I'm doing Mommy camp! Give me tips

amother

↑ Seafoam

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 12:02 am

nicole81 wrote:

OK found some stuff I did from one year. Notice I also started late and ended earlyish. My kids were tired out and so was I but it gave me time to sleep in and take care of dinner.

And these are all the activities I did for Color War (taken from a spreadsheet where I literally kept a running total). The fishing stuff... I had a baby pool and I bought a magnetic fishing rod, reel, and net set on amazon. If you have any questions about the specifics or what I did, let me know. I have a lot of ideas hyperlinked on my planning page. Also involved lots of cookie cutter sets lol.

Impressed! How’d you make such fancy spreadsheets? Also anyone have ideas for some spiritual learning? Any website that has Jewish educational videos with the parsha or something like that?

dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 12:45 am

It's more interesting when there is a theme, so everything becomes exciting even if it's something simple.

It's easier to fill schedule like that, then just random things.

My kids go out for day camp, but I did with my kids a running daycamp with a theme of numbers, that I started couple of years ago, but every time they have off from school or daycamp, I continue.

Tomorrow I'm planning to do a daycamp for my girls and their friends. My theme for tomm is actually sealife.

For my kids, it's part of number 7, sheishis yemei brushes, and we're up to Yom chamishi.

For the friends theme is, what a great catch! ( to have such good friends)

I'm doing it for like 2-3 hrs. 8 yr Olds girls.

Jellyfish foam craft with stringing beads.

School of fish, sort of like a memory game with fish foamies, and cup nets, catching same category. Doing teams.

Competition sea life banners with teams
I will give them craft supplies like stickers, stamps of sea creatures etc. Cotton balls for clouds.....

Food decorating
Graham cookies spread blue icing for water, cookie crumbs for sand, like a beach, jelly fish, yellow ball candy for sun, striped sour belt for towel, and gummy bear tanning.

Catch a fish game, with points.

With points get prizes from prize claw machine.

groisamomma

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 1:07 am

OP, you will look back at those memories and be so glad you did it. I did it for one summer many years ago and it was really fun. Three girls, ages 4,5,6. No themes but I planned the next day in advance and sent my husband to pick up supplies as needed. I tried to do whatever was free, otherwise I would have sent them to day camp:) We have the best memories. The furthest I ever drove was 20-25 minutes.
I remember making tie dye shirts (one color each) with their names on them. They used dough to shape their own names so the dye didn’t touch that part, then it baked in the sun and when they peeled off the baked dough their names were revealed-look it up online, it was tons of fun.
We made duct tape trip bags and used them as swim bags
We baked July 4th flag cookies
Roller blading and picnic in Pine Park
Library story time and computers games there (today I would be very careful to find out what’s on the library’s agenda before taking them to an organized activity there)
We used fabric scraps to sew aprons with pockets and baked afterwards
One quiet day they made color by number pictures for each other
Another day I bought blank puzzles at Creative Kids or Dollar Tree and they spent hours drawing on them and swapping so they each made the others’ puzzles
Perler beads was a big one-keychains, magnets
Sprinkler park in Jackson (free at the time) with that amazing park adjacent to it. That was a full day trip.
Biking a mile or so at Manasquan reservoir. We did the pretty stretch near the water.
We did the beach a couple of times. Buy beach passes in advance (they were $15 for the season for adults) and park on the side streets where it’s free.
One trip was to the Dollar Tree to buy something for their secret person using their initials. When we got home they wrote poems and then we guessed who they got.
Before he season we bought the huge ball sprinkler ($50 on Amazon then) and used that a lot of the time. Swimming knocked them out.

I’m getting carried away. That was a fun summer!

thegiver ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 1:58 am

The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. Have fun, don’t have a rigid schedule, smile more, say yes to kids requests when you can. Don’t take them shopping with you that’s your alone enjoyment time or order online.

Parks and outdoor time each day is necessary even if hot. Get out early if you don’t have teenagers yet or late in the afternoon if you do.

Big kids can take energy out on bikes and enjoy good books on their own so join a good Jewish library.

I like having themes bec it makes planning easier but my actual schedule depends mostly on the weather. We have 2 trip days and the rest of the days are local weekly. The trips are mostly free stuff I don’t get my kids used to being pampered but we will have one grand paid trip at the end of summer that they are looking fwd to and a camping trip at end of summer.

