Camp Grandma is Back for the Best Year Yet

By Grandma Sandy | May 24, 2023

I started Camp Grandma during the pandemic to entertain Miss T. While her brother had returned to preschool, Miss T who had been zoom schooled, now faced the summer of 2020 with day camps shut down and no other forms of outside stimulation.

Some of the activities for Camp Grandma include craft projects and role play activities like running a cookie store and hosting a tea party. — **Some of our post-pandemic Camp Grandma activities include crafting and role playing.**

So, we held Camp Grandma via FaceTime. Steve dropped off project materials each week to Miss T, and then she and I crafted together remotely. It was a rewarding way to stay connected during those bleak times.

If you’re a grandparent who lives too far away to visit the grandkids, you might consider some of the activities from our first year of Camp Grandma to do with your grandchild.

After two summers of Camp Grandma, I’ve learned that doing thoughtful activities together with the grandkids is a way to forge deep and rich bonds. My goal is not simply to babysit, but to plan and execute meaningful projects that educate and stimulate imagination and creativity.

A child at an end-of-camp celebration. Each Camp Grandma ends in a party. — **A Camp Grandma summer party is the highlight of our summer with the grandkids.**

Last summer, we didn’t have Camp Grandma because the grandkids spent over a month overseas, visiting with their other grandma. We did have an ice cream party though when they returned, to celebrate the end of summer and as a reward for a learning project they had accomplished with me, as well as to acknowledge the beginning of the next school year.

Planing your Camp Grandma

For a complete guide to Camp Grandma, this post sets the stage for planning.

Camp Grandma Courses

Here are some activities we did for Camp Grandma that you might want to incorporate in your own camp. I’ll be posting new ideas as we begin Camp Grandma 2023 in June.

Craft Projects:

A child models a fascinator she made during Camp Grandma. She'll wear it at a tea party we'll have later. — **Miss T and I made fascinators for our tea party.**

How to make a piñata.
How to make fascinators, elegant headgear for a tea party.
Make gift tags from scraps; kids can use these on presents they give to others, or make a set of tags as a gift to an adult.
How to make cascarones, Mexican confetti eggs, for any celebration.
Craft a hanging work of art from scrap materials.
Learn to embroider.
Make a paper doll and design her clothes.

Educational Play:

The cookie shop is an interactive game that teaches kids about buying and selling.
Host a kids’ tea party to help kids learn about planning and execution.

Preparation for the Next School Year:

Make a book from magazine cutouts and learn to structure a story.
Try these ways to read together to get the most educational value.

A child orders magazine illustrations on the floor, connected the images to create a story and produce a book. — **N sorts images from magazines to order them into a story and make a book.**

Food and Cooking:

Make a strawberry dessert; you can even guide the child remotely through this project since it’s no-bake.
Pretend to be a TV cooking star to practice poise and communication. This is a fun video exercise.

A child in the kitchen ready to demo how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for a cooking video. — **N as the TV chef, demos how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.**

End of Camp Celebration

Our first summer party was simply to celebrate the end of school in 2020, to lift up spirits after a bleak period of isolation.
The blow-out 2021 summer party, was complete with games, carnival-type food, Camp Grandma T-shirts, and presentation of the children’s Camp Grandma work.
Our 2022 celebration was an ice cream party to acknowledge the end of summer, and the return to school. This was the year we shot off a confetti cannon, which was a huge hit!

Long-Distance Camp Ideas:

Five tips to engage kids when you are separated by distance.

Goal-Setting for Camp Grandma

Before you start, think about a few goals so your camp will have some direction:

What would parents like the children to learn about or prepare for, for the next school year? N’s parents want him to improve his fine motor skills. Miss T could work on creativity in storytelling.
What are my goals? I want to teach the kids to prepare a healthy snack or meal by themselves, to help them become more independent.
I’ll think of activities for these specific goals and plot them into a five-week program. One idea I’m toying with is to have Miss T make puppets and tell stories through them, to work on creativity.

Camp Grandma 2023

Because of the range in age and interests, one is seven and the other is ten, each child will have their own camp.
The kids have other summer activities, so Camp Grandma will be every Friday; I’m allocating three or four hours for each child.
Camp Grandma will culminate in a summer party for the kids, with food, games, and prizes. This has become an annual event that is a highlight of our summer.

Camp Grandma 2023 Activities

Each week, as we complete a Camp Grandma activity, I’ll post it here:

Camp Grandma #1: DIY Puppets–We are making out-of-this-world puppets from recycle discards to jumpstart creativity. We’ll create character profiles around the puppets, write a script, and put on a puppet show!
Camp Grandma #2–We make an art tracing to help N with fine motor skills. By tracing the outlines of a Star Wars stormtrooper, he practices control of his pencil, as he guides it over the line drawing as precisely as he can. Then we’ll frame the image for his wall.
Camp Grandma #3–We turn a cardboard box into a puppet theater for our recycle trash puppets.
Camp Grandma #4–We write a script for our puppets. It’s not hard if you tackle it, step by step.
Camp Grandma #5–We do video interviews of grandparents to learn and preserve family history.
Camp Grandma #6–We end this year’s Camp Grandma with a recycle project, making art with broken crayons.

Still to come: our annual Camp Grandma summer party, when our family schedules allow.

Follow Along

Camp Grandma will begin June 9, after I return from vacationing in Japan where I am presently, and the first post will be Wednesday June 14. Next week, I’ll share a no-fuss recipe for a noodle bowl that can take you through summer.

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