Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 5

The Dark Forest may have been forbidden, but here at Hogwarts MiniCamp, we're pretty big on exploring the backyard and beyond. This sometimes means taking a Mini-beasts and Where to Find Them Scavenger Hunt, or learning about the local flora and fauna or even breaking open Sorcerer's Stones (geodes). If it's been a busy couple of weeks at our house, it's been even busier in the backyard!

 The young wizards (even the youngest) loved using magnifying glasses, bugnoculars and their own keen eyes to find as many bugs, worms and other mini-beasts around the yard. S was really hoping to be able to catch one for closer observation and eventually decided to leave his bug catcher open on the ground--just in case!

After S created his treasure map of where to find the Sorcerer's Stone, I decided it was the perfect time to take out a geode kit we had stashed away for at least a year waiting for that perfect time...

Armed with safety goggles, hammers, and brute strength, the boys helped crack open our "sorcerer's stones" and it was so exciting to see the crystals inside! These will be back again later on when the young wizards take on the backyard challenge of finding them in a Sorcerer's Stone Treasure Hunt!

 Harry Potter books are filled with mythical creatures but also real ones. Headwig the Owl would love to see how much the young students here at Hogwarts MiniCamp have been learning about owls! We've also made a lot of use out of Little Spark Company's Owls of the World Bundle. Both of the boys are really into lacing cards and we've been sneaking in some really fun math activities suitable for S and Y at their own levels using materials we have at home along with the ones provided in the set. We've even taken them outside for some play picnics in the backyard.

There's more fun (and learning), magic and play on the way. Stay tuned for the next post from Hogwarts MiniCamp and until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 3

I think it's pretty safe to say that we are ALL (adults included) having a great time at Hogwarts MiniCamp! We've entered into our second week here and the young wizards have been very busy. (So has Professor McGonagall, aka: your's truly, who sometimes must also take on the dual role of House Elf and tend to tasks in the home, kitchen and across campus.) We've had a lot of imaginative play and free exploration and some more organized "lessons" as well. Potions Class has been a favorite here by far. Here's a peek at some of our latest concoctions:

Bubble Bubble, Toil & Trouble: You really can't go wrong with baking soda and vinegar here. Add in some color (we used red, yellow and orange liquid watercolor in our vinegar), some glitter (because, why not?), and some unique containers and tools (we used plastic cauldrons, "stirring wands" [chopsticks], various glass bottles and jars, pipettes, glass flasks and dessert cups, tiny dessert spoons and various pieces from a metal tea set I use in our dramatic play area here) and you've got yourself the perfect setup for Potions Class. It's the perfect backyard adventure for any wizard in training or budding scientist. We called this Potions Practice Class since I really just let the boys have at it in their own way rather than giving any formal instruction. It was colorful. It was bubbly. It was messy. It was fun!

 Polyjuice Potions: We love the magical feel of Hogwarts and we also love science. Especially on a Monday. A friend of mine told me about her kids' lava lamp experiment at a virtual camp last week and I decided I had to try it. I've heard that if you take an alka seltzer, you'll feel better fast. Other than that, I had no idea what that stuff is used for. (Antacid and pain relief, apparently...) But here, it's used for polyjuice potion lamps and in today's Potions Class, the boys made their very own. You can see a variety of ways to make a polyjuice potion lamp (aka: lava lamp) here from STEAM Powered Family. We made the glow in the dark version using tonic water, vegetable oil, food coloring (each of the boys chose two colors) and alka seltzer tablets broken into pieces. We first set up and tested the polyjuice potions in daylight at our dining room table. Next, we took them, along with a UV flashlight into our dark bathroom with the door closed. 

Disclaimer: If you are the parent of boys, you may not want to take a UV flashlight into your dark bathroom. I'm going to need therapy. Bleach and therapy.

But the glow in the dark Polyjuice Potions were so cool!

