Camp Mommy: Cowboy Bug and Galloping on Shapes

It's my first day off, and what better way then to spend it with my two boys, bringing to life some fun learning. We've been recently learning more about shapes, so I wanted to incorporate some shape education into this week's Camp Mommy. Bug also enjoys his stick riding horse, and watching him play with it gave me an idea of making Bug a cowboy for the day. Michaels sells a play cowboy hat for $5 that you can dress up, and I also purchased a wooden star to make into a sheriff badge for my little cowboy. I just hot glued a pin to the back of the star, and some felt and feathers to the cowboy hat to complete the look. Look at how adorable my big Bug was!

I prepared our back cement pad by taping painters tape in the form of different shapes. I didn't make any shapes that had curves as it would be too difficult to create a smooth curve with pieces of tape and I didn't want to confuse Bug's learning by making a circle that had mild points. But this was okay as we focused on shapes that required us to count sides and look at angles to determine the shape name. Bug would get his horsey, and I would tell him to go find one of the shapes. Once he correctly identified the one I had asked him about, I got him to "gallop" on his horse around the outside perimeter of each shape...this helped with gross motor activity, shape recognition and some silly cowboy fun.

Once he finished walking the shape lines, we spelled out the name of our shapes with chalk, as well as counting the sides and labelling them. We spoke about the difference between similar looking shapes too (square and rectangle, or hexagon and octagon).

Then, to finish off our Camp Mommy activity, I gave Bug something he loves immensely...his own lasso (a $1 skipping rope from Dollarama without the handles). He lassos everything that has length...Mommy and Daddy VDV aren't too thrilled when what he finds are our phone chargers. He tried to lasso our puppy, but in the end he loved just swinging it around his head.

Bear, once again just sat around observing and eating.

This was just one other cute shot I got of our Cowboy Bug...a little artistic flare on my behalf.

The VDV four truly enjoy reading books together, so I try to incorporate some new books into our Camp Mommy activities. It sort of gives me an excuse to buy things for the boys, and they aren't toys. Bug (Bear is too young to fully grasp this) gets just as excited for a new book, so it's a win-win for me! I try not to purchase too many new toys for the boys; but books are always something I try not to convince myself out of buying. These three books were super cute, and there actually were a few wonderful little lessons for the kids to learn. The Cowboy and his friends go through some everyday friend conflicts; and by the end of the book, they resolve them and realize that the most important thing is not to only do what you want, or to think only like you think, or that you are better than your friend...but rather to share your day and likes with your friends and to openly embrace each others differences. Really cute read, great pictures and Bug openly laughed at some of the imagery!

Another lovely Camp Mommy day with my munchkins. Nothing beats getting over the sleep deprivation of shift work (and night shifts) like laughing, cuddling and enjoying your children's active and wonderful imagination. It was a great day!

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Camp Mommy: Canadian Wilderness

This week we ended up doing 2 Camp Mommy activities. The summer is coming to an end, and I plan on adapting our weekly activities to indoor play; however, some are just meant for outside. I had collaborated with another mommy of another rambunctious (almost) 4 year old, and we really wanted to have a camp out with our big boys. So Bug's friend Hulk and his mommy joined us on this day.

Some of Bug's activities I like to plan, are around things in his life; and this one was about where we live. I decided to organize a Canadian Wilderness imaginative play around a cute little book I found. 

This VDV mommy (as well as Hulk's mommy) love moose; so it just seemed fitting to create some fun around this. First we made cute little Moose antlers by tracing the boys hands, cutting them out and attaching them to construction paper that fit around their heads. They needed to look the part if the were going on a hunt for this amazing Canadian animal. Bug owns a Canadian puzzle, so while I was setting up the next part of our fun, Hulk's mom was helping them put together the puzzle. This helped the boys with the concept of taking turns, concentration and problem solving skills.

I left out 7 pieces, and used them for the next part of our activity. I found a bunch of animal track pictures of 7 different Canadian animals and printed out multiple images. I then placed them around the yard, for the boys to follow the tracks to find laminated images of these species (sort of like a maze). The moose tracks were the predominant trail; however, I had 6 other animals that would get the boys to deviate from the moose tracks. Each animal on the way to find the moose also had one of the puzzle pieces. I thought this way we were connecting that these animals lived in Canada by having to go back to fit the puzzle piece correctly.

