Mimi and the Grands

I  have three active grandsons that I love to babysit several days a week, and I like to keep them busy with lots of activities that are enriching and possibly educational.  This summer I will watch the grands, Tigger (8), Kona (6), and Tahoe (4), for several weeks in August before the two older ones return to school in the fall, and I wanted to create an in-home day camp experience for them. I decided to plan a variety of day-camp-type activities by choosing a theme and planning activities for each of the eight Multiple Intelligences when designing the day camp. I also wanted some academic focus embedded in the activities I chose.

We really love our bikes in this family, and the grands are no exception. Their father, uncle, great uncle, and grandfather ride their own bikes on a regular basis, so the grandsons have great mentors. Of course, the grands all have bikes (although Tahoe still has training wheels).  Since my grandsons have lots more time to ride their bikes in the summer, I planned some fun “day camp” activities for them to enjoy their bikes and learn more about bike riding. 

I have planned four weeks of day camp activities altogether and this theme is for Week Three. If you would like to see Week One and Two’s day camp plans, you can find it here:   

In-home Day Camp Week 1: Ice Cream Dreams

In-home Day Camp Week 2: The Game Plan

Week Four: Water, Water, Everywhere (In the coming weeks I will also post my plans for Week Four.)

Week Three: We Like Bikes 

The weekly schedule: Each day I will “dip into” the Read Aloud Book (see Linguistic Intelligence), have the grands ride their bikes (see Bodily-Kinesthetic and Naturalist Intellgiences) and have them engage in at least two other activities a day (listed in the other intelligences). By the end of the week I will make sure that I have offered at least one activity from each intelligence so that all eight intelligences are covered by the end of this day camp unit. For my readers, I will also mention any academic focus I plan on integrating into any of the activities.

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

Read and discuss books- It’s always nice to include a few books as part of the day camp experience, so I usually start my planning by getting some books for the grands at the library. Besides the Read Aloud Book, I will probably read and discuss some of these other books sometime during the week as time allows. 

Nonfiction:

Safety on Your Bicycle by Lucia Raatma is a book I definitely want to read and discuss with my grands as part of the day camp experience. It has great pictures and easy instructions for safety rules including the proper way to wear a bicycle helmet, how to check your bicycle for safety before you ride it, dangers on the road, intersections, and traffic rules. Academic focus: Vocabulary-This book has several important vocabulary words that the grands need to learn including chinstrap, reflector, and signal. Text features-I can also use this book to talk about text features such as Table of Contents and Index.

Pedal It! How Bicycles Are Changing the World by Michelle Mulder has tons of information on bicycles: their history, their development, how people use bicycles in their places of work, and how bicycles are making positive changes in the quality of life for people throughout the world. This book includes many photographs and factoids that will catch the eye of many bike enthusiasts (Grandpa Jim was shown this book and couldn’t put it down.). It is written for grades 3-7, and is so full of information, I will read it to my grandsons in small sections. Academic Focus: “Book Walk”-Since this book may be too overwhelming to read in its entirety, I will show the grands how to do a “Book Walk” with it. That means we will look through the whole book first before reading it by checking out: the front and back cover, table of contents, chapter titles, and illustrations. Then I will have the grands choose a section or page of the book which interests them the most and read those pages to them.

Fiction:

The Best Bike Ride Ever by James Proimos and Johanna Wright tells the story of  Bonnie and her enthusiasm for her new bike. Bonnie loves her new bike so much that she immediately begins riding it over imagined bridges, mountains, canyons, and elephants. Unfortunately,  Bonnie hasn’t learned yet how to stop on her bike. This is an adorable story that makes the point that learning safety rules before riding a new bike can be a very good thing to do.  Academic Focus: Predictions-As Bonnie takes off on her new bike, I will ask the grands what they think will happen to Bonnie as she continues to ride her bike. How do they think the story will end? 

 

Ben Rides On by Matt Davies is a cute book about a third grader, named Ben, who loves to ride his bike to school. But once he arrives at school, another much bigger third grader, Adrian, decides he would like to ride Ben’s bike too. As Ben tries to retrieve his bicycle, he has to encounter some hard decisions to help Adrian who gets into a scary predicament.  Academic focus: Character traits– I will discuss how the reader learns about the characters in a story by finding the following clues: what the characters say, what they do, and what others say about them. I will guide the grands to discuss the characters of Ben and Adrian using those three types of clues.

