I was given inspiration from Wendy's kid's meals I decided to grab one day for my kids. I do not often have them eating out but was pleasantly surprised when they opened their toys. My youngest child asked why he was given a book bag. Upon investigation, inspiration struck for my wilderness camp.
Welcome to Camp WannaGo!
Where fun and excitement are only a moment away! Each day is something new and badges are earned for each new skill, observation and merit!
There are many different badges Some can be paired together or if you want to stretch it further you can separate them. I will lay them out as I worked them, but you all can remix them as you wish. I do want to note that the badges I awarded my own children I got from the NotePack from the Wendy's kids meal. They were stickers, and I kept them myself and we would have a ceremony at the end of each day to give them their "badges." These I placed on their NotePacks (except for my oldest who wanted to put it on a special paper he made that he kept inside his NotePack.. to each his own..).
Here are the Badges, and the activities for their coinciding days. I will add pictures of the badges in the next 2 days:
Craft Badge: Children can do a multitude of crafts of their choice on this day Some ideas are:
Make a spiderweb. Make an outfit for your teddy bear. Make a quilt. Make baby blocks. Make a pot holder on a loom. Make a dollhouse. Painting and jewelry making are welcome too! This is a creative day, so let the kids choose!
Bug Badge: On this day, I put together a bug book for my kids to read, color the illustrations and create the cover for. Once they finished they presented their book and told some things they learned about bugs. Each book had a few different bugs to make it more interesting for the presentation. They then designed their own butterfly. Finally they made a bug box and went outside with their magnifying glasses and did some observation work. They would take notes, and for my youngest child just leaving kindergarten, drew pictures of the bugs they observed. This is a great way to incorporate science into summer. You can do the spiderweb project on this day too, if you choose.
Exploration Badge: This badge and the next I used on the same day as they were both evening activities. In the exploration badge we took a "night hike" more like late evening because my kids have bedtimes, where I gave them a scavenger hunt list and stamped the list when they found it. They all helped each other find the items and was great for teamwork building. We also attempted to catch and release fireflies on this day.
Campfire Badge: This is the time to teach about fire safety, how to start a fire, the terms used for materials you need to start a fire and another science insert: the three things you need to make a fire which are oxygen, fuel and heat. We then cooked over the open flames! Roasting hotdogs and marshmallows was great fun for us all. We then discussed how to safely put out a campfire to make sure wildfires don't start.
Nature Badge: I haven't gotten to this badge but I have some ideas for it at least. You can post your own ideas if you like. Let the children collect different specimen of vegetation and try to identify it. Collect litter. Teach them the importance of leaving nature as you found it. Go for a hike or a bike. Have the children make a teepee or their own structure as a math and engineering connection.
Aquatic Badge: This was a fun day. Mainly a splash day with water guns and water balloon fights but also the campers had to demonstrate: safety at the pool, a freestyle stroke, backstroke, breast stroke and a underwater flip (front or backwards).
Bird Badge: I am doing this one today and will need to stop this and come back and finish the post, but I think you have enough to start your camp experience. I borrowed a bird pathfinders book from the library, they will research about birds, observe birds in their environment and make notes in their NotePacks. There are some bird paper airplane cut outs they can design to learn about aerodynamics. We will finish up with making a bird feeder and bird sanctuary!
Sportsmanship Badge: (*note: the sportsman badge I took out of the derby car toy from Wendy's) This is a silly sports day meant to teach good sportsmanship, how to work as a team and how to enjoy a game for what it is: a game. I used horseshoes, they made their own derby cars from Wendy's, but you could use cardboard, and we will race them down ramps they build, silly dress up race, hoop toss, flight testing of their bird and flag football toss.
Nocturnal Nature Badge: I plan on giving this badge along with the camper badge. We will learn about the stars, the difference between day and night as well as nocturnal and creatures... Roasting marshmallows will probably happen too!
Camper Badge: Save the best for last with this badge. This is the night they get to camp in the backyard or if you are really adventurous join them outside where you choose! The badge will be awarded in the morning.
Have fun and remember to allow for kids' creativity! Hurray for Camp WannaGo!
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