spent a good week making and painting a rocketship from a large cardboard box. This year he needs to catch up on his reading so I have begun reading Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to him and his sister. We watched Tim Burton'sAlice in Wonderland  a few weeks ago and he just loved it! Our plan is to read a chapter a day but he is also to work on his sight words and read a book out loud to me.
 My grand daughter is the creative one this year. All I had to do to day was cover the kitchen table with newpaper and set out glitter glue pens, metallic markers, paint brush markers, coffee filters, and chenille stems. She wanted to make her Mama a bouquet of flowers. She went into my pantry and found an old glass canister to use for the vase ( She had previously used all of my mason jars to make water candles- her own invention). She remembered my directions from a year ago and proceeded without my help.
For easy directions to make paper flowers click on this link:
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-Occasion-Paper-Coffee-Filter-Flowers-1868162

Fun Activities for Grandparents to do with their Grands

Summers are too short in my county. The children get out of public school at the end of May but they will be back in school the first week in August. A week in June is set for a vacation with one parent and the grandparents and another week in July is for vacation with the other parent and the other grandparents. Whew! With only3 weeks in June and July there isn’t much point in doing an enrichment camp, particularly since their school does an excellent job with providing plenty of enrichments during the school year.

My grands went to Camp GaGa (their name for me!) While at Camp GaGA, they have made a rocket ship, a pirate ship, a vending machine, a “ball” room, and now paper bag puppets. They have drawn landscapes and birds in their sketchbooks.  They studied science and wild life studies by catching fireflies at night, moths, and tiny baby tree frogs, put in jars with holes for air to breathe, and let go back into nature before going to bed.  They watched a pair of hawks soaring and hunting in the front yard and a fawn running all over the yard. The hummingbirds have been plenty!

While at two beaches there were sandcastles to learn how to build and tiny fish to hand catch in the tidal pools. Hermit crabs were found in seashells.  This grandmother had to hold a small jar of water with a conch shell and a hermit crab named Fred while the grands’ mother went in a store to learn how to take care of it. We did have to put Fred back onto the wild beach!

Camp GaGa  is coming to a fast end. Now is the time to review reading skills and number skills to get ready for back to school. Don’t forget those sight words, too!

Here is a  photo of the art we made at Camp GaGa!

Worst Day Camp Ever!!!

Last summer my all little boy grandson went to a half day camp and had a good time. Yes there were typical little boy behavior issues with his five year old attention span but there were two teachers in charge with some teenagers as helpers.

This year he and his little sister attended the same camp. The difference was there was only one teacher in charge of 30 kids with a handful of teen-agers as helpers and one non-teacher adult helper.  The camp was the same format and the boy was totally bored. His little sister wasn’t accepted by the other little girls on her row since she didn’t go to their school. I guess there wasn’t a way for her to make friends with others in the camp! From the lips of a five year old “All we do is sit, sing, sit, snack, and sit some more and wait on our parents to come. It’s been a total waste!”

So my grandmotherly advice is this:                                                                                                              

1.       Please make sure there is an adequate number of adults in charge even after you have paid your money!

2.       Make sure the adults are experienced at handling children and won’t start a battle of wills because children will win every time!

3.       Make sure the adults are trained to spot bullying tactics and will not allow it to happen.

4.       Ask lots of questions before signing the child up even if the child went to the same camp the year before.

By the way I have many years of teaching and creating a fun camp for my students with an adult teacher helper. Our goal was to make sure each child had a good learning experience, made friends with others in the camp, and had a good time. We also limited the number and ages of students we would have in our camp.  Mizz Mac