Read Aloud: 

The Case of the Bicycle Bandit: A Jigsaw Jones Mystery by James Preller is book #14 in this series of mystery stories. In this chapter book, which is good for grades 1-3,  Jigsaw and Mila investigate the disappearance of Ralphie Jordan’s rusty, broken down, old bicycle that was chained to a bike rack at the library. The story is told with humor and lots of suspicious characters.  Academic focus: Details-I will discuss which details in the story helped Jigsaw and Mila to solve the mystery. Independent Reading-I also hope that Tigger will want to read this book on his own afterwards since it is written at his current reading level.

Storytelling or Writing Prompts: I will give my grandsons at least one of these prompts and have them tell me a story (or write it down depending on their interest or age level). Academic focus: Main Characters and Plot (Complete sentences if used as a written activity.)

• On my last bike ride with my family, we …..
  
• If you could design a vacation for your bicycle, where would it go?

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)

These are some ways the grands can use their mathematical intelligence to understand their bicycles:

Measurement: Using a tape measure, I will have the grands measure the length and height of their bicycles and the different parts.

Graphing: I may have the grands compare the height and length of their bicycles by making bar graphs after they finish the measuring activity.

Radius and Diameter: I can introduce the concept of radius and diameter by having the grands measure them on the wheels of their bikes. I may even introduce the formula for finding the diameter of a circle using the radius by helping the grands analyze the measurements they took for their wheels.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)

I want my grandsons not only to enjoy playing on their bikes, but hopefully develop some physical skills as well. Here are some ideas:

How Slow Can You Go? http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/16780/outdoor-fun-bicycle-games

Driveway Games: http://www.bicycling.com/training/kids-cycling/kids-bike-skills

Leap Frog: https://www.trails.com/list_32894_bike-games-kids.html

Bike Rodeo: http://bicycling.about.com/od/organizedbikeevents/a/bikerodeo_event.htm

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

The grands always love arts and crafts so I looked up some ideas online that I could try with the boys:

 

Making a Bicycle with Pipe Cleaners: http://mykidcraft.com/pipe-cleaner-bicycle/

Bike Streamers and Plates: http://www.crayola.com/crafts/bike-streamers–plates-craft/

Drawing a Bicycle: Tahoe used this website to draw a bicycle and make a really nice art project:

http://artwithmrssmith.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html

 

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)

Songs about Bicycle Safety: I wrote some lyrics for the tune “The Farmer in the Dell” to teach the grands some safety rules I want them to remember:

We want to ride our bikes, We want to ride our bikes,

Helmets on, C’mon let’s go, We want to ride our bikes.

At corners we look right, At corners we look left,

Helmets on, C’mon let’s go, We’ll look both right and left.

Obey all traffic signs, Obey all traffic signs,

Helmets on, C’mon let’s go, Obey all traffic signs.

I found some other bicycle safety songs online that are really good and I might use with my grands:

http://writtenwiththewind.weebly.com/learn-bicycle-safety-by-singing-bicycle-safety-songs.html

Other Songs About Bicycles: Here are some other songs. Some of them can be found as videos online:

• “Bike Safety Boogie” by Will Stroet, from his album “My Backyard.”
• “On A Bicycle Built for Two” sung by Nat King Cole

Classical Music: Several music composers have been so inspired by their bicycles that they wrote music either about their bicycle experiences or using bicycles as musical instruments. They can be found at this link:

 http://www.classicfm.com/discover/music/bicycles-classical-music/#63tZBlMdGZz7dCKT.97

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)

Playing with their bikes outdoors; what could be more natural? The grands will need to learn how to adapt their bicycle riding skills to different outdoor environments, so during the day camp week, Grandpa Jim and I will try to take them to a different outdoor area each day to ride their bikes. Here are some examples:

Parks: There are many different playground/park areas in our vicinity, so we have lots of choices for their bicycle riding. Some of these parks are nearby and the boys can ride their bikes to them, under the watchful eye of an adult, of course. Other times, we’ll put their bikes in our car and drive them to one of the larger parks in our area that has a bike path next to a stream.