Each laminated animal picture had 4 facts about the Canadian creature. Before they went to place the missing puzzle piece, we quickly spoke about the animal. This part may have been a bit too much for the boys. They were more interested in finishing the puzzle and getting back to the animal trails. At the end of the moose tracks, the boys had two special friends waiting for them. Bug already owned his moose stuffed animal (he calls him Sad Moose because of his eyes), so I just found a little stuffie for Hulk so he could bring a friend home with him. Hulk's mommy contributed to their learning by finding animal sounds on her iPhone of all the Canadian wild they boys found. They enjoyed this part immensely (this was more fun than the facts)!

After this outdoor activity, the boys and mommies went over to Hulk's backyard and played for the remainder of the afternoon. We BBQ'd some hot dogs and set up a tent for a cozy night of camping. Once the night was winding down, we went back to my backyard and started a fire...and made some yummy banana boats. We really wanted to have a little camp out before the summer was over, and the last few weeks of August have presented us with wonderful weather! We got the boys a bunch of glow sticks and glow stick interfaces. They were adorable in their glow stick masks!

Hulk's mommy picked up some huge sparklers, and the boys loved holding these (after very deliberate instructions not to touch any higher on the stick) and watching the sparks fly.

 

Mommy decided she needed in on the glow stick mask action, so I got a picture with my Bug and I in front of the fire.

The boys also got a glow stick wand each. Bug really loved it and of course, because they are boys, they started to use them as swords. 

This was a fun way to (sob) end the summer. We still have some activities planned but the sun is setting sooner, the weather is getting brisker and we are inevitably entering into fall. Bug has enjoyed our days so much this summer, that I can't not do planned activities with him. So Camp Mommy will continue into September, pending weather. And then we will start something different once our fun has to be relocated indoors.

PS. Bug is sporting a swollen eye in these pictures because he had a biking accident, flying over the handles bars after hitting a crack in the sidewalk. This was with a helmet...scary to think of what would have happened if he wasn't wearing one.

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Camp Mommy: Teddy Bear Picnic with our Very Own Bear!

For Camp Mommy this week, I wanted to try and gear our activity around our littlest boy, Bear. He doesn't get to participate much with our activities, usually just stuffing his face while he observes his big brother playing. So what better activity than to have a teddy bear picnic with our youngest boy, paying homage to his beloved nickname.

Bug got a crazy fort package for Christmas 2012; so I figured this would be a perfect time to put it to extra use. I set up a little fort structure outside while Bear was napping, setting some blankets down and bringing out some of our special Bear friends.

The lunch I had planned was also themed around our Camp Mommy activity. I cut off the crust of a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich (I pulled out the big guns on this lunch), leaving the bread in the shape of a circle. I cut off three slices of bananas, 1 for the nose and the other for the ears. I got a little extra artsy and used a knife to slice lines into the nose banana to create a bear mouth. Then I used Glosette raisins for the bear eyes and actual nose. For Bear's lunch, as he's still eating finger foods, I chopped up his sandwich into little squares and then just shaped them into a circle on the plate to start the bear face. To top off our lunch, we had some Teddy Grahams and a Bear Paw cookie. Definitely a high calorie lunch, but really delicious and extra special for our little Bears.

Bug loved his Bear-wich!

Once our little Bear was awake from his morning nap, we took the festivities outside and sat in the Fort, eating our yummy lunches. This was an extra special Camp Mommy because Daddy was home to join in on the fun too! Unfortunately with my shift work, and Daddy VDV working his work schedule around my days off, we get limited time we all get to spend together as a family. This day provided us with some VDV four cuddles!



Our Bear is a funny little guy. He's on the small size (3rd percentile) for his age. He isn't skinny...just petite. But you would be surprised at how small he is if you ever saw how much this kid can pack away. He eats more than Bug, and probably me. He actually rivals his Daddy's appetite, so I'm sure our grocery bill in the future is going to be insane, requiring us to get a second mortgage. When Bear's food is running out, he gets a little growly. That's not how he got his nickname, but it's suiting nonetheless.

