Mommy's Summer Camp

With summer coming on like gangbusters and everyone I know scrambling to find camps and activities for their children, I thought I would share my plans for keeping sane for the next three months.  It's called Mommy's Summer Camp, and I came up with it two years ago when I had a 2-year old to entertain with a newborn in tow.

The idea behind Mommy's Summer Camp is to give both me and my boys some structure without spending a lot of money.  All I do is choose a different theme each week, and I plan them out in advance so I can coordinate them with special events going on that week.

Visiting the Nature Center during Nature week.

For example, Our Country week is July 4th-8th, so it coincides with the Fourth of July.  And Racing week will culminate with the new Cars movie at the end of June.  Having a theme motivates and inspires me to find related activities, and I think my boys will really enjoy it (at least, Biggest did when he was two years old)!

Firetrucks are so cool!  And in my experience firefighters love getting visits.  Especially if you bring them cookies.

Here are some more ideas for activities:

• Go through your child's books at the beginning of the week, and get him to help you!  Pull out the books relevant to that week's theme, and keep them out for the week.  We also go to the library to borrow books on that week's theme.
• Look online at your local children's museums to find out which displays are coming this summer.  Two years ago we scheduled Pirates week when our local museum was having a pirates exhibition.
• Visit http://www.everythingpreschool.com/themes/index.htm to find themes and snacks, songs, and crafts to coordinate.  During Farms week we made the Slop Snacks (trail mix) from this site and have enjoyed them ever since.
• Another great website, especially for craft ideas: http://kidscraftweekly.com.
• Get creative!  Use what you have on hand to do little activities, like digging in the sand for dinosaur bones (twigs), or turn your couch into a submarine during Oceans week.

I'm sure you can think of plenty more ideas, and if you do, please let me know so I can do them too!  Happy Camping!