Bike Trails: I also found some local bike trails on the internet that we might try.

Cul De Sacs: There is a cul de sac near us where the grands can ride their bikes.

Empty parking lots: Some of the schools and churches in our area have empty parking lots in the early evening hours. They are often good places to allow the grands to ride without the worry of traffic.

 

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

Bicycle Maintenance: I want the grands to learn how to work together to take care of their bicycles, so I will have Grandpa Jim show them how to clean their bikes, pump up tires, and “lube” the bicycle chains. Our focus will be to get the grands to work together on these chores, helping each other. (And pumping up tires includes some Logical/Mathematical activities too as the grands will need to look for the maximum air pressure which is printed on the side of the tire.)

 

 Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

Some activities should be planned for the grands that can be done by themselves such as:

• Riding their bikes in our backyard.
• Reading books about bicycles: I will have the books I used during the week available for the grands to use and look at throughout the week.
• Journal Writing: I want to give each grand a chance to reflect on their day camp week by writing, drawing, or telling me what they enjoyed most about their bicycles this week. (This is an activity that is best done at the end of the day camp experience.) 

 

I hope you are finding these Multiple Intelligence activities useful as you plan day camps or lessons for children in your care. If you would like to see more of these unit studies as I create them, you can become a follower of this blog.

I love to add my blog posts to link parties such as:

 

 

 

 

When I was a child, our entire neighborhood was filled with children around the same ages as my siblings and me. We loved to spend our summer days and evenings playing games: board games, kickball in the street, hide and go seek in the neighborhood, Red Light-Green Light, Red Rover, ping pong, etc. I want my grands to know and play lots of games too, so I planned an In-Home Day Camp experience for them that focuses on sports and games. Since this is also a Summer Olympic year, I decided to incorporate the Olympics into this day camp as well.

As I planned this day camp theme for the grands, Tigger (8), Kona (6), and Tahoe (4), I designed activities for each of the eight Multiple Intelligences.  I also incorporated some academic focus in the activities I chose.

I have planned four weeks of day camp activities altogether and this theme is for Week Two. If you would like to see Week One’s day camp plans, you can find it here:

In-home Day Camp Week 1: Ice Cream Dreams

 In the coming weeks I will also post my plans for Week Three and Week Four:

Week Three Theme: We Like Bikes 

Week Four: Water, Water, Everywhere

 Week Two: The Game Plan

The weekly schedule: Each day I will “dip into” the Read Aloud Book (see Linguistic Intelligence) and have the grands (or day campers) play at least two different games (found in several places in this post). By the end of the week I will make sure that I have offered at least one activity from each intelligence so that all eight intelligences are covered by the end of this day camp unit. I will also mention any academic focus I plan on integrating into any of the activities.

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

Read and discuss books- It’s always nice to include books as part of the day camp experience. I usually get my books from the library. During the week these books may be used to go along with the theme:

Nonfiction:

Play With Us: 100 Games from Around the World by Oriol Ripoll is a great resource explaining both indoor and outdoor games from many countries. There are a variety of types of games too such as hopscotch, marble games, hide and seek, and tag. Academic Focus: Following written directions-First, I’ll point out that directions for games usually include the number of players, materials needed, and steps in the game. I’ll have the grands choose a few games from this book and follow the directions to play them. (The oldest grandson can read it to the other two grands.) 

The Fastest Game on Two Feet and other Poems about How Sports Began by Alice Low uses poetry to explain the origins of some sports and games that require legwork. (Many of these sports are also played during the Olympics). Some of the sports included are running, gymnastics, bowling, figure skating, and rugby. This book is written at a higher level, but I think my oldest grandson will enjoy it. Academic focus: Rhyming words: Many of the poems in this book are rhymes, so identifying rhyming words is definitely a literacy skill to practice when reading this book.