After all the munching was done, we cuddled with our teddies and read some bear books. Our three books were "Big Bear Hug" by Nicholas Oldland, "Where's My Teddy?" by Jez Alborough, and "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Bug loves reading and having us read to him, so the books were well received. Especially the last one; and if read in animation (like I often do), the book has a life of its own that Bug just fell right into.  "Big Bear Hug" is a cute book with an underlying message of loving one another, but more importantly protecting our trees. And "Where's My Teddy?" was just a plain cute rhyming book of a little boy losing his teddy but finding an enormous one in return; which actually belonged to a big bear.

A regular family participant also came to this event. It is Bug's favourite (stuffed) buddy, his dog Dreyfus. I told Bug that he wasn't a bear, but he said that Dreyfus was family so he had to come. Can't really dispute that reasoning, now can we?!

After the food and stories were done, we spent the rest of the afternoon playing outside. Bug played with his bear friends, and Bear crawled around in the grass, just exploring. I'd say my beautiful boys had a wonderful afternoon!

And look at those messy cheeks that accompanied his adorable grin!

Beauty of Being Different: Rock Painting

This VDV mommy and Bug had a craft day the other day. I decided to add a little twist, trying to teach my eldest about embracing yours and others differences. He will be starting preschool in the fall, and I really wanted to start introducing him to all the variety of traits that make people unique. Teach him to embrace a person's individuality, and that because someone may look, speak, dress, etc differently than him, a beauty is created that shouldn't be ignored or tampered with. I want to teach him tolerance and acceptance; hopefully carrying over his loveable and accepting toddler character into the young man I hope he will become.

A few weeks ago, we went rock hunting. He absolutely loves when we go on the pursuit for items we will use in our Camp Mommy adventures...he has sort of gone a little bit overboard with this excitement, asking for anything he WANTS to be used in Camp Mommy! haha...always constantly learning and teaching the little men in my life! I knew I wanted to do this craft, so one day we just headed out to a gravel alley way, and perused through the loose rocks, looking for some nice flat ones. It's funny how such a basic activity created such enthusiasm and excitement for Bug.

The day that I decided to do this craft, I collected 6 different colours of paints from my craft supplies (I chose all bright colours so that the rocks will stand out). I used paper towel as our tray for the paint so it was easy clean up and it help aide with the project. I got Bug to drizzle each color on one end of the paper towel. While doing this, we spoke about how the paints were different traits of people (anything from skin colour, race, accent, (dis)abilities, etc.), and how when all are combined we get a wonderfully unique individual.

Once all six colors were drizzled onto the paper towel, Bug would place a rock into the pool of paint.

At this point, we would fold the other half of the paper towel over the rock. Bug helped me with this step, but for little hands, it requires more adult coordination. I held the paper towel against the rock, and then flipped it over so that the painted side was now on top. This allowed for Bug to pull the paper towel back and leave a very cool mosaic pattern on the rocks.

After they dried for a few minutes, I took a cheap spatula and scooped up the rock, ensuring the top isn't touched and placed it on a tray to fully dry. When the paint was all dry, I used a water sealant spray to help the colours shine, as well as to protect the rocks from the weather. We have a very special Gramma who has a rock garden; this will end up being a perfect gift for her.

After they were all dry, I got Bug to talk about what made each one of them uniquely beautiful. His answers were mostly about picking out the prominent colours; but we spoke about how they were all rocks, and that their differences made them beautiful...just like human beings!

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Camp Mommy: Diving for Letters

This week's Camp Mommy again didn't cost us a cent. My whole set off had a wonderful forecast of weather in the high 20's and this summer really hasn't offered many days where I have been able to set up the pool in the back for the boys to play in. So I figured we would make the Camp Mommy activity center around playing in some water, enjoying the August heat.

Bug loves playing with water, so I thought it would be fun for him to retrieve things from the bottom of his pool. I already had laminated sheets made up for teaching, with 6 animals on each, one for each letter of the alphabet.

