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Nuffer Summer Camp- In Review

Yeah... I had big plans of blogging about each week of camp, but in reality, that was never going to happen.  Oh me and my optimistic and unrealistic ideas of time.  We ended up doing 2 or 3 things each week for camp, but it was still fun and I'm glad I had a plan.  I will definitely be doing the same thing next year, with a little more insight as to what works and what was a flop.  Here's a link to my original plans and themes.  Anyway, here's a quick review of our summer-

Space week
Already blogged and lots of fun!

Pirate week
I introduced the boys to Jake and the Neverland Pirates during pirate week and now it's a household regular.  Jackson LOVES Jake!  
We made a telescope, eye patch, and pirate hat.



We also made wax paper boats and played with them in the tub


We made some treasure chests




And we had a treasure hunt!  I made a map, filled their treasure chests and hid them where X marks the spot. 


Daddy helped them follow the map.  They searched for treasure in their pajamas, no big deal.







Castles and Dragons week:
So you might begin to notice a new trend, during week 3 I began to be much more lax about the whole camp thing, and this is when we just did whatever fit into the schedule and "feel" of the week.  
This week was mostly a castles week, but we did watch How To Train Your Dragon.  We also watched Tangled, and made lanterns similar to the lanterns in Tangled.




We visited Legacy Play Village and it's HUGE.  Part of the park is castle-ish.  It's enough of a castle for our purposes anyway.  The boys really liked this park.  Jackson even decided that this is where he wanted to have his birthday party.




Animals and Nature
This week we had Maggie over and she made some animal crafts with us.  I didn't get pictures, unfortunately.  Another day we watched Madagascar and made more crafts.  But the best part of this week was CRITTER FEST!!  Lubbock doesn't have a zoo, so the local kids museum brings in all kinds of animals once a year, and every year we attend, it's a tradition.

This lizard was more interested in the camera then all the people eyeing him.


Petting a baby duck.  Austin was quacking very loudly at him. 


At the reptile show with my favorite fellas!


Turtle time!  Austin loved this guy.


Not my favorite part of the fest and it wasn't theirs either because it was like pulling teeth to get them to touch the snake's tail.


Jackson's expensive spiderman face paint that only lasted about 20 minutes...


Spidey on a pony ride.


America, the beautiful!
It's the 4th of July!  We made watermelon sugar cookies, talked about freedom, played with sparklers and simple fireworks in the backyard.  The night of the 4th we had a picnic in the park and watched the city's firework show.  The boys had a great time!




We also attended story time at the library for the first time.  And they had a tribute to the USA as well, with books, a puppet show, songs, and a craft.  It was really neat!  We go every week now.


So the following week was Earth week, but...  I slacked... a lot.  And we ended up not doing much of anything for Earth week.  I even tried Earth week a second time and didn't get to it.  Sad.  Earth week was one of the weeks I was really excited about.  Oh well, there's always next summer.  So on to...

Ocean Wonders
We watched The Little Mermaid and made jellyfish sun catchers.


We also watched Nemo and made a lot more crafts, but I don't have pictures.  However, we will be having an art showing of their summer artwork next week and I'll blog about that WITH pictures!  ;)

Up in the Air Week!
I was a little worried about this week, but it turned out to be one of the most fun.

We made a couple plane crafts and this target game using $1 foam planes from Target.  This game was a huge hit!
Make a target with masking tape:


And, of course, you need to keep score.


It was so fun, it's still up in our house and the boys still play.


We played another game, balloon ping pong, with balloons and paper plate paddles like in this picture.
Jackson's still playing this game as well, but Austin just pops the balloons- which is kinda ironic because he's been so afraid of balloons until this summer, and it was the popping that scared him.  He's an odd duck.


We were supposed to have It's a Small World week this week to finish off Nuffer Family Summer Camp, but my boys pulled the biggest fits I've ever seen on Monday and they lost summer camp this week.  Oh well, less stress for me the week before Jackson's 5th birthday.  I can't wait until next year when we get to try everything all over again, but with NEW ideas and activities!


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