Fiction:

• Let’s Play: Poems about Sports and Games from Around the World edited by Debjaniu Chatterjee and Brian D’Arcy contains over thirty poems about a variety of sports, mostly from English speaking countries such as USA, UK, and India. Some of the poems were familiar to me: “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and “The Swing.” Most of the poems are new to me including: “The Skater Boys” and “Right Royal.” Sports and games that have inspired these poems include ping pong, judo, boxing, diving, cycling, American football, and cricket. Academic Focus: Context clues–Are there unfamiliar words in the poems, especially those written in other countries? What clues can we find in the prose to help us uncover the meaning of these unfamiliar words? 

The Mud Flat Olympics by James Stevenson is an easy and adorable chapter book about some animals that are holding an Olympics. The events are varied including Digging the Deepest Hole (which featured the moles) and the All-Snail High Hurdles. Academic focus: Inferences–The animals don’t always win the races in the conventional way, so the grands will have to employ some inference skills to understand who (or how) the winners were determined.

 

Hit the Ball Duck by Jez Alborough is an adorable rhyming picture book about a group of friends who want to play baseball. However, with duck’s first hit, the baseball gets stuck high in a tree, so the friends try different methods to get it down. Academic focus: Problem and Solution-This is a great book to discuss the main problem in the story and how it is finally solved. Rhyming-Since this book is written in rhymes, I will have the grandsons identify the rhyming words. Sight words–This will be a great book for Kona to identify his sight words.

Read Aloud: 

Going for Gold! by Andrew Donkin tells the story of six Olympians: Jesse Owens, Shelley Mann, Mamo Wolde, Daley Thompson, Jennifer Capriati, and Kerri Strug. The book includes photographs and interesting sidebars giving facts about the Olympic Games. In addition, Going for Gold! includes information about the sport of each of these athletes. Academic focus: Main Character–Discuss each Olympians’ motivation and/or obstacles in achieving their gold medal.

Poetry Recitation: The grands are really into memorizing short poems at the moment (encouraged by their parents) so I’d like to have each of them choose one of the poems in Let’s Play: Poems about Sports and Games from Around the World or The Fastest Game on Two Feet and other Poems about How Sports Began and memorize it.

Storytelling or Writing Prompts: I will give my grandsons at least one of these prompts and have them tell me a story (or write it down depending on their interest or age level.) Academic focus: Main Characters and Plot (Complete sentences if used as a written activity.)

• I wanted to be the best _______ player in town, so I made a plan.
• Mom and Dad surprised us one morning by saying they had some tickets for the Summer Olympics.
• I decided to create my own game. I called it ________ and these are the rules for the game:

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)

Most games use some type of math anyway, but here are some games I plan to use to engage the grands’ logical/mathematical intelligence:

Basketball Shots: One of the games I will play with the grands is shooting baskets. I will have the older grands, Kona and Tigger, practice counting by 2s amd 5s by making their baskets either worth 2 points each or 5 points each.

Dominoes: A set of dominoes has many options for using math skills.  First I will work with the basic rule in which the grands will have to match the number of dots on the end tiles to place a new domino. For the older grands, I will move onto the rule of 3s and 5s. For more information on this game and other ideas for using dominoes I will use this resource:

https://nrich.maths.org/1200

There are more ideas for game related math at this website:

http://www.mathgoodies.com/Webquests/sports/

 Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)

Music has been written about games and is additionally an integral part of some games.

Songs about Games: Some samples of songs about games (baseball and Olympic in particular), that I will play for the grands are these:

• “Centerfield” by John Fogerty 
• “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” by Jack Norworth, and 
• “Olympic Fanfare and Theme” by John Williams.

Singing Games: There are so many traditional games that involve singing such as “The Farmer in the Dell,” “London Bridges,” and “Skip to My Lou.” I found other sources of singing games to try at these links:

http://www.songsforteaching.com/movement.htm

http://www.ashleydanyew.com/2015/15-singing-games-for-childrens-choir/

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)

So many games can be played outdoors, and I want my grands to learn a variety of them. I also want to show them that they can use natural materials as part of their play.

Shadow Tag: To play this game, find a large sunny area. Since the game requires players to step on other players’ shadows, it is probably best done in the late afternoon. This game can be done by only two  participants, but it is more fun with at least three players. Shadow tag is similar to other types of “tag” games except the only way that the child who is “it” can tag another player is to step on their shadow. Then that child becomes “it” and has to try and step on someