How to Host the Best Camp Grandma this Summer

Camp Grandma begins next week. The grandkids will not be going to day camp this year. So, grandma is determined to host the best-ever Camp Grandma for them this summer.

Last summer, I held a virtual camp for Miss T, who was then seven, to entertain her while her brother was in preschool. If you live too far away from the grandkids or are still distancing from them, some of these fun, remote Camp Grandma ideas might work for you. Miss T and I made a real connection, bonding over FaceTime during lockdown.

While last year’s Camp Grandma was entirely about arts and crafts, this year, I have more ambitious plans: I want to add an education component, to sharpen some of the skills the kids will need for school next year.

Camp Grandma Objectives

As a starting point for Camp Grandma, I began by exploring my objectives. This just gives a framework for planning to ensure that, at the end of the six-week camp, we’ll have had fun, but also, we’ll have accomplished some significant growth goals.

• Grow self-sufficiency
• Expand reading proficiency and comprehension
• Develop creativity
• Learn geography
• Increase math proficiency
• Understand some basic scientific principles
• Have FUN

I’m no expert on all of the areas I’d like us to work on, but there are so many learning websites and books that we can use for our exploration. We’ll explore some of them after each camp session.

A Separate Camp for Each Child

Since my grandchilden are three years apart, I’m scheduling them for separate camp days.

Why I think this is a good idea:

• Ensures each child will have grandma’s undivided attention.
• Allows grandma to focus on the specific abilities, skills, and interests of each child and to work at an appropriate level for that child.
• Keeps the children from distracting each other when it’s time to study.

Carve out Dedicated Spaces

I am moving the children’s table and chairs from the playroom into my craft room during the duration of camp, so there’s a dedicated area for learning.

Why this is a good idea:

• Provides an environmental cue that this is study time.
• Creates a dedicated learning center without the distraction of toys.
• Helps kids to stay put and stay focused until they’ve completed their assignment.

Teach Responsibility

One way I plan to teach responsibility is to have the kids make their own lunch. They must choose one protein source and at the very least, one fruit or vegetable. Here’s a guideline from Harvard’s Department of Nutrition to help you plan.

Lunch choices could be making a sandwich, a salad, or pizza. Or, they could make a bento lunch, filling various compartments of a bento box and adding decorative picks and sushi grass.

Why this is a good idea:

• Teaches kids to take responsibility for themselves and their needs.
• Creates an opportunity to educate kids about nutrition.
• Encourages picky eaters to eat by giving them choices and ownership of their meal.

Plan a Camp Grandma Schedule

We’ll see how this goes, but I plan to schedule activities for each visit. For example:

• Arrive at 9:30
• 9:30 to 10:30 study period (geography, math, science, reading, writing, etc.)
• 10:30 to 11:30 arts and crafts
• 11:30 to 12:30 make and eat lunch
• 12:30 to 2:30 work on a longer project
• 2:30 pick up from Camp Grandma

On some days, if we are planning a major project, we might spend the entire day doing just one thing.

Branding your Camp Grandma

Last year, I created a logo for Camp Grandma using Canva, a free graphic design site with templates you can customize. Every time I sent Miss T craft supplies for our next project, I incorporated the logo into the packaging.

Why this is a good idea:

• Gives Camp Grandma a consistent image and makes each project part of a bigger whole.
• Reminds the child that this is a week-to-week camp; not a one-off project, and cements their commitment.

Saving Supplies for Camp Grandma

I’ve begun saving materials we might need for craft projects, such as magazine pages of interesting pictures that we might use to make simple books, toilet paper rolls and other cardboard rolls, old newspapers for paper mache projects, and so forth.

I have a very well-equipped craft room with plenty of white school glue, acrylic and tempera paint, crayons, markers, child-safe scissors, and all the basic tools.

Some Purchases

I’m purchasing the following to help me with my Camp Grandma projects.

• Map of the U.S. puzzle and a small globe to teach geography
• Scholastic Early Learners Wipe Clean Workbook to help Little N form letters correctly
• A set of dry erase markers for wipe-clean books
• Two STEM books: Curious Jane: Science + Design + Engineering for Inquisitive Girls and the sequel, More Curious Jane
• Food Anatomy Activities for Kids, a book to teach kids about food history, culture, and science

Camp Grandma Activities, to Date:

Here’s what we’ve accomplished, so far:

• The Ultimate Way to Teach Reading: We read a book, listened to a song about the book, did some exercises provided by our library related to the book, then made a snack inspired by the story.
• How to Make Fascinators: In this arts and crafts project, we turn cardboard, fabric, feathers, and flowers into fancy “hats,” of the type seen at royal weddings and society events.
• Host a Kids Tea Party: We plan a little tea party to wear our fascinators. Learn how we planned it, and our recipes and tips for a successful event.
• Prepping a child for Kindergarten: We make our own book from magazine cutouts, learn sight words, directional and positional words, and practice reading. You’ll find links to useful worksheets to make teaching easy.
• Life Lessons from a Cookie Shop: We make clay cookies and play cookie shop to learn about planning, goal setting, sales and promotion, math, and more.
• How to Make a Piñata: We prepare for our end-of-camp summer party by making a piñata, a carnival game with food cans, and bean bags.

News from Camp Grandma

Every Wednesday, for the next six weeks, I’ll share what we did at Camp Grandma and how it went–what worked, what didn’t, and what I learned. You’ll find ideas for one-off activities to do with the grandkids or to incorporate into a complete, Camp Grandma program.

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