This summer I decided I wasn't going to waste away indoors with eager, energized screaming kids. I also wanted to make sure we ALL learn something new (including me). I chose to do a themed summer, yes I know gag, and made sure it was something that didn't take over the traditional summer vacation fun. This summer we "traveled" the world learning about what life would be in different countries. Each week we had a different country or culture to learn about. With an exception of a few weeks due to summer day camps, shark week and the last week they designed their own country. In this post I'll go over what we did each week and briefly explain my lesson plans. I would also like to add that all our crafts are genuine, meaning they are not the perfect pictures you see on Pinterest. I mean really, some of those crafts people post were obviously done by mom and not the child. I will also add in a few other activities we did this summer that was just for fun.
I hope you enjoy and get some ideas for next summer!
I hope you enjoy and get some ideas for next summer!
India!
Our first week we flew on our magic carpet to India. We learned all about the life styles, food, schools and animals here.
Crafts:
*Painted Elephants- I attempted to draw an elephant and traced it for each child. They got to paint their own pet elephant. The kids thought it was really neat people in India paint their elephants for parades and festivals.
*Kool-aide henna
*India Flag
Learning Activities:
*Read "The Enchanted Anklet" by Lila Metha
*Facts about India video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JXLS_es48M&list=PLDIhefj7rRVDXsRjSB302TyjXgLSiDPTq&index=1
*Worksheets
*Watched the Jungle book
* Write your name in Hindi. This was a good activity and I wish I did this for the other countries but we ran out of time usually. I found a site to translate English to Hindi. I typed each name to translate it and copied and pasted it to a Word document. I made sure to make the font big enough for them to trace easier. Also make sure to make the font grey so they can see their writing over the font.
Friday we ended our lesson with a traditional tasty Indian meal of Butter Chicken. I didn't add very much spice, I didn't want 6 kids racing eachother to the restroom if they weren't use to the spices:) The kids all LOVED the butter chicken and eating with their hands. I added the link to the recipe I used.
http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/45957/chicken-makhani-indian-butter-chicken/?mxt=t06rda
Crafts:
*Painted Elephants- I attempted to draw an elephant and traced it for each child. They got to paint their own pet elephant. The kids thought it was really neat people in India paint their elephants for parades and festivals.
*Kool-aide henna
*India Flag
Learning Activities:
*Read "The Enchanted Anklet" by Lila Metha
*Facts about India video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JXLS_es48M&list=PLDIhefj7rRVDXsRjSB302TyjXgLSiDPTq&index=1
*Worksheets
*Watched the Jungle book
* Write your name in Hindi. This was a good activity and I wish I did this for the other countries but we ran out of time usually. I found a site to translate English to Hindi. I typed each name to translate it and copied and pasted it to a Word document. I made sure to make the font big enough for them to trace easier. Also make sure to make the font grey so they can see their writing over the font.
Friday we ended our lesson with a traditional tasty Indian meal of Butter Chicken. I didn't add very much spice, I didn't want 6 kids racing eachother to the restroom if they weren't use to the spices:) The kids all LOVED the butter chicken and eating with their hands. I added the link to the recipe I used.
http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/45957/chicken-makhani-indian-butter-chicken/?mxt=t06rda
Japan!
Japan was our next journey. There are so many things you can do with and it could almost be a two week lesson.
Crafts:
*Decorated hand fans with dragons on them.
*Haiku paintings. I assigned each child with an animal to make a Haiku painting and poem about. This was adorable and their poems where great.
*Zen rock garden. this is the easiest thing in the world to make. Simply pour some fine grain sand in a Tupperware about half full. Add a few river rocks and let them rake the lines with the plastic fork. Helps them calm down as well.
Learning Activities:
*Printable worksheets from education.com
*Visited the Japan House at the U of I. The building was closed but we where able to walk along the beautiful Japanese gardens. I made a worksheet for them to complete and they had to draw their favorite landscape. They have a great area for the kids called the Idea Garden. They were able for forge for berries and play in a kid friendly garden.
http://japanhouse.art.illinois.edu/en/
Friday we made Miso Soup and the kids learned how to eat with chop sticks. I made the soup with Raman Noodles and added grilled chicken, vegetables and a boiled egg.
Crafts:
*Decorated hand fans with dragons on them.
*Haiku paintings. I assigned each child with an animal to make a Haiku painting and poem about. This was adorable and their poems where great.
*Zen rock garden. this is the easiest thing in the world to make. Simply pour some fine grain sand in a Tupperware about half full. Add a few river rocks and let them rake the lines with the plastic fork. Helps them calm down as well.
Learning Activities:
*Printable worksheets from education.com
*Visited the Japan House at the U of I. The building was closed but we where able to walk along the beautiful Japanese gardens. I made a worksheet for them to complete and they had to draw their favorite landscape. They have a great area for the kids called the Idea Garden. They were able for forge for berries and play in a kid friendly garden.
http://japanhouse.art.illinois.edu/en/
Friday we made Miso Soup and the kids learned how to eat with chop sticks. I made the soup with Raman Noodles and added grilled chicken, vegetables and a boiled egg.
