Tuesday, June 21, 2011

add ons...

A couple of other things to do in case we have a little more time...

cross stitch a butterfly pillow
make bird track pictures
collect snails in jars and pour salt on them :) it's fun.
go to the pet store and see birds, maybe even hold one
feed ducks at the park
play the game ants in your pants

Week 2 Bugs and Birds

This week I have not compiled a list of a million things to do...so sorry. I am only posting what we are doing each day. I am not sure what is more wanted or more helpful. So here it all is for the week broken down by day. Remember that in addition to these activities we are singing camp songs, doing camp chores, camp exercises, and outdoor recreation with the camp assistant director daily.

We kicked off our week on Saturday by going to the Ogden Nature Center. There we were able to see lots of birds, including a Hawk and a Bald Eagle! It was great.

Enjoy the week

The book we are reading this week is “How to Eat Fried Worms”
This week each of the kids have been given a bug collecting kit and bug house (from the dollar store) so they can collect all week long.

Day 1
Talking about migration and birds around the world. (found some great books at the library)
Making pine cone bird feeders and hanging them
Doing the chicken dance
Making bug eyed headbands; make a headband with paper attach giant paper eyeballs to it, and antennas made out of pipe cleaners and pom poms. (pictures will come on facebook)
Painting our finger and toe nails to look like ladybugs
bug creation contest (building bugs out of play dough or clay)
making dirt cups for dessert; chocolate pudding, crushed up oreos, and gummy worms
3 legged bug races

Day 2
make binoculars (made out of two toilet paper roles, or 1 paper towel roll cut in half)
go to Farmington Bay Refuge and do a little bird watching and bug collecting
making hand print butterflies
make pony bead bugs (patterns are found online at http://www.makingfriends.com/ponybead/ponybead_animals.htm )
Get the bed bugs out (I'm putting plastic bugs in their beds, and they have to change their sheets and bedding and get them all out, gotta get some cleaning in their somewhere :) )
Camp out with the crickets (not sure that my kids will last, but we are setting the tent up out back and they can sleep outside for the night)


Day 3

Making insect fossils (this works with snails and potato bugs real well) http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/nature-craft-projects-for-kids4.htm
Eat ants on a log (celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins)
Spend the day at Mueller Park
Go on a nature scavenger hunt (http://youthonline.ca/scavengerhunts/ )
Go on a nature walk and collect bugs
Build bird houses out of Popsicle sticks
Hot dog and Marshmallow roast in Mueller Park

Day4

Go to the bird show at the zoo, or go to Tracy Aviary (not sure which we will do depends on the $$$)
Create your own bug (they will get to design their own bug and decide if it is a pest or good for the environment etc. they will design a poster and tell us all about their bugs)
make bird masks
Bugs Life Movie night and party


Looks like a great week have fun everyone!

Friday, June 17, 2011

Day 4

So much to do... so much to do...

Morning exercise
camp cheer
breakfast pancakes
Neighborhood kids chalk art festival
paint throwing and spin art
lunch
make musical instruments and go on a parade
create a fruit boquet and talk about culinary art
face paint by the assistant camp director
go to the Chalk art Festival at the Gateway
dinner
Free make and take at Michael's Arts and crafts 6-8 pm
Read our book

Then off to work for me...what a day!
Loving it!!!!

Day 3

So we had to play a little catching up from the day before....but we managed to get a lot in....

We skipped our morning camp routine and dove right into the afternoon with camp activities....

We discovered art from 13 countries and talked about it
learned to draw with how to draw books
painted hand bags
learned about colors, and mixing colors, while color sorting our laundry
sang camp songs
cake decorating contest
saw an Indonesian Shadow Puppet Show
made Shadow Puppets
read more of our book....can't wait for the end of the story and to see who did it.

now we're off to day 4

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Day 2

Here's the upcoming events for today....

Morning music
Camp exercise
Camp chores
breakfast (egg and ham burritos and sliced melons)
Graffiti Wall
Friendship bracelets
Camp Free time
Spin Art
Continue with our story, Secret Agent Jake Stalwart: Mystery of the Mona Lisa
School Lunch
Lawn art Tour in SLC
Cake Decorating Contest
Party hosted by a senior Camper (thanks Emily)
Outdoor recreation with Assistant Camp Director

There you have it....

Day 1

1st day of camp was fantastic! Here is a brief run down.
Morning exercises
Breakfast (sausage & egg biscuits and watermelon)
morning camp songs
tie-dye shirts
camp free time
Camp story this weeks book is "Secret Agent Jack Stalwart: the Mystery of the Mona Lisa"
School Lunch
made sun prints
did camp songs and dancing
planned up coming event for neighbors "Chalk Art Festival"
Outdoor recreational activities with the assistant camp director (AKA Dad)

wow what a day!