We also had a package of magnetic letters from Dollarama that we used in this diving excursion. We worked with 6 letters at a time, which meant one laminated sheet at a time. I (or bug) would throw the letters into the pool, and then Bug would jump in, ready for his water adventure. Even though he doesn't put his head under water (my eldest is such a scaredy cat), he would go through the dramatics of taking a deep breath and holding it while he knelt down to retrieve one of the letters. Once the letter was removed from the water, I got him to identify it. Then we would discuss the letter sound and try to find the animal the letter corresponded with on the sheet by saying the animal name, emphasizing the being sound of the word. Once he correctly placed the magnet, he would dive back in to do it all again. I wasn't sure if we would get through the whole alphabet, but he enjoyed it so much that I really didn't have any concern of him being bored.

After all 26 letters were cycled through, Bug still wasn't done. So I chose the letters for his name and threw them into the pool. I got him to spell his name out loud, before sending him in to retrieve each letter in correct order. Once the letter was pulled out of the water, he would place it on the ground and then tell me the next letter he needed to go find. Just a little added name practice on top of our Camp Mommy fun!

Of course, Bear is still not walking and participating in many of these activities. So instead he was all sunscreened up, with a cute little hat sitting on the sidelines doing what he does best...EATING!

After the activity, there was no reason to stop playing outside in the pool. So we invited one of Bug's friends over for some summer fun. They ended up finding some dirt, and making it into mud with the garden hose...what messy boys we have!

Putting Bug to bed that night, we discussed our day and what we enjoyed most about it. Bug animatedly said that he "loved Camp Mommy"! I still have many ideas to work through, so pending fall weather, they will continue into September!

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Camp Mommy: Shape Grocery Shopping!

This week's Camp Mommy didn't cost me a dime...at least in the sense of having to go buy stuff in preparation. I had everything on hand! Bug loves grocery shopping with me...most times. He loves trying to push a cart. He even has his own that he whips around the house with, taking his "babies" for a ride. So, I thought, why not make this an added fun learning activity for a Camp Mommy day.

I used his Lego blocks (medium to large ones) and placed a piece of painter's tape on one of the sides. These pieces of tape were labelled with a drawing of a shape...there were nine different shapes in total. Each shape had 6 corresponding Lego blocks (54 labelled blocks in total). I went around a small area in our backyard and taped signs for each shape. Those were our "shelves" at the grocery store; which is where I stocked the 6 blocks for each shape.  I also made him a bunch of 6 item grocery lists so that the activity lasted longer.

Bug then got his babies (an Ewok and a puppy), put them in the cart and then went shopping with his list. The grocery list didn't just have the shape I wanted him to pick up, but it also had a number 1 through 6 before the shape image, to tell him many of each shape he needed to obtain. This allowed us to work with identifying shapes, number recognition and counting. Once he got to each shelf, I would get Bug to count out each block until we matched the number that was on the shopping list.

Bug also likes putting things in bags, so to enhance our imaginative play, we bagged our groceries and he carried them home...with his babies in tow.

Near the end of our play, Daddy came out and Bug wanted to take him grocery shopping. Poor Daddy's back though, as he was in charge of pushing the cart. Hehe.

Bug then started to pretend cooking his "food", so Bear was more than happy to try out Bug's culinary skills.

If you don't have a cart, don't let that deter you from playing this game. I think we all have reusable grocery bags, so that can easily be where your child places their collected groceries. We just happened to already have a grocery cart.



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VDV Artists!

We had a craft day the other day. Bug loves crafting (that's what he calls it), so we decided to have some painting fun inside on a day that wasn't so nice outside. We utilized the artist smocks I made for Bug's past birthday party. We also brought one of the painting stations back from his party...fly swatter painting. We added one more utensil and painted with a potato masher. Both the fly swatter and potato masher were from Dollarama, which equalled to cheap but super fun painting.

I just laid down some newspaper on our floor. I don't care too much about the mess we make, but I thought I would contain some of it. Then I used painter's tape to tape a piece of paper down so all Bug had to worry about was putting his painting device to paper. I put paint on a paper plate, then got Bug to dip either the fly swatter or potato masher into the paint. The rest is pretty obvious...he would "stamp" or swat the paper and leave different patterns.

We did a couple of just fly swatter art, a couple of potato masher art and then a couple of pieces that incorporated both of our unique painting tools.

