I have been doing this for eleven years and I am feeling a little worn for wear. Don't get me wrong, I love it but as the kids get older and my plans change and adapt accordingly, I sometimes can't believe I am still motivated to do crafts! At some point I will have to put all my craft supplies away and my summers will no longer be broken down into weekly themes...that will be a bittersweet summer...then I will just have to wait for grandchildren and do fun crafts and activities with THEM! :)
I remember starting all this in the year 2000. Josh was barely five that summer and heading into Kindergarten in the fall and harrison was 2 1/2. I wanted to make sure Josh knew a few things that his preschool teacher suggested he know before heading into Kindergarten. I don't remember how the idea even came to me but I just thought it would be a fun way to spend those LONNNGGGG summer days. Harrison, as a mere toddler, came along for the ride. The scrapbooking angle was pure selfishness. I had begun scrapbooking a mere two years before that summer and I thought if I took pictures of everything we do I can have a scrapbooking project to work on during the summer which also motivated me to keep going every day! (Besides that, I was "caught up" with the boys albums and needed pictures to scrapbook!!)
And it was from the past ten years that a non-fiction book was born on this very subject. Most of the themes in the book I wrote we have done but there are a few that we never did. As I look through my endless files and notebooks FULL of crafty summertime ideas I am shocked how much we have actually done over the years...I had to really dig deep for this years crafts and activities! Of course, some of that is because those two little baby boys are now teenagers. (Sigh.)
Here is the plan for this summer...our first summer in three years that we have not been packing and moving. I will share the weekly themes and a few of the activities and crafts I have planned and as the summer goes on I will share in more detail what we did along with photos here on my blog.
The "weeks" begin the Monday after the last day of school, so in this case: June 13th...and will go until the end of August. If we end up with extra days before school starts we like to go through the past weeks and do a few things we wanted to during the theme week but either ran out of time or didn't get to it for one reason or another.
One more little side note:I picked the themes based on two things: 1. Giving my daughter, who will be ten in a few days, the opportunity to choose HER favorite themes and crafts that are mainly for HER so if they seem girly or "young", that is why. I don't expect my teenage boys to sew buttons to create an animal on cardstock. However, a few themes are based almost exclusively with the boys in mind. 2. Opportunity to cook which happens to be a personal family favorite thing to do. If we can make or bake something, 99% of the time all three kids will be happy.
Oh, and I ALWAYS pick the themes with the most excitement FIRST because: a) towards the end of summer I began to tire quickly and yearn for kids to be at school all day, every day; b) it gets us excited early on in summer and the momentum from ultra fun themes carry us for weeks and weeks.
Week One: COOKING
Plan: I wanted to do something other than just cook this week so we will have fun taste tests and a cooking challenge like you find on many cooking shows. In addition, we will venture out and try our hands at being restaurant critics and determining the best local place for a handful of foods...I may even have them write up reviews too. I also want to focus this week on healthy eating, limiting sugar, exercise, using fresh ingredients and cooking and eating whole foods.
1. cook and bake a variety of items from desserts, snacks, and dinner.
2. each child will pick a recipe that we will make together.
3. cook a vegetable in a new way.
4. host a 3-ingredient cooking challenge.
5. crafts with popcorn, tracking a weeks worth of food.
6. blind taste tests.
7. nutrition worksheets.
8. grocery store treasure hunt.
9. put together a cookbook based on all the meals we made this week.
10. act as restaurant critics and determine what restaurant makes the best burger, fries, cake, etc.
Week Two: REAL LIFE
Plan: I came up with this theme for the boys who I feel are at the age that they should just have general knowledge on random things. I also hope to take some tours of a bank and local colleges. My plan is to have them walk away from this week with a bit of common sense knowledge they won't learn in school.
1. teach kids how to do laundry and the effects of bleach
2. prepare a simple meal
3. unplug from technology
4. learn to make simple foods: hard-boiled eggs, meatballs, pasta, etc.
5. tour local colleges
6. learn how banks operate
7. using a doll to learn how to "care for a baby"
8. balance a checkbook with pretend income and bills
9. research careers
Week Three: ANIMALS
Plan: Jennifer picked this theme. She LOVES animals. Not sure how much the boys will participate, we'll see.
1. research animals
2. taking care of the birds
3. animal rock paperweights
4. dictionary zoo
5. animal sticker collage
6. paper peacocks
7. visit places like the zoo, local farms
Week Four: SURVIVOR
Plan: We have done this in the past and it was a HUGE success. Again, one for the boys in mind. We have just some crazy, silly fun.
