Art & Sensory Summer Camp - Reading & Rainbows

"Play energizes and enlivens us. It eases our burdens. It renews our natural sense of optimism and opens us up to new possibilities."

-Stuart Brown, MD, Contemporary American Psychiatrist

Our first day of camp this summer was themed around reading and rainbows. Because we know that children (and adults) learn best when they engage all the senses, we developed activities where the children had the opportunity to fully use all five of their senses in order to explore and learn about ways we use color in the world. 

Activities included; rainbow spaghetti exploration,

rainbow watercoloring with spray bottles, 

and rainbow manipulatives so we could discuss similarities and differences, problem solving (when building structures), and decision making. 

This particular table was good for cooperation and collaboration which the older kids loved teaching the younger ones about!

We also had a rainbow science station. The kids loved experimenting with mixing various colored dye, glitter and flour. We supplied a lot of different tools for investigation, many of which also exercised fine motor skills. 

The messier the activity, the more fun the kids had! I loved listening to observations the children made while exploring and how they taught each other what they had learned.

We took time to read lots and lots of books and sang some new songs (thank you Chelsea!).

One of the favorite activities of the day was the rainbow obstacle course. The object of the game was to climb through the maze without touching any of the streamers.

We finished off the day with rainbow painting using our feet first...

...and then the kids ventured on to painting with their hands, elbows and knees. 

Watching the kids reiterated what I love most about sensory play--the delight children show when they are learning to love learning! 

Looking forward to sharing more photos soon! 

In the meantime, you can check out other camp days by clicking on the following:

Art & Sensory Summer Camp - PJ Party & Yucky Fun

Art & Sensory Summer Camp - Part 1

Art & Sensory Summer Camp - Candyland

"I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things...

I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind."

-Leo F. Buscaglia

Art & Sensory Mini Summer Camp Part 1

"One of the virtues of being very young is that you don't let the facts 

get in the way of your imagination."

  ~Sam Levenson

This summer I'm running my first Art & Sensory Mini Summer Camp at our home along with Kathleen. My sweet friend, Chelsea, has been helping us this month and we've had a blast with the kids and seeing them learn and explore through lots of sensory activities. 

Here is a small taste of our first two weeks.... 

Even though the weather brought us in for most of one of the days, we still managed to have lots of fun. 

By the end of the day, Mother Nature delivered some sunshine which proved perfect for painting.

(My little guy sleeps through the majority of camp but loves playing with the leftovers after.) 

 And that is only 3 days worth. Looking forward to sharing more fun stuff...

(Yes, we like to do silly things like wearing matching shirts.)

"The end of childhood is when things cease to astonish us. 

When the world seems familiar, when one has got used to existence,

one has become an adult."

-Eugene Ionesco

Pixie Dust and Other Stuff

"To live would be an awfully big adventure."

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Recently I have been looking back at old posts. Its hard for me to believe how much my littles change in just a few weeks and months and I know if I had not captured these small life moments they would have disappeared. Lost happy memories that may have seemed unimportant at the time but, later in life, will be one of many components that make up the whole of a joyful life. 

(The kids taking turns playing doctor--with their play workshop tools.)

(Him: "This won't hurt a bit Sissy."

Her: "OK" as she sits there and lets him pinch the bejesus out of her finger.)

(Her: "It feel better now.")

(She grabs Baby Cash's hand often and says, "Look Mommy! We holding hands!")

A few weeks ago I purchased the Peter Pan book on CD and, since hearing it multiple times, my kids have a new found love of the classic tale. Timing couldn't have been more perfect because our town's Middle School held a performance of Peter Pan this weekend and I took the kids to see it. 

(We felt real swords wouldn't be a good idea for the play so Daddy crafted a safer version out of paper and a piece of cardboard. He was happy.)

 

 (Him: "C'mone! Mommy's car is taking us to Neverland where we'll never grow old!"

Her: "OK but I a rabbit, not Tinkerbell.")

Shortly after sitting down in our seats an older gentleman sat down next to Hunter. He said hello to us then turned to Hunter and said, "Young man, you don't know me but the first time they did this play was 26 years ago and I was here. My daughter played Peter Pan." He immediately puffed up with pride and Hunter smiled big. I couldn't resist smiling and excitedly commenting on how really cool that was and what a neat guy to be sitting next to. 

Although the play was long, the kids did great. Another older gentleman came over to me during the second intermission to say how well behaved my children were and he was so impressed with "what good kids I had". Initially, I wanted to say, "Oh, believe me, they have their days" because it has been a challenging last couple of days. But, I remembered that little ears were listening and I said, "they are very good kids." Their smiles told me I had responded the right way. 

After being mesmerized by pixie dust and flying friends, the play was coming to a close with the scene of the aged Wendy telling Peter that she had grown too old to fly. I suddenly heard someone crying nearby. I looked over and realized that the gentleman sitting next to Hunter was crying. His quiet cry turned into full weeping and I realized that last scene brought back bittersweet memories when his own daughter was in this play and now she too was all grown up. 

I couldn't help myself. I began crying as well and I squeezed that beautiful little girl sitting in my lap because she was too tiny to see over the girl sitting in front of her and the adventurous little boy next to me who was the first to teach me what my heart was really made for: loving three little people who make my world extraordinary....

and reminding me to do it while taking things lightly.

(He said for weeks he wanted a "Night-Night party". I asked him what that entailed and he said, "lots of balloons, toys and presents. Sissy can come too." So, I hung balloons, dressed up some of his favorite stuffed toys, turned on some great dance music and showered him with 'presents' of hugs, kisses, my time and making his small request come true.)

"Dreams do come true if only we wish hard enough.

You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it."

-J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan