a popular stopping point in the museum is their old toy display.

after the first day of camp, the campers also know about the drawers at the bottom of the case that open to reveal toys they can play with!

we played with spinning tops, whirly-gigs, corn cob dolls, jacks, jacob’s ladders and marbles (all while sitting on the real bison rug, mind you!).

i bought these spinning tops and we painted them with watercolors.  there were some finger muscle work outs this day!

we started each day with a game of “yes and no.”  i held up drawings and the children said “yes” if it existed way-back-when and “no” if it didn’t.

NO:  computer, plastic toys, video games, markers, tv…(one friend suggested that every child would have to live by a creek so that they had something to do.  i think i agree!)

a simple line of string nailed to the wall worked great as a laundry line!

we had two kinds of clothespins and lots of laundry to hang.  i think the most significant topic of conversations (and most applicable?) to the preschoolers lives is ELECTRICITY.  PLASTIC is a close second.  so, way-back-when laundry meant no washing machine, no dryer, no plastic bottle of soap, no dryer sheets, no vinyl coated wash line…

i was surprised how popular this activity was.  note to self to hang one in the preschool classroom next fall.

dressing up in the way-back-when clothes was fun…even our teacher friends had a good time.

i buy bandanas for each child to take home.  before the last day they are used as aprons, blankets, towels, and capes for all the “super pioneers.”

well, we weren’t pioneer purists in our sculpting.

i gave them tape.

but with this wood table being offered as an often unsupervised “work time” station and there being 19 preschoolers, i wasn’t ready for hammers and nails.  i think the museum visitors probably appreciate that as well. i planned on having this wood table on the first day of camp only…but it lasted all week.

i wish i had photos of all the amazing sculptures.  there was impressive symmetry and wood balancing!

most of the clothespins disappeared from the wash line by the end of the week. : )

i spent the week at the local museum leading a day camp for preschoolers.

i realized so clearly how different this gig is from the preschool year.  a couple of my top goals for the preschool school year are letting the environment evolve according to children’s needs and desires and to build relationships between peers and teachers. when we only have 4 mornings together, those are hard goals to meet.

the museum is a wonderful tool for learning.  we have a spacious corner to use all week as our classroom.

one of my goals for this week was to create a space that children could truly play freely in.  that was successful!

our activities of the week are yet to come.

we wanted each child to have a large letter to hold up during our end of the year celebration.  this letter would be the first letter of their first name (we call it their “golden letter”).

my initial plan was for children to paint within the outline of their letter, but then i realized how flimsy they would be…blah blah blah…so we just painted over the letter outlines and i cut letters from the dried paper and mounted them on mat board.

the process of painting a massive paper is pretty satisfying.  holding up your golden letter during the alphabet song is fun too.

(thank you, annie’s mom, for the photo and wonderful sentiments)