Camp Liberty- Pirate Week

What fun we had last week!  We read a ton of books and explored using hands-on play to learn all about pirates.

We built cork boats on Monday and tested them out in the baby pool.  I was very pleased with how much my former students remembered from our float and sink experiments in K4!  

We played a ball relay that the kiddos really enjoyed.  

We learned about Jesus calming the storm.    

I told the children the story (put into my own words) from Matthew 8:23-27.  We learned how Jesus and his disciples were on a boat and a HUGE storm came up and was tossing the boat back and forth and filling it with water.  The disciples were very scared and woke Jesus.  Jesus demonstrates his AMAZING powers over nature and calms the wind and waves.  He causes a GREAT PEACE to come over the sea.  I used this story as an opportunity to share with the children the idea that we should always turn to JESUS for true PEACE.  He is in control of everything and we need to go to HIM when we are troubled about anything. 

We put marbles in blue paint and placed them in a box.  As the kiddos moved the marbles in the box, we talked about how the disciples must have felt being in that boat with Jesus!

On Tuesday, we made spy glasses.  The kiddos used them all day to look for pirates.  These two kiddos are in their boat, sailing the seas.

Miss Lindsay has become an expert balloon sword maker, so the kiddos had a blast all afternoon sword fighting.

We made golden treasure boxes on Wednesday with up-cycled strawberry cartons.

On Thursday, we made treasure maps.

Our science experiment was fizzing treasure chests.  No matter how many times we explore baking soda and vinegar using droppers, this experiment always elicits such an enthusiastic response.  

Miss Lindsay planned an awesome treasure hunt.  She had the kiddos trek all over the LCS property seeking out the hidden treasures.  

"ARR, We had a ruckas the hour bein' a band 'o pirates!"  

(yes, there's a "post like a pirate" app that translates your thoughts into pirate speak)

Up next...build-destroy-build...

Camp Liberty- Journey Off the Map

We begin everyday with praise and worship, prayer and our Bible lesson and activity.  We are learning about the Fruit of the Spirit this summer.  This week's focus was joy.  What brings you joy? 

 D drew a picture of himself and his friend J playing out in the sun.

We went on an exciting adventure during "Journey Off the Map" week!

Our first stop was outer space.  We watched a video taking us on a virtual field trip in a rocket ship.  After the trip, we made rubber band rockets.  You can find the directions here.

We read all about stars in the afternoon and made an awesome constellation can.  I have been saving coffee cans for a long time.  I knew that eventually we'd come up with something cool to use them for.  The kiddos decorated a sheet of black paper to look like the night sky and we rolled the paper and put it inside the can.  We then used a nail (I used the hammer and nail, the kiddos held the can steady) to poke holes in the end of the can.  Then all the kiddos needed to do was hold the can up at the light and look inside to see their own constellations.  

On day two, we were off to the world of dinosaurs.  I found some great dinosaur songs on You Tube by StoryBots.  Here's one...

The tune kinda sticks with you!

The kiddos then traced and cut out their own dinosaur.  They decorated their creations and named them.  Mine was "Lonnisaurus."

After lunch, we "erupted" diet soda after reading about volcanoes and then went on a dinosaur scavenger hunt.  I used a stash of tiny dinosaurs that I had on hand.  However, I didn't take in to consideration how big the playground is.  Even though I left quite a few in plain view and hid way more than we needed, some of the kiddos had trouble finding one.  No worries, they had fun looking and eventually all but one of  the kiddos found one !

This kiddo found a large beetle instead.  It kept his interest and he abandoned his search for the dinosaur!

We spent the rest of the week in the rainforest learning about this important ecosystem and all of the animals that live there.

Thursday brought a lot of rain, but we were thankful to escape outside for a little bit in the afternoon.

We spent our final day in the rainforest making beaded snakes and...

having a creature encounter.

We finished our day watching the Magic School Bus, eating ice pops and finally creating beautiful rainforest watercolors.

Up next...Pirate Week!!!!