Meanwhile in the kitchen...
S has an incredible eye (and memory) for details--especially edible details. He has truly been the inspiration and brilliance behind much of our curriculum here at Hogwarts MiniCamp. Among his contributions to the agenda were "a feast" and "the cake Hagrid makes for Harry Potter that he doesn't get to eat." So last week, I conjured my inner House Elf and cooked up a feast for dinner. It was a pretty kid friendly and low maintenance feast of homemade pizza, cut up fruits and veggies and soda for a special treat (enjoyed inside a Harry Potter cup with a swirly straw, of course). We used the "nice" dishes, set out some place cards and even had a special dessert of "butter beer pudding and biscuits" and some "Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans" (butterscotch pudding and jelly beans).

There may have also been some chocolate frogs... You can see below a scene that never quite made it into any of the Harry Potter movies:

There certainly isn't any doing things half way here. Y takes the "school" component of Hogwarts so seriously (as he so misses school right now) that he often wears his backpack and Gryffindor tie all day! And everyone was particularly diligent about eating our themed Shabbos dessert this past week. As someone who really stinks at decorating cakes, I relished the opportunity to recreate this one!

We'll be back with more BIG adventures from our mini camp soon! Until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Hogwarts MiniCamp Part 1

I always love planning and preparing play themes here. It's an odd hobby, I know. But once in a great while I love joining in just as much as I love the organizational end of it and in the case of our current Hogwarts MiniCamp theme, I think I love joining in even more!

I am categorizing this under summer fun mini themes but I'll give the caveat that this particular one was a little more involved and in depth than some others I've shared here. That's partly because it's the first time I've done it, partly because I've gone totally overboard and partly because there are so many creative and playful ways to take young fans (and older ones) beyond the books of Harry Potter. I will also give the caveat that I struggled with the decision of whether to carry on with our Hogwarts MiniCamp when JK Rowling made the news with some rather unsavory comments of late. My decision to move forward with it was made because my children were already looking forward to this and because I think the author's books give young readers characters and ideas to connect with. While I do support a love of literacy, imagination and wonder in children's literature, I do not support some of the values the author has shared on a personal level. I do think as my own children get older, the many authors who line our bookshelves with admirable fictional characters and less than admirable personal characteristics will spark important and ongoing dialogue about kindness and inclusion. My final caveat is that while these books explore a world of magic and make believe, I use the opportunity to embrace imagination and fantasy while also teaching about the science end of it! So you'll notice a lot of activities involving sensory play, science experiments, animal and nature studies, games and movement and more!

With that all out of the way, let's dive in to the first part in a series that will take you on a Hogwarts bound adventure with us! You can select activities "a la carte" style, making a day of it, a week of it, or randomly sprinkling them throughout the year as inspiration strikes.

Before Beginning: I love the challenge of coming up with creative ideas for learning through play. I also love collaborating. And I also know when my own breadth of knowledge is rather narrow. I am somewhat informed on the wondrous world of Harry Potter, but my husband is far more knowledgeable than I am. Actually, so is S at this point! And when it comes to amazing early childhood ideas, I often consult with fellow educators. I have a talented connection who is a mom of children close in age to S and Y and a preschool teacher and a Harry Potter fan. She had recently done some amazing themed activities for her daughter's birthday and she was generous enough to share her wisdom and creativity with me! Multiple heads are better than one. Unless your name is Fluffy... S has come up with quite a few additions to our camp repertoire as well. In terms of materials, times are tricky so I aimed to use what we have and make what we didn't have from home. I did make one quite useful downloadable purchase from Etsy. I'll list the materials used for each activity, but substitutions can be made, some left out and others added in as desired.

Setting the Stage:  The Friday before Hogwarts MiniCamp began, I set the stage, or rather, our small world play shelf with a mini Hogwarts. I created some wooden peg dolls to play the roles of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore (ok, I actually swapped in my Father Winter peg doll from a previous activity, shhh!).

