Activities - Summer 2002

"DO YOU REMEMBER?"
(Some summer reflections for teachers and parents.)

Think back with me to when you were a child. . .
going barefoot in the summer and running wild.

Long, lazy days and sleeping late.
Bible school, bikes, and roller skates.

Sitting in the grass, feeling the warm breeze.
Playing with friends and doing as you please.

Digging in the sand, going to the pool.
Eating popsicles, ice cream and watermelon so cool.

Catching lightning bugs, putting them in a jar,

Games of baseball, kickball, and wishing on a star.

Cousins coming to visit, family reunions, too.
Every day brought a new surprise for you.

Fishing, swinging, laughing so carefree.
Wasn't summer sweet for you and me?

Give your children summer memories so they can say, "Yes, I remember how I loved summer." one day.

Journey with me down memory lane as I share favorite activities I remember from my childhood. Many of these projects I did with my own children or in summer programs in the lab school where I taught.

GOING ON A PICNIC?

Here are some "sun fun" recipes.

Fire Cracker Sandwich

Bread
Peanut butter, jelly, or other favorite sandwich filling
Clear plastic wrap
Yarn or ribbon

Cut the crusts off the bread. Flatten the bread with a rolling pin. (The children just like to "smush" it with their hand.)

Spread on your sandwich filling. Roll up. Wrap in a piece of plastic wrap. Twist the ends of the plastic wrap and tie with a piece of ribbon.

It will look like a firecracker!

Life Preserver Sandwich

Bagel
Cream cheese
Blue food coloring
Fish Crackers

Add a few drops of blue food coloring to the cream cheese.

Let the children spread the cream cheese on one half of a bagel.

Decorate with 4 or 5 fish crackers.

Dream Sicle Drink

Orange juice
Frozen vanilla yogurt
Blender

Pour 2 cups of orange juice in the blender. Add several large scoops of the vanilla yogurt. Blend until smooth. Adaptions: Make a "purple cow" by mixing grape juice with the vanilla yogurt.

Edible Mud Pies

Instant chocolate pudding
2 cups cold milk
Flat bottom ice cream cones
Plastic container with tight sealing lid

(Place the pudding mix in the plastic container before starting this activity.) Ask the children if they've ever had mud pies. Tell them you have and they're delicious. Show them the container and explain that it's dirt. Pass it around and let them smell it. (Be cool and don't let on!)

Build vocabulary by talking about how dry the dirt is. What's the difference between dirt and mud? Suggest adding a liquid and pour in the two cups milk. Seal tightly, then pass the container around the group, encouraging each child to "shake, shake, shake." Open it up and encourage the children to describe what happened. Serve in the ice cream cones.

Adaptations: Add seeds (sunflowers) and a worm (gummy worm).