Noooo. It’s not October already, is it? Well, consider this a throwback to summer… I am ready to start uncovering all of our projects! Remember all the freedom from scheduling, the warm sunshine and those drippy-popsicle days? In our household, those days were not without a little effort on Mom’s end. But we remember them pretty fondly so, seeing that it’s October, you can consider this a flashback or… you can thank me for the advance preparation I’m giving you for next year.
This past summer, the kids were only in a couple of “real” camps (you know, the ones for which I had to shell out hundreds of dollars) and the remainder of the m-a-n-y l-o-n-g weeks, it was “mommy camp”, 100%. I’m not gonna lie, it was a tough summer. My husband was traveling quite frequently. A lot of friends were out of town and in order to keep us from clawing each other to pieces, I needed a plan.
What made nine weeks (minus two of ‘real’ camp) with three, little kids tolerable? One word: “Theme-tastic!” Yeah, I made that up… because it sounds awesome.
Was it 100% fail safe? No. Was it just a LITTLE bit easier than no plan at all? Absolutely. Basically, it gave me a fallback if I ever came up short on activities (which totally happened, by the way). For example, “Hmm, I have no flippin’ idea how I am going to kill time today. Hey, it’s Ocean week! Library, here we come – and we’ll hunt for anemone (or sea animal du jour) books.
Anyway, for your benefit and mine (because I might actually reuse this entire plan again next year), here’s what our summer themes and activities looked like:
Week 1: Gardening Week
I didn’t get my fruits and veggies started early enough this year, but by the first week of summer, there was still time left to get going on some stuff we’d be able to harvest throughout the warm months. My daughter helped me set a budget and decide what we could/should plant and we ventured out to buy the goods for our garden boxes.
The kids started a summer journal where they recorded the size of some of the seedlings at first planting. We’d go back over the next, few weeks and monitor their growth.
Of course, what’s a garden without some adornment? We spent an afternoon while the littlest was sequestered outside for potty training (yeah, that pretty much became a whole week’s theme unto itself) selecting and painting garden rocks.
Week 2: Media Week
It should come as no surprise that I don’t really have pictures of this. I mean, how interesting are three kids staring at a TV screen? Just kidding. Media week was MOSTLY about investigation and invention… with media. So Caitlynn downloaded some movie apps and started to brainstorm, sketch and storyboard a fun movie (unfortunately, the program we were using wasn’t extremely intuitive so the flick never fully materialized).
We read (well, at least we brought home) a couple of books from the library that talked about how movies were first made. And the kids got into putting together a couple of puppet shows. We even made curtained theaters out of cardboard boxes.
Of course, with a 2-year-old-in-training, we certainly had to infuse media in the most unsuspecting of places.
Week 3: Baking Week
This week was a big hit with everyone. As you can see, even at two, a child is able to grasp the concept of a breakable egg. Of course the thrill of it, I’m sure, makes cracking the eggs his most favored task. Since I let him in on this enlightening opportunity, he continues to demand that I let him help me bake whenever I am in the kitchen.
The kids took turns planning and prepping (almost) every core meal this week. We might not have seen the most epicurean fare, but it got everyone comfortable using knives (table knives, yes), and a variety of other utensils and appliances.
We certainly did a couple of massive sugar-infused projects. Caitlynn elected to try her favorite dessert turned cupcake: S’mores. I mean, talk about a cupcake on steroids – this one is a chocolate batter layered with chocolate chips, a hand-made marshmallow fluff frosting and a graham cracker crumble to top it all off. I was nauseous just thinking about it. But we did it anyway.
We continued recording in the summer journals – while the cakes rose in the oven, I asked the kids to draw a picture of what they thought the goodies would look like when they came out. I love how my son drew with such perspective – like the kid (presumably him) in the picture is just pushing that hot, steaming cupcake right off the page and into your salivating mouth.
Dropping off fresh batches of S’mores cupcakes had all the neighbors abuzz. Unfortunately, some missed out. Maybe they didn’t catch the ridiculous scent of chocolate and marshmallow wafting through the cracks in their walls. (Or maybe they were just on vacation. Too bad.) It’s a pretty delightful looking little thing, isn’t it?
Week 4: Ocean Week
I had been eagerly anticipating this week ever since I started planning the summer. It was going to offer us a wide range of activities – I mean, c’mon, we are just a half hour from the beach, after all. We’d hit the library first and dig up some oceanic books. Then we’d jump over to the coast and maneuver between the rich, lively tide pools. Maybe we’d watch a sea-inspired movie and we’d study some of the shells the kids have stashed away in their closets.
Most of that happened. But that’s the beauty of designing your own summer camp. You can be super-ambitious and put into play some pretty grand plans (yes, we made it to the tide pools and even brought some friends with us!), or you can just go to the library every day (okay, *I* wouldn’t be bored by that, but the kids might have an opinion there). You get my drift.
Ocean week also brought us to Coyote Point Museum and Zoo which sits right at the water’s edge. We not only continued to learn about science and nature, but we also got to watch all the huge jets in their descents to SFO (bonus).
Week 5: Summer Cleaning Week
You know when Mom says, “Okay, kids, we’re gonna play a really fun game!” And the kids go, “Okay, cool! This is gonna be awesome!” And about a half hour into it, they realize it’s all been a ploy to get them motivated enough to clean the entire house in one fell swoop? Yeah. Guilty.
But what was really successful about it was that the kids really DID get into it – and for good reason. We ended up dropping off bags full of unneeded goodies to our local, single mom’s shelter where they graciously accepted our donations.
Everyone got re-introduced to the washing machine, the dryer and the folders (their own hands) and for the most part, everyone was on board with that (even the pirates).
Unfortunately, that little matey shut the door on the last of the loads to go into that 10-year old washer. Of course, added bonus for Mommy: a little reality check on how luxurious it is to have a washer in the first place. Little guy helped me along at the Laundromat for the week. Talk about ‘cleaning’ – we had six loads going all at once. We took a walk, visited his new preschool and came back to fill up the cavernous dryers. All-in-all, three hours’ worth of work (not including the mound of it all that then required folding). Ugh.
The kids got some more formal lessons in folding and making beds and, for the most part, it has stuck. They’re really proud of themselves (even this many months later) for what they can accomplish when they put their minds to it Mommy says so.
Week 6: Play Date Week!
Really, at some point Mom has to be realistic about things. My tank was just about on empty, people were coming back into town and it was just time to consider a simple alternative. What spontaneously and quickly morphed into “Play Date Week” mostly just meant taking more kids under my wing. But at least it let me off the planning hook for a while.
So there you have it – an entire summer filled with activities (and I just scratched the surface – there is just a world of opportunity out there). If you’re ambitious enough (don’t forget, it doesn’t come easy), you can do it, too. It ended up saving me hundreds (maybe thousands) of dollars in summer camp fees and brought me closer to my kids for three, whole months. And now you have an eight-month lead on it…