In addition to those, I included a wooden castle toy we bought from a craft supply store several years ago around Purim, our toy trains and tracks for the Hogwarts Express, some accessories from our collections of blocks, toy animals, prisms, marbles, small loose parts, rocks/gems, wool roving, fairy garden accessories and  even some of the graphics I purchased from Etsy printed onto card stock and cut out/taped. I took a lot of creative license here in order to use what we have at home. My friend who originally gave me this idea said her children played with it a ton, but I will admit that my own kids usually play with these setups a lot at first and then sporadically until I finally switch them out. Well, she was right! They really love his one! It's always fun to engage in dramatic play and explore imaginary worlds. It is somehow even more fun when that world is teeny tiny!

The night before we'd head off to Hogwarts, I set the [larger] stage for the day ahead. That included hanging our little Headwig (forgive the screech owl in place of a snowy owl) from the side of our stairs so the boys kids would see some exciting mail as they came down for breakfast. Inside of the envelopes, each of them would receive their acceptance letter to Hogwarts and a supply list of items they'd need before making the trip.

They would need to shop for supplies as well, so I set up "The Leaky Cauldron" shop at our little table (again, forgive the creative license here) with some wands to choose from (stay tuned though, because we will be doing more with this later), some wizard robes, a little notebook for each of the boys I made from the graphics I bought, a couple of cauldrons we had from the dollar store several Octobers ago, some tiny backpack wands for mixing potions (these were from Five Below) and some wand pencils for writing/drawing I made by drizzling hot glue on some pencils and painting them with acrylic paints and glitter. 

Some additional books and sensory bottles helped set the stage for our one stop shop. If we had a bit more room here, it would have been fun to have separate shops for different items and activities as portrayed in the book, but this would suffice. You'll notice we don't have any brooms for sail, but rest assured, we have a couple of perfect for Quidditch brooms in our backyard made from sticks, dried grass/leaves and wire! This would be a great activity in and of itself and we loved taking a "stick walk" to find the supplies we needed to make them back when we did the activity in the spring.

I had a frog shaped chocolate mold I used to make some chocolate frogs and I even found some free printable Wizard cards. I packaged these up and some jelly beans for "Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans."

Lastly, I crafted a Sorting Hat out of card stock, a themed chandelier from recycled toilet paper tubes with hot glue dripped down the sides to look like melted wax and an LED tealight inside hung from thread above our couch.

Our Hogwarts Express was pretty low tech as you can see, but the adventure was ready to go, right after about 4 pitiful hours of sleep...

A wand must choose its
owner. S takes this very
seriously as he takes a few
for test runs.

The kids were so excited when they walked downstairs in the morning. I had the Harry Potter movie soundtrack playing in the background and they could barely wait until after breakfast to head to Hogwarts. When it was time, they got to open their letters, shop for supplies with toy money, pack up their old school backpacks and board the Hogwarts Express at Platform 9 3/4!

Aboard the train, they got to buy and eat some chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. Yes, in the morning. You only go to Hogwarts for the very first time once! When they finally arrived to the campus and settled into their dormitory, it was time to sit underneath the Sorting Hat who would select their Houses. Everyone (even Tatty) got to sit in the special seat as the Sorting Hat went to work. Each of the kids were presented with a House bracelet (from Five Below's party favor section).

Soon it would be time for the first of their classes to begin. I hope you'll join us next time to read all about it!

Until then, make sure you're studying up and practicing your broom flying skills and, as always...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Star Wars Jedi Training Camp

One of my favorite things about these [many] days at home is our ability to follow the kids' interests on a whim and dig deeper. It's kind of like emergent curriculum for play. And that's why last week, the Sprout Scouts took off on an intergalactic adventure and enlisted in Star Wars Jedi Training Camp! The experience was out of this world...

