setting up camp

I have two of my kids at the day care who will be starting kindergarten in a few weeks.  I felt the need to do something special for them... everyone else included.  I decided to have a summer camp here at the day care.  We can't actually spend the night and we can't technically go anywhere but here.  So imaginations will have to be sparked.  I have several notebook pages full of ideas from decorating to lunches and crafts and games.  I have made head bands that will be used to glue merit badges to and will have feathers hanging from the sides.  I have such plans that I am almost nervous that I can't pull it off... but I will because it's all up to me and my creativity and vision for the special week for them. 

Here are some of my decorations.  They look so much better in person.  You just can't get the full effect through pictures.


The entrance to our day care tent and camp.

I hung glittered pine cones and trees that I made last Christmas to make our forest before the playroom.  I love that I save that stuff and can use it again.

Inside our inside tent.  I plan to set up the nap mats in a circle with the campfire in the middle so they can look up at the glow in the dark stars while listening to campfire stories from library books I have picked up.  I also have a sound machine.. one of those to help you sleep... that has a setting called Summer Night that sounds like crickets.

The bulletin board drawing for the week.

So, the hardest part, or the most time consuming part of making an indoor camp fire, was the rocks.  I couldn't quite think of what to use and then one Friday it hit me... papier mache.  I stuffed paper bags with plastic grocery sacks and wadded and taped them.  Then I covered them with papier mache (because I am one of those people who keeps papier mache made up and in the fridge) and tried my hardest to wait until they were dry to paint them... but I didn't.  So they were painted when they were still partially damp.  I painted a cut-out cardboard circle black and glued the rocks down in a circle.  I painted some paper towel tubes shades of brown and hot glued them in a circle to the rocks.  I scarfed up enough red, orange and yellow tissue paper to use for the fire and glued it in too.  Lastly, I had purchased a six pack of battery tea lights that luckily twinkle, stuck all of the in the middle and Waa Laa!  An indoor campfire that flickers like real fire!

So hopefully if I can stay on schedule I will share our summer camp days with you here next week.. that is actually going on this week.  I have so much planned for them that I hope I can tell you all about it.