For Bear, I taped some paper down, then drizzled some paint onto the awaiting masterpieces. I gave him a paint brush so he could play on his own. He started with that, but ended up doing more of a finger/body painting. He was so messy in the end...paint was on his feet, legs, diaper, arms and face. He was so so cute!

After it was all done, and the boys were sufficiently dirty, it was bath time. And there isn't anything possibly more cute than bath time photos!

My boys truly do love each other. I understand and am not too naïve to think that their enjoyment of one another will last and I won't have sibling rivalry moments in the future. But seeing them together right now, warms my heart...from the shared giggles, the affectionate cuddles and the goofy play. My boys are amazing!

Another successful painting day in the VDV household. And the beginning of completed Christmas presents! haha...have kids...it gives you the opportunity to give some cheap (cost wise) and easy presents that are adorable, full of meaning and are truly enjoyed by the recipients!

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Camp Mommy: VDV Carnival

This Camp Mommy was a little bit more excessive than the last ones that I have done. I figured doing one, which was a bit over the top in regards to monetary preparation wouldn't hurt and it ended up being lots of fun. I'm actually planning on making this a yearly summer event, hopefully getting more kids involved next year. It will be fun to see Bug and his buddies go through all the carnival games when they are a little bit older. Regardless, this was a blast.

I still like to add a little bit of learning into our weekly activities; so how I did this was by incorporating a money and number theme. I made some fake money...by printing a Canadian 5 dollar bill and cutting it out. I wanted it to look like our currency so the kids were actually learning with our country's money. I promise, I did not invite some kids over, making them pay for tickets! haha. I also had some fake loonie coins. So for $6.00, the boys got 10 tickets. Then I randomly chose how many tickets each station would "cost" them. In the end, there were 7 stations, with a total of 20 tickets needed. I wanted the kiddies to have to go back to buy more tickets when they ran out; just to help their learning by repetition.

The 7 stations were as followed: face painting, search and rescue treasure (dollar store items hidden in a water play table, filled with foam blocks), fishing for treasure (tied string around my fence to a tree and hung a sheet over it), ring toss (a dinosaur set I bought from Chapters this year but a cheaper homemade version can be found on the internet with a dowel and bracelet glow sticks), ball toss (stacked paper cups from Dollarama), a spoon and egg run (set from Melissa and Doug that I purchased this past Easter - totally worth the money so you aren't actually breaking real eggs) and of course a potato sack race (you can buy sack sets at party stores, but I purchased pillowcases from Dollarama to cut on cost).

Once the kids purchased some tickets, we went to each station. I would tell them how many tickets it would cost them, and then got them to count out the tickets to give me. This would hopefully help with number recognition and counting. All of the activities were pretty enjoyable, some a little more than others. They loved the ball toss, ring toss and of course the big loot ones which were the fishing and searching amongst the foam blocks station. The Egg Run was a bit too much for them. Bug was sad every time his dropped. But I'm sure next year, it will be fun.

The potato sack one was probably the funniest out of the 7 stations. Bug got the hang of it right away, but his two buddies thought they had to run rather than hop. It was corrected quite quickly but not before I got a small clip on my phone. The boys were super cute, hopping from one end of the yard to the other.

The potato sack race was our last station, and once that was completed, the boys got their final treat. A container of cotton candy (from Bulk Barn). Each station, there was a small prize they left with. The search and rescue station, as well as the fishing station each had a bag of small goodies (again, most items were bought from Dollarama or Party City and they were $1.00 or less - toy cars, whistles [yay!], notepad, pencil, etc). Bug liked many of the items, but he couldn't wait to open the cotton candy...he just shoved his mouth right into the container once the lid was open.



After all the fun was had with the stations, the boys played with the goodies. We BBQ'd some hotdogs, to continue with the carnival theme and then we let the boys paint our faces. I love my son THAT much! My one friend, who's the mom of one of Bug's buddies was tag teamed by two boys. At the end of it, we were deciding if we should take make up advice from our 4 year olds!

All in all, this was a fun day. One that will resurface in the future. As a side note, while we shopped for all the items, Bug couldn't help but tell everyone he came into contact with (other customers, the cashiers, etc) that these were for Camp Mommy. They had no idea what he was talking about, but it warms my heart that he talks about these days like everyone should have them and know what they are!

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