S in particular is very into Star Wars. It shows up in his play quite a bit and I loved the challenge of creating a play theme out of that interest. When I happened across some amazing (and free) printable Star Wars art and activities from Fiddlesticks Education, I decided to run--er, fly with it! I was introduced to Fiddlesticks Education resources through a large nature based summer curriculum bundle I purchased on my own whim (and on major discount). I love planning, curating and creating materials for play and learning but I also love the ease of "one stop shopping" and the ability to skip some of that time consuming searching--especially now! I also love to be able to support fellow like-minded educators. Her watercolor work is absolutely stunning and I was particularly inspired by her Curious Kids Club to create a way the kids can keep track of their summer activities and accomplishments. Everyone was very excited last Friday to earn two of their first "trophies" in their Curiosity Cabinets--one for their study in robotics and another for their successful completion of Jedi Training Camp!

So, what exactly did we do at Jedi Training Camp? Well, we started off the week by adopting an Ewok! The boys each got to color, cut and paste their own little paper doll to play with and care for. There is something so fun and quaint about paper dolls. I have such nostalgia whenever we use or make them and the graphics I collected printed onto cardstock were just perfect for that.

S and Y were each presented with their own Intergalactic Passports. They used watercolors to decorate the cover and I told them each day we would visit three planets for activities. Their mission each day was to find the 3 planet pictures I had sneakily tagged around the house and yard and to glue the corresponding picture into their passports. Finding the planets became a favorite activity in and of itself!

Of course the boys needed light sabers to train with. I created those with sculpting balloons, recycled toilet paper tubes and plenty of duct tape. As you can imagine, there were many replacement balloons throughout the week! S even asked for a double sided light saber like Darth Maul at one point, so why the heck not?

As you can see, S took his light saber Jedi training very seriously. One of our favorite (and most often repeated) activities last week was Jedi Training Light Saber Yoga. We used cards from Fiddlesticks Education and I highly recommend them, but you can just as easily make up your own moves and routines. The boys and I took turns pulling 3 cards from the deck at a time and holding each pose for about 10 seconds.

As you can see, this was really just a fun and playful mini theme. I think it made S feel particularly honored to see his interest taken into action last week. And the fun is continuing this week. We haven't quite returned to Earth yet, but we are back in our own galaxy as the Sprout Scouts enroll in Space Camp! But that's a post for another day--and until then...

Happy Playing!

Summer Fun Mini Themes: Robots

So, what do robots, Star Wars, magnet science and squirrels have in common? Not a whole lot, but summers here at the Sprout Scouts Playcamp have always been about following the kids' whims and wonders. Particularly as S and Y get older, they have many transient interests and questions about the world around them. Playing about those together is a great way to learn! It's also a great way to honor the playful spirit of summertime--even, and especially this year with the pandemic going on.

This was our first "official" week of Sprout Scouts Playcamp 2020. We kicked off with some new camp shirts (tie dye this year--which proved to be a wise choice after one messy day in the mud, eating pizza and decorating cookies, painting and more...). S has been asking to do a robot theme for a while, so that seemed like a great way to begin. At the last minute, he also mentioned he'd like to play about Star Wars, so why the heck not? I decided to enroll the kids in Jedi Training Camp this week, too! But that's a post for another day...

With these Summer Fun Mini Theme posts, I hope to share some fun activity ideas you can incorporate into your own themed play and learning. You can dedicate an afternoon to a theme, a whole day, a week or even longer. When it comes to play, I let the kids take the lead. If they lose interest, we move on. If they are engrossed, we keep at it. If they want to practice Jedi Training Lightsaber Yoga while wearing an Ironman costume, have at it!