We have a cleanup routine in the morning followed by 10 o clock treat for whoever participated in cleanup (not by force but make treats worth it. Play music to keep everyone engaged and give a time limit with specific small age appropriate tasks)

Bigger kids can do davening and parsha with little ones preferably in the morning or later in the day.

Art and craft time is while I’m making dinner or mandatory coloring time.

We have a lot of sprinklers in backyard which they can use whenever they feel like it. (No pools without supervision!) slip and slides require some supervision.

Make sure they exercise each day. Bike riding jump roping etc
Make sure you touch them each day by clapping games. I consider consistent eye contact to be a form of touch.
Incentivize getting to the car by offering gum to bigger kids when everyone ready by a certain time dressed and brushed teeth and ready to leave out the door.

Sing songs when they’re not listening. So they can enjoy hearing your instructions instead of it being nagging.
Seize their bids for connection. I find the more kids I have the more I MUST say yes to their requests so I give each child love and attention. (Mommy look etc)
Give each journal or scrapbook for older children and make time for reflection DAILY. this is your peace of mind time when you lay down and relax alone in your room kids permitting or even on floor around them.

Self care for me is walking even if they are with me. I try to make trips exercise centered such as hiking biking etc and I like to build their endurance in walking.

Gardening with little kids is really fun and teaches them responsibility and the wonders of the borei olam.

↑ dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 2:21 am

Animals

Decorate animal cookies with icing and sprinkles...

Animal masks made from large paper plates or foam mask kits. Can also make animals from foam soup bowls adding legs.....

Animal puppets from paper bags.

Games finding your pair with by making your Animal sound and seeing who else is making same animal sounds

Go to zoo.

Catch frogs, salamanders.

Make tiger print or zebra cookies

Crafts like scenes with animal stickers

Rock painting could create lady bugs, frogs such animals from rocks.

Face painting like animals.

Animal faces with stickers for features.

Pet therapy

You can then divide each week into diff animals
Zoo animals
Jungle animals
Circus animals
Farm animals
Riding animals
Work animals
Sea life
Birds
Insects
Pets
Service animal
Animals used for food

↑ dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 2:55 am

You can visit

Zoo, petting zoo, bird watching, bird feeding, circus, pet shop, vet. Factories making things out out animals like leather, (shoe repair) fur ( shtreimel store), pony rides, milking cow, sheep shearing, pidyon

For zoo animals
Cages out of popsticks
Playing with blocks and plastic animals
Play r-a-ttlesnake game
Make snake paper bag puppets
Yarn hunt and then connecting pieces, who has longer like snake
Making banners competition from the yarn. Yarn art.
Leather art like covering a siddur. Making a wallet. Challah cover. Leather engraving. Embossing.
Fake sharp teeth, eating gobbling races
3d animal wooden puzzles
Animal stencilers

Lion, royal day, crown/cape dress ups, marches, capture the flag, flag, soldier hat, banner competition. stratego game, chess. create cards and packages for israeli soldiers
acheshverosh seudah-, purim day,- masquerade, face painting, clown hats, music mobiles, mm exchange, baskets, weave from paper, long licorice, or watch bawket weaving from trees, hamentashen bake or make out of fruit leathers. For megillah, act out stories, need to guess what it is, or copy act out stories, or play chatterbox, or broken telephone stories, create your own story on rolled paper, put into Pringle box for megillah holder, or make capsule box. Or paint on a long shelf roll paper on wall. Make story books. Create record audio stories. Create performances.
For purim day you can also do carnivals or mock wedding, for acheshveros marrying Esther, or beauty contests, creating hair accessories, jewelry, nail polish, dressing up, and achverosh picking his beauty....

For Lion you can also do rh day for malchus or anything related to Dovid hamelech/shavuos.

Zebra,
Make black n white cookies or zebra cookies.
Black and white thinking, or Grey like Dan lekaf zchus stories. Acting out scenario and have to think how to be dlkz.
Black and white stripe uniforms, is for prisoners, in jail or war.
Visit a jail. Play cops and robbers, Clue game. Escape room. Treasure hunt. Mystery books.
Black book and white book, rh/Yom Kippur.
Write with feather,ink. Visit sofer. Stamping.
Make shofar, candy apple, slippers. No smearing, make lotions. Self growth charts. Tzedaka pushkas, find pennies in flour. Penny art. Visit tomche shabbos for tzedaka. Make wallets, pockets books to hold tzedaka money.

