But... in order for me to have fun and for things to go smoothly-ish I need a plan. I'm a plannin' kind of girl! It just works so much better for me if I know what to expect. We can still be spontaneous but we have a general outline... and general outlines makes me happy.
This Summer is "theme" Summer... each week (or every two weeks depending how long it takes us) we'll have a new theme. Each theme has crafts/activities/science/reading/food that go with that theme.
Most of the crafts and science are age appropriate for elementary age kids... but the books listed are geared towards preschoolers. I found book suggestions on different preschool blogs and am planning to supplement with non-fiction books from our library.
Most items are linked to the source where I got them... sorry there aren't pictures posted below... it took me hours and hours to put our list together and I just didn't have time to post pictures for everything. Let me know if you have any questions!
Summer Themes 2013
Weather
Art/Crafts:
Sun with clothes pins
Kite craft
Cotton ball clouds
Puffy Paint Clouds
Book(s):
Rainy Day Slug
The Very Windy Day
How the Ladies stopped the Wind
Farmer Brown Goes Round and Round
Barn Storm
Science:
watch it rain (two liter bottles)
watch it rain (shaving cream)
Tornado in a jar
Food:
Cloud jello
Dinosaurs
Art/Crafts:
Clothes pin Stegosaurs
Book(s):
Dinosaurs!
Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up
Dinosaur Roar! Board Book
Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs
Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!
Good Night, Dinosaurs
Science:
Dinosaur Eggs (or these ones)
Dinosaur fossils
Food:
Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets
Dinosaur fruit snacks
Dinosaur toenails (bugles)
Activity:
Dinosaur Museum
Bugs and Creepy Crawlies
Art/Crafts:
Lady bug paper plate
Coffee filter butterflies
Sun catcher snails
Rock caterpillar
Playdough Bugs
Book(s):
Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!
The Grouchy Ladybug
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Very Lonely Firefly
Diary of a Spider
From Caterpillar to Butterfly
I Love Bugs!
Science:
Live Butterfly Garden
“Fireflies”
Food:
Dirt with worms
Flutterby Franks
Edible Insects
Activity
Go on a bug hunt (plant a few fake bugs just in case we don’t catch real bugs)
Under the Sea
Art/Crafts:
Fishbowl craft
Paper bowl Jellyfish
Shaving cream starfish
Handprint octopus
Nemo Paper plate
Lobster footprint
Book(s):
Pout Pout fish
Baby Beluga
Clumsy Crab
some non fiction books
Science:
Growing coral Wave bottle
Food:
Sandwiches on Pepperidge farms fish bread
Sand crabs
Crabby Croissant
Patriotism/America (the week of July 4th)
Art/Crafts:
Handprint flag
Patriotic Tie dye shirt
Tin can windsock
red white and blue "star-man"
Book(s):
Wow! America!
How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A
A is for America
A couple of non fiction
Science:
Fireworks (how and why they work)
Food:
Star spangled rice krispy treats
Cupcakes/or sugar cookies with red/white/blue sprinkles
Space
Doing thing s a little bit different with this unit... dividing the subjects in to days... sun on one day, moon next day, etc. Some days more activities than others.
Sun
Fingerpainted Sun
“Wake up, Sun”
Nonfiction books
Moon & Stars
Moon Paint
Moon Sand
“Papa, please get the moon for me”
“Our Stars”
Solar System
Planet Painting
“Whats Out There?”
“Comets”
Aliens
Alien Man
Alien headband
Alien Glow-in-the-Dark Slime
“Aliens love underpants”
“The Three Little Aliens and the Big Bad Robot”
Misc
3-D Space Shuttle (free printable)
Paint blob aliens
“On the Launch Pad” by Michael Dahl
Food:
Alien Jello
Sun cupcake
Activities
Star and constellation gazing
Glow in the dark bath w/glow in the shaving cream (with neon food coloring)
Farm
Art/Crafts:
Chicken paper plate (free printable)
Corn Craft
Painted duck rocks
Cardboard pig
Cottonball sheep
Life cycle of a chicken
Book(s):
Big Red Barn
Barn Yard Dance
A seed in need
Pig’s Egg
Cluck O’Clock
Science:
Grow some Corn
Thirsty celery
Garden in a bucket (we bought a little kit at walmart that had seed/soil/bucket)
Food:
Popcorn (not microwave!)
Yoohoo Milk (or other chocolate milk)
Pig bread
Activities:
Field trip to a farm
Old McDonald
Happy Summer-ing!