But back to bots... Here's a peek at how we explored early concepts of robotics here this week through play, literacy, art, science and building:

Setup & Materials:
When it comes to mini theme setups, just like anything else here, use what you have! This pandemic has really enforced that for me. While we have (maybe too much) access to Amazon, we've been able to get really creative with using (and re-using) what we have on hand right here at home. I stocked our play shelves before the week began and included a wooden robot toy we have and a game and also some magnets. I decided that magnet science was one of many great science elements that are part and parcel to robotics. Some other supplies we used include:

• magnets/magnet kit
  
• metal loose parts like paper clips, metal craft bits and pieces, washers, nuts, metal picture hanging hooks, magnetic counters...
• recycled cups, containers, boxes, tubes, etc. from our recycling bin
• craft materials like tape, pipe cleaners, stickers, paper/colored paper, glue, zip ties (those are a craft material here), markers/crayons/colored pencils, paint/paint sticks, felt, google eyes
• old, broken toys
• safety goggles
• screw drivers (small ones are great for small hands)
• metal cookie sheets
• 8x10 magnetic sheets with adhesive back (optional)
• playdough, model magic clay

Books:

There are a lot of great books for children about robots--both fiction and non-fiction. If you don't have any or cannot currently access a library, look up some children's books about robots or short videos on YouTube or similar sites. Another fun idea is to read any of your favorite books together but in a robot voice! We read:

• Hello Robots by Joan Holub, illustrated by Chris Dickason
• Boy + Bot by Ame Dykman, illustrated by Dan Yaccarino
• Robots, Robots Everywhere by Sue Fleiss, illustrated by Bob Staake

Magical Magnet Science Tricks:

Magnet science is so fascinating! It is really fun for kids to explore magnetism and it's a topic that could produce a stand-alone unit of play and learning. It is important to carefully supervise children with magnets and to keep small parts out of reach (and mouths) of very small ones. C was very interested in what her brothers were playing with this week so I made sure to join her on the floor to support with play and to keep the less suitable materials out of her reach when I couldn't. She also got to play with magnetiles and other toys and materials more independently. There are a lot of great magnet science experiments you can do at home with what you have. We have a magnet kit that had a lot of tools and magnets combined and these can be found fairly inexpensively on Amazon or Walmart. We chose a couple of "tricks" from our kit. One used a magnet wand and a smaller magnet. I asked the boys if they could take the magnet for a walk across our kids' table. They were so intrigued and amused by seeing how a magnet is strong enough to work through a tabletop! You can try the wand in both directions to demonstrate how magnets attract and repel depending on the direction of the poles. We also had a magnet car that could drive across the table or floor when the magnet wand was placed with the repelling pole toward it. We tested out driving it away and bringing it back (by flipping the wand to the attracting pole). If you do not have a magnet car, you can make one by using masking tape to affix a strong bar magnet to the car. But magnet science doesn't even need to be demonstrated in tricks or with kits. You can simply go on a magnetic scavenger hunt around your home to see what is magnetic and what is not. Your refrigerator door is a great place to test this out. A metal cookie sheet will work as well (we have a bunch from the dollar store).

Building a Robot: Transient Art with Loose Parts:

We extended the theme of magnetism and robots by using magnetic boards and small metal loose parts to design. I have seen magnetic boards for sale online, but we just made our own using a couple of dollar store cookie sheets and a magnet sheet with adhesive backing. It's a portable way to explore magnetism and made a lovely work surface as well. I envisioned the boys designing robots and they did for a bit before exploring design in more abstract ways and even just testing out what "sticks" and what does not. Even C was very curious about this activity and I sat with her for some time to explore the bits and pieces (and make sure she didn't eat them).

These same little loose parts were great for creating clay robots with Model Magic clay and for a fun playdough invitation. For those, I added in some pipe cleaners and google eyes as well. Using the same materials for multiple activities saves on time, money and space. It also allows the children to explore them in a variety of ways and venues.

