Grandma Day Camp

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that this past week was the much-anticipated Grandma Day Camp.  It is AWESOME.  The kids look forward to it every year, and so do I!  They have tons of fun, with days jam-packed full of activities, and I usually plan a big project to tackle – last year it was to peel the wallpaper in my master bathroom, the year before it was to stencil my dining room – you get the idea.  A week long of no kiddos hovering around, from 9-3 everyday – it’s a dream!   This year was no exception:

Each year my mom gets together with her sister – my aunt – and they put on Grandmas’ Day Camp for their grandkids.  This year my uncle also joined in the fun.  I think this was their 6th year – and it seems to just keep getting better!  I am obviously not that involved in planning or executing the week, but I wanted to at least share their schedule and things that work for them in case you want to put on a camp of your own (or beg your mom to put one on!)

 

First up, there’s lot of prep – planning activities, buying supplies, setting the meal calendar, etc.  I think the key is planning.  And once you find your groove, you’ll find what works best each year, etc.

DAILY SCHEDULE:  They open each day with a circle and singing camp songs.  Each kiddo has their own camp songbook and they save and reuse them each year.  I think they end the day with singing as well.  There is a raising and lowering of the flag each day and the kids rotate through that assignment.  A group of kids are assigned to lunch duty each day.

 

DAY 1:  make camp shirts (every year there is a different theme, and they make shirts to match.  This year the theme was “Into the Woods”), ripcord bracelets, buddy burner/hobo oven construction, knife safety and whittling soap, make stilts, obstacle course, dream catchers.

 

Day 2:  walking sticks, picture frames, bee housing, water adventure (pond, purify water), God’s eye, pony beads.  Lunch was cooked on the buddy burners made the previous day – – a tuna can with cardboard and wax in burns and is placed under a big #10 can, and you can cook on top of the big can just like a stovetop.

 

DAY 3: Mountain Man Day.  fire building, knife and hatchet throwing, BB guns, stump pull, leatherwork, wood burning, campfire lunch.  And they found Big Foot in the woods (cameo appearance by my brother who happened to be off work) which was a huge hit.

My kids will talk about Grandma Day Camp until the next year rolls around – it’s awesome!  You should for sure give it a try!