Week 4: Camping

 

This week we used woodland animals to lead into camping. It was a fun week for pretend play and learning new words and concepts!

 

 

 

I decided to take out the usual pretend area toys and put camping items there instead. I found a water proof pack, sleeping bag, lantern, flash light, bear, jacket, and folding chair. For the discussion wall I printed off a picture of a tent by the lake, a fire pit, and a picture with camping items. The camping item picture was perfect! It spun off into so many things so easily. For the pocket chart I used a page of word cards from the printable pack. I love how she knew hot for the fire and unprompted held it up to the discussion wall fire pit. Love those connections that their minds can make!

 

A fun craft that got a lot of use was making a back pack! Molly used it throughout the week in the pretend play corner!

 

We used this printable to match shapes. I also got out her shape puzzle to add to the activity. Molly can match shapes pretty well, but the activity didn't hold her interest.

 

She was more into this.

 

...and this. Which is awesome, because pouring water is a great activity for Montessori. Which is also good because it's one of Molly's favorite things in life!

 

 

 

Once she had some free play time we went back to color matching. She loved these! They are still by the color tabs on the shelf. I got out the tabs to add to is. We matched the butterflies and then found the corresponding tab. She also played where she put matches into her wet case from the pretend corner. Later in the week she fed color matches to her bouncing Rody horse. A great printable!

I brought some sticks in and we sorted by size and talked about different uses for sticks while camping.

 

I saved some paper rolls the prior week to make this little fire for the classroom. Molly loved it! She liked to sit a little too close to the fire in her camp chair. One thing I loved about this week is the connections she made between objects. Like the fire pit picture on the discussion wall and the fire picture on the pocket chart. One thing I love about unit studies is you really see them connect the ideas throughout the week!

 

 

 

While I made the fire pit I tore up some tissue paper and gave her some glue so she could make a fire pit. I used some of the sticks to hot glue on.

We got a new pair of scissors this week. Next week we have a cutting activity so I let her practice some. These are so much better than our old set!

 

We did this printable size sorting activity. It surprisingly held her interest longer than other size activities. I was surprised that with the amount of pieces she liked it more.

 

We also got out our letter sets while we wait for our pre reading curriculum to come!

 

 

 

We also made some binoculars. They made a great addition to the pretend corner! Natalie was very interested in the activity so I got her some paint and she had a great time tasting it!

 

This was a good activity with a lot of parent help. Different species is a VERY new concept. This one works on insects versus non insects.

 

 

We played around with these color words. Natalie loved them!

 

Camping week turned heavy on bugs! So we made some coffee filter butterflies.

 

This size sorting activity is a great printable and will be fun in the future. For now Molly just liked playing with them since she loves butterflies.

 

Matching is Molly's jam. Every matching activity we have done she doesn't need my help at all. After she did this she realized the pictures matched the ones in her pocket chart. So she went over there and matched them too. Those connections again!

 

 

Distraction set in so we took a break to build. One of Molly's favorite things to do!

 

 

We've done these coloring pages before and they are something to do, but usually end up crazy. I was really happy with how well she did! At the end of this year when I post some evidence of learning shots I'll be interested to see how much changes. She has already got the hang of a lot!

 

Our sensory bin this week was not well received. I express shipped this set of bugs and a couple other animal packs. It got here Thursday so we only used them today. It took her a good thirty minutes to even want to put her hands in. I kept showing her they weren't real. It was too funny.

 

There were so many cute songs this week! A couple favorites were:

 

 

 

Did You Ever Go A-Camping

Sung to: "Did You Ever See a Lassie?"

Did you ever go a-camping,
a-camping, a-camping?
Did you ever go a-camping
and sleep in a tent?

2. ...and see a racoon?
3. ...and hike in the woods?
4. ...and fish in a boat?
5. ...and have a campfire?

 

 

Going Camping
Sung to: "I'm a Little Teapot"

I am going camping.
(point thumbs proudly to chest)
Time to pack
(point to wristwatch)
My tent, my bedroll,
(Make tent with hands; then fold hands to cheek.)
And a snack.
(Pretend to eat)

I'll sit by the campfire
(warm hands over fire.)
Its glow so bright.
(Fan and wiggle fingers to resemble fire.)
Then snooze in my tent
(Pretend to snore.)
'Til the morning light!
(Open eyes wide, forming sun over head.)

Camping Song

Sung to: "Where is Thumbkin?"

Let's go camping
Let's go camping
Pack the tent
Pack the tent
We will all go hiking
We will all go swimming
We will have fun!
We will have fun!

 

You can find the printables at this link.