Toy Deconstruction: Yes, you read that right! I first saw this done at a special event at our local library last summer and thought it was brilliant. Once in a while, I introduce it again--and it's worth repeating. We gather a collection of old toys that are broken and on their way to being tossed out, but before they go--I toss in some screw drivers and maybe a couple of pairs of safety goggles because everything is more fun in goggles. This activity does require supervision and support (although S is quite proficient with a screw driver now!). Make sure to remove any batteries or other unsafe parts from toys before tossing them into the mix. S and Y worked on deconstructing toys for 2 days! They would have gone longer with it, but I decided it was time for them to make their final departure to the dump. For those who are concerned that this will teach children to take apart things they should not take apart, my experience has been the opposite. I've found most kids go through a play schema of exploring deconstruction (or what we see as destruction) at some point. Rather than disallowing it and having it happen anyway, I allow it in a directed manner. The boys knew they could use the tools to take apart the toys in the sensory bin. They even help to pick out the ones that are ready to deconstruct. They also know they cannot do this with other toys and household items without asking one of us first. One of my fondest childhood memories is of a large cardboard box housing an old VCR just for deconstructing!

Robot Collage Process Art:

Here's another great "use-what-you-have" art activity. I set out some colored labels, paper and markers. I did not make an "example" or give much direction other than a prompt to "make a robot collage." Y used a sheet of colored cardstock and labels to make his collage. S used a sheet of colored cardstock to draw and then cut out a robot that he added details to with more drawing and some labels. He gave his robot a mask to keep him safe, a sign of the times (and how he is processing that). His collage became a fun paper doll to play with!

Recycled Robot Art: This is an activity I have done in large groups including my classrooms and outdoor playgroup. It's also perfect for home! I saved a few boxes from recent deliveries and brought out our recycling bin full of treasures. In group settings, I would bring additional supplies and materials along and set them out, but in smaller settings and even in my classrooms, I would leave it at that and let the kids choose what to use and how to use it. The boys wanted to make one BIG robot with the larger boxes. They needed a little bit of help with assembly (and some duct tape) but they really did this all on their own. Even C got in on the fun with some tape and stickers she helped to add on her own. S named the robot Ruby and she has become an honorary member of the family! The boys have continued to add on to her and are working today with a couple of smaller boxes to build her a baby. One of my favorite things about process art is the narrative end of it and how children use it as a venue for storytelling. A whole evolving tale has emerged about Ruby and her life. She was unable to talk because she needed new wires. S and Y worked tirelessly sticking pipe cleaners through a crack in her belly box because, as S put it, "they are real wires but they are soft on the outside so she will be comfortable." I have a feeling that when it is time to deconstruct and officially recycle Ruby, I will find an enormous collection of pipe cleaners to add back into our craft stash! Ruby has been invited to join us at the dining room table for dinner. She attended a Zoom playdate yesterday with S and his friend from down the street. She even sneaked up on me in the kitchen this morning when we were making snack (and Y had a little bit to do with that one). Yes, she is made from cardboard, tape and lots of pipecleaners, but Ruby is living her best life...

Build a Robot Felt Board Game:

We incorporated this theme into our weekly "storytime," and this simple DIY game was a real winner for all 3 kids. I used felt to cut up a whole bunch of shapes and robot parts. I used a large die and color coding dot labels but you can use colored paper to make cards, make your own die out of cardstock and color code that or just cut out smaller scraps of the felt you already used as color signs. When it is your turn, you roll the die/pick a color and choose a part. You can decide to build one large robot as a group or to each build individual robots. You can use your felt on a felt board, on a large sheet of felt, right on the ground or a tabletop. If you don't have felt, you can cut your shapes from paper. If you don't want to do all the cutting prep work and you do want to add in an element of drawing/pre-writing practice, play this game with colored markers or crayons and have everyone draw a part of a robot when you call out/roll a color. You can have the artists choose what they draw or also call out a specific part (i.e.: red arm, yellow head, green hand...) and see how many colorful, creative robots emerge!

Well, that's a wrap for this mini theme. There's definitely more you can do with robots and you'll find some posts about them here. Next time I'll tell you all about our intergalactic adventures in Jedi Training Camp, but until then...

Happy Playing!