1. play trivia questions game
2. eat crazy food off wheel
3. create buffs with fabric paint
4. smell foods and guess what they are
5. taste foods and guess what they are
6. physical games: pillowcase races, long jump, bubble contest, dance off, etc.
7. lunch of rice and fresh vegetables. If they win "immunity" they can add to their lunch with things like meat, beans, and fruit
Week Five: NATURE
Plan: This was another week that Jennifer wanted. I am tying in our/my love of birds and nature plus our garden in the back into this week's theme.
1. flower pounding
2. adopt a tree
3. lavender salt
4. feed the birds
5. vases
6. backyard bird poster
7. homemade soaps and salts
8. visit: botanical gardens, Julia Davis rose garden, farmers markets, hikes
Week Six: OUR TOWN
Plan: I have tried this one unsuccessfully in the past for unknown reasons. I am going to try it again. Our town has a walking tour that the chamber of commerce mailed to me that I have really wanted to do.
1. city and cemetery rubbings
2. spin a globe
3. become hometown tourists
4. statistics of our town
5. scavenger hunt
Week Seven: ART
Plan: They ALL really still love art and painting...
1. create still life painting
2. learn about an artist; research and create poster
3. foil design
4. chalk mural
5. Van Gogh's sunflowers
6. Monet's garden collage
7. treasure jars
8. scrapbook art projects (I want them to each make their own page about their life right now)
9. greeting cards
10. put together an art book
11. write a script and put together a play
Week Eight: AROUND THE WORLD
Plan: Every day we will focus on a different country. Learn facts about the country; work on worksheets involving each country/region/continent; color flags; and COOK foods and learn about different foods from each region.
1. Mediterranean (Greece, Turkey, middle east)...kabobs, hummus, study of spices, learn about Turkish coffee, create a flag using colored dried garbanzo beans, learn about Mezze.
2. Australia...learn about the animals, local ingredients, make Lamington.
3. The Caribbean/West Indies...make a mango fruit slush drink, create tropical crafts, learn about foods indigenous to the area: seafood, chicken, rice, beans, tropical fruits and put together one meal that will incorporate all those ingredients, bake banana bread, learn about harvesting different fruits.
4. Africa...learn about foods grown there and village life, cook flat bread, cook Bobotie, weave a cloth basket.
5. Netherlands...work on handouts, cook cauliflower in cheese sauce, learn about Dutch foods, study the history of windmills, sample different cheeses.
6. Other countries we may fit into the weekends: Canada, England, Austria, Russia, India, Thailand.
7. Visit museums, restaurants, Basque center.
8. create crafts: hands around the world, friendship bracelets
9. learn about: fruit, vegetables, fish, cheeses, bread, cakes, pastries, spices AROUND THE WORLD
Week Nine: RELIGIOUS/VIRTUES
Plan: I really wanted an excuse to go over some common sense behavior issues like listening and treating your siblings in kind ways...
1. praise pennants
2. everyone is special
3. last supper snack
4. prayer chains
5. praise box
6. table manners
7. feel good notebook
8. learning to respond well and handling difficult situations
9. letter writing night (with those greeting cards from art week)
10. the most responsible thing to do game
11. stew on it together...everyone brings a vegetable and together we create a stew for dinner
12. prepare recipes in direct relation to bible stories
13. variety of religious crafts
Week Ten: MUSIC
Plan: This was one of Jennifer's picks...she loves music! I am hoping to find more projects for this week because mainly all of them are geared towards the very young child.
1. create a poster on a musician (research)
2. musical gloves
3. drums
4. glass chimes
5. nail head xylophone
6. backyard band
Week Eleven: BACK TO SCHOOL
Plan: By now we are totally dragging. This week's ideas are overzealous at best.
1. apple napkin rings
2. bake chalkboard cake and freeze for first day of school
3. breakfast picnic at the school
4. scholastic basket
5. backpack chains
6. lunch money holder and locker pockets
7. fun pencils and bookmarks
8. school art display
So, that is the plan for the summer of 2011. In addition to the above themes we will also focus on reading, swimming, gardening, and daily work in grade appropriate summer workbooks.
I can hardly wait...
I love all the stuff you are doing and so glad someone else has daily work in a grade appropriate summer workbook. I thought my daughter was going to go off the deep end when I reminded her we need to go get one for the summer - like I was going to forget!
Posted by: Gina | June 02, 2011 at 10:22 PM