Wonders of nature summer camp ideas

I am currently in the middle of planning summer camp for our preschool and child care program. It can sometimes be a daunting task to plan engaging activities for 5 full days a week for 8 weeks for both preschool and school-age children. I want them to have fun, be active and maybe even learn something while they are here.

Each week of the summer will have a different theme, and the one I am in the middle of planning right now is called “Wonders of Nature” (pretty broad, can really incorporate a lot of different ideas here). So far I have some ideas for a “Pond Life” day and a “Growing Nature” day. I thought I’d share some of the ideas I found:

1. Frog Food – A fun snack idea when we talk about animals that live in the pond.

2. Froggy, Froggy Catch the fly – Children use party blowers with velcro on the end to “catch” plastic flies!

3. Indoor Pond Adventure“ – We’ll set this up in the sensory table for children to explore all week long.

4. Paper Plate sunflowers – We’ll make these after reading “The Sunflower Parable”.

5. Nature’s color wheel – Love this idea from Deborah at Teach Preschool – we are going to have children bring in some colorful nature items from home to make this beautiful color wheel.

6. Seed fingerpainting – Great creative and sensory experience idea from “NotJustCute” blog.

7. Nature bracelets – Wrap a piece of masking tape around each child’s wrist sticky side out before going outside. Go on a nature walk and have the children stick nature pieces to it as they find them outside (leaves, acorns, grass, hay, small rocks, etc).

That is as far as I’ve gotten in my planning … so far. That’s where YOU come in (should you feel so inclined … smile!). I know there are many of you out there with great ideas … would love for you to share them here! Feel free to comment or use the linky below if you have a blog. What other “theme days” do you think would go well with the overall “Wonders of Nature” theme?