Last edited by dankbar on Wed, Jun 26 2024, 4:29 am; edited 4 times in total

↑ dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 3:06 am

Circus animals

For monkey, Make shows, aping. Banana split ice cream, banana bread.
gymnastic, acrobats, going to gym, ballet, creating own dances, music dancing.
Tigers thru hoop of fire= camp fire, roasting marshmallows, smores, or can do it by jungle animals for camping.
Or tigers thru hoops, create obstacle courses. Limbo/nimbo games
Elepehant showers= water hose activities or any water activities. Like water guns, steel the water pitcher.
Weight games like races holding diff weight items. Make weighted blankets.
Make peanut butter. Peanut in shell hunts, crafts from shells.
For elephants you can do chanukah day here.
There is macabim video from Jewish children's museum that you can buy.

Last edited by dankbar on Wed, Jun 26 2024, 4:10 am; edited 3 times in total

↑ dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 3:35 am

Farm animals.
Play the farmer in the dell.

Visit a farm, Lee turkey farm, white post farm, veg picking, old fashioned village, horse and buggy rides, Amish town. Old fashioned black and white pics. Corn maze. Make popcorn. Popcorn seed art. Apple picking, make apple pie.
Dress up in old fashioned clothes. Create bonnets and aprons.
Hay rides.

Chickens
Stuff pillows with feathers.
Do eggshell crafts
Egg crate crafts, like caterpillars, or by Insects. Or flowers.
Play mancala with egg cartons.
Create stuff from egg boxes like trucks, houses etc.

Rabbits- 14k-carrot string sliced carrots on necklace

Beheimos, make mouth locks, races grazing like farm animal like eating without hand drinking from a soup bowl on floor.

Horses, carousels

Camel rides

Sheep wool, visit tzitzis factory. Spinning weaving. Shatnez lab.

Cow, make any dairy thing like ice cream from milk, ice, and salt in a bag. Melt dairy chocolate. Cheesecake, dairy muffins, pudding.
Make chanukah or shavuos day.
Fake blintzes from rolled paper with ashed edges rolled up with cotton balls inside.
Flower picking, flower crafts, flowers from pipe cleaners and knee his,roses from fruit leather, linzer tart cookies, decorate flower cookies, cupcake floral arrangement etc, muffins flower pots with marshmallow petal flowers, chalk/salt layered flower pots, floral arrangements, petal boards,science project color bleeding tissue flowers, create huge har Sinai from sand, har Sinai muffins, Torah scrolls, from paper towel rolls, hachnosos sefer Torah. Naase vnishma crowns.

Chanukah day
Make Chocolate coins
Chanukah gelt from tea biscuits
Pocket books lacing for gelt
Dreidel spin art attach a tip of crayon to dreidel spin it and watch it create like spirograph designs.
Dreidel games like eating popcorn game
Pin the shammash to menorah
Crawl tunnels for hiding in caves
Chanukah gifts, auction off prizes using Chanukah gelt with points game.
Light, fire, fireworks, races blowing out candles with water guns.
Create candles
Melt colored candle art.
Latke cooking competition
Decorate donuts
Make olive oil. Oil hunt.

Rams, shofar factory demos, there is in Jewish children museum. You can do rh day here.

Last edited by dankbar on Wed, Jun 26 2024, 4:57 am; edited 3 times in total

↑ dankbar ↓

Wed, Jun 26 2024, 3:43 am

Let me know if you need more ideas or if these are enough

I think you have plenty ideas to go around with here, for all summer.

If kids are entertained then they behave more and don't fight so much out of boredom.

It's better to be proactive then do damage control.

To have some sort of schedule. It can be loose and not so rigid, and also allowing some free time too.

For Insects, you can do butterflies. Paint one side, fold over and gets copied. Clothespin butterflies or bees or caterpillar. With fanfolded paper for wings. Pom poms on Clothespins. Or you can use for the wings a bag of popcorn with clothespin center.

Caterpillar from one row egg carton.

Very hungry caterpillar book. Kit to watch caterpillars grow into butterflies love, or do sequence cards of cycle.

Lady bug from foam soup bowls or rock painting.

For birds, birdhouses, (wooden ready. Paint or bird print napkins shallacked on it. Or made out of juice cartons.

Bird feeders from paper towel roll dipped in peanut butter and crumbs hung with ribbon from tree.

Bird Cages made from half a soda bottle, top part, with paper Bird inside. Bottom paper plate with pb and crumbs.

Bottom half of soda bottle you can use as mold for flower shaped jello or for a flower pot. For shavuos day.

Last edited by dankbar on Wed, Jun 26 2024, 4:59 am; edited 2 times in total