Monday, June 13, 2011

Art Week at Home Activities

Camp Week 1
Art Week
Home Activities

Celebrate all types of art this week. Take the time to teach your children about art. It comes in many forms. Sculpture, photography, music, dance, food, painting, drawing, etc. Teach them about a famous artist, or go tour a museum, spend time to talk about the different art.

Tie Dye Shirts
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/tiedye/a/041601a.htm

Go out on a Photo Shoot
Buy disposable cameras or share your camera. Let each child find objects to do a photo shoot on. Play around with coloring and lighting. Get the pictures developed and create a photo portfolio or scrapbook. Let them be individuals, headless people can become a great work or photography art.

Neighborhood Chalk Art Festival
Invite the neighbor kids over, mark off your sidewalk and assign squares. Each child can create their own masterpiece. Later that evening let the parents walk through the chalk art gallery. Not sure what chalk art is run some searches online to view amazing works of art done on the sidewalk (search chalk art)

Graffiti Wall
Graffiti can be amazing forms of art. Cover a wall in the hall or bedroom with paper. (then big rolls of paper) you can buy it in sheets from craft stores, or check with a small print shop or newspaper for a paper roll end. Once the wall is covered, draw, write, and color away. Leave this up for the week for the kids to work on continuously. Or even the whole summer.

Summer art Gallery Hang strings around the house, and use clothes pins to attach summer art work. Continue to add to the gallery all summer long. At the end of the summer invite grandparents, and whoever else over to tour the gallery. Serve small refreshments and let your little artist shine.

Sun Printshttp://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p084.shtml

Bead Craftshttp://www.artistshelpingchildren.org/ponybeadspatternsinstructionscraftskids.html

Sugar cookie/cake decoration contest

Play dough/clay sculpture contest

Finger paint with pudding or peanut butter

Do face painting

Learn a line dance

Do a simple cross stitch, or needle workTie or sew a quilt


Make pottery
Create musical instruments and have a musical parade around the block (be creative, use buckets, rubber bands, beans, tin cans, paper plates, find anything you can, let your kids imaginations make music)

Experience Art use crayons, pencils, paints, dried food (pasta, beans, etc) oils, yarn, black and white, color, charcoal, spray paint, paint throwing, spin art, needle work, sewing,etc. Try something new.

Art Week!

Camp Week 1
Art Week
Outings and Events


Salt Lake City Art Center
*Monday June 13th Family Night 6-8pm free admission
http://www.slartcenter.org/?page_id=927

Utah Fostercare Foundations Chalk art Festival
*Friday and Saturday June 17th and 18th free admission
http://www.chalkartfestival.org/

Utah Museum of Fine Arts
*Saturday Family Night June 18th 1-4 pm free admission
http://umfa.utah.edu/free_days

Heber Valley Pow Wow
*discount family passes on city deals for $8
Amazing native art and dancing
http://heberpw.com/

Michael’s Arts and Crafts Store
*make and take classes 6 classes this week, 3 of them FREE check your store’s schedule. The link attached is for Bountiful, UT schedule.
http://www.michaels.com/Store-Events/store-events,default,pg.html?storeid=2708

Lawn Gnomes eat your Hearts Out
*This is a lawn art tour around Salt Lake city. You can print off a detailed list of addresses, and a synopsis from the artist. All art is to be in the front lawn and all age friendly. This would be a self guided tour. Information is located in the link.
http://www.slartcenter.org/?page_id=249

Burke Summer Camp!

It's finally summertime. I know that it started a week ago, but I took that week to adjust to kids being home.
My kids are so excited that this summer they have all been enrolled in summer camp. They can hardly wait for it to start. A few of them cried that they would miss me, and some were happy to be gone. But then I broke the news to them....It's the BURKE SUMMER CAMP! With camp director better known as "MOM". They are all still thrilled and are eagerly awaiting their camp itinerary.
Here on this blog I intend to list the camp activities, and ideas for each week of summer beginning with this week June 13th. Most activities and events are free, or very little cost.(remember everything I do multiplies by 10 for my expense)
Each week there will be a theme and all activities and outings will go along with that theme.
You can make this what you would like. I'm a little over the top and intend to go all out with it feeling like camp. I have made a list of rules and expectations, including camp chores. I plan to wake them in the mornings with a little camp music, and meals will all be served camp buffet style. We are planning on having a blast this summer.
Life doesn't get any better than this. I hope you enjoy following my blog. I hope that I can keep up with the blogging ;)