Native American Week
I made sure to go over Native Americans because I feel it is an important part of our history. I had this week the week of Fourth of July. I assigned everyone Native American names I got from a name generator and we went by those all week. So instead of having Bradyn, Kamryn, Blayne and Gabryan. We had Liwanu (growl of bear), Chepi (garden fairie), Bidziil (he who is strong) and Cheveyo (spirit warrior). My youngest Takoda already has a Native American name:)
Crafts:
*This kids made rain sticks at the Library
* Dream catchers
Crafts:
*This kids made rain sticks at the Library
* Dream catchers
*We made plantain salve from fresh picked plantain. This salve helps heal misquito bites, bee stings, burns and other skin irritations. This activity helped the kids understand the Native Americans would make medicines out of the earth around them.
* Homemade paint out of raspberries.
*Made a Totem Pole out of milk Jugs.
Learning Activities where limited because we had so many crafts to do. However we did read "Blue Feather's Vision" and "Arrow to the Sun". My wonderful husband made an awesome Teepee for the kids to read in. We also went on a hike to pick our walking sticks to decorate and the fresh plantain we used for our salve. Our meal on Friday was baked fish with corn on the cob.
* Homemade paint out of raspberries.
*Made a Totem Pole out of milk Jugs.
Learning Activities where limited because we had so many crafts to do. However we did read "Blue Feather's Vision" and "Arrow to the Sun". My wonderful husband made an awesome Teepee for the kids to read in. We also went on a hike to pick our walking sticks to decorate and the fresh plantain we used for our salve. Our meal on Friday was baked fish with corn on the cob.
America!
This week was the week of Fourth of July. This was a great way to embrace the greatest country yet! The beginning of the week we focused on IL and the last part was about the country as a whole.
Crafts included a flag activity with construction paper and paint. We also made fireworks with paint and straws. We did a lot of traveling this week to an All American Farm, spray park and the lake so crafts where limited. We also had a great opportunity to read the classics, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill. Lastly we wrote letters to the American Soldiers to thank them for their service. The kids all decorated a card and told them thank you in their own little way. They also wrote funny jokes to make them smile.
You can send letters to:
Operation Gratitude / CA Army National Guard
Attn: Angel Cuevas
17330 Victory Blvd
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Our All American meal consisted Hamburgers, watermelon and potatoes.
Crafts included a flag activity with construction paper and paint. We also made fireworks with paint and straws. We did a lot of traveling this week to an All American Farm, spray park and the lake so crafts where limited. We also had a great opportunity to read the classics, Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed and Pecos Bill. Lastly we wrote letters to the American Soldiers to thank them for their service. The kids all decorated a card and told them thank you in their own little way. They also wrote funny jokes to make them smile.
You can send letters to:
Operation Gratitude / CA Army National Guard
Attn: Angel Cuevas
17330 Victory Blvd
Van Nuys, CA 91406
Our All American meal consisted Hamburgers, watermelon and potatoes.
Africa!
After spending some time at home in America, we jumped back on the carpet and flew all the way to Africa! This is also a huge continent and so much to learn about. We narrowed it down to Nigeria and surrounding areas. We learned about animals, clothing and housing.
Crafts:
*Safari boxes-We printed out printable safari animals and created our own safari in a box. We went over the landforms such as the mountains, desert and the ocean.
I downloaded the printable from www.education.com
Crafts:
*Safari boxes-We printed out printable safari animals and created our own safari in a box. We went over the landforms such as the mountains, desert and the ocean.
I downloaded the printable from www.education.com
* African collar necklaces. http://www.education.com/activity/article/african-collar-necklace/?crlt.pid=camp.WIS7GvUHcHOJ
*African Drums.
Learning Activities:
*Watched Duma
*Went on a safari/hike
*Read "The Hunterman and the Crocodile" by Baba Wague Diakite
*Watched an educational video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjniisN_yiQ
We ended Africa with a Nigerian Beef Pie for lunch and a few worksheets.
more resources:
http://homeschoolcreations.com/Africa.html
*African Drums.
Learning Activities:
*Watched Duma
*Went on a safari/hike
*Read "The Hunterman and the Crocodile" by Baba Wague Diakite
*Watched an educational video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjniisN_yiQ
We ended Africa with a Nigerian Beef Pie for lunch and a few worksheets.
more resources:
http://homeschoolcreations.com/Africa.html
Mexico!
Mexico was a very busy week we learned everything from Aztec, Mayan's and modern day life in Mexico.
Crafts:
*Music shakers
*Yarn artwork
http://aupairbuzz.culturalcare.com/cultural-craft-for-kids-mexican-yarn-art/
*Metal artwork
http://tinkerlab.com/tin-painting-for-dia-de-los-muertos/
Learning Activities:
*Watched an educational video from Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Fh9PIEC-4
*read "Anansi the Spider" by Gerald McDermott, "Book Fiesta" by Pat Mora and "The
Woman Who Outshone the Sun" by Cruz Martinez
*Worksheets from www.education.com
We finished off our Mexico week with a taco bar fiesta!
Crafts:
*Music shakers
*Yarn artwork
http://aupairbuzz.culturalcare.com/cultural-craft-for-kids-mexican-yarn-art/
*Metal artwork
http://tinkerlab.com/tin-painting-for-dia-de-los-muertos/
Learning Activities:
*Watched an educational video from Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0Fh9PIEC-4
*read "Anansi the Spider" by Gerald McDermott, "Book Fiesta" by Pat Mora and "The
Woman Who Outshone the Sun" by Cruz Martinez
*Worksheets from www.education.com
We finished off our Mexico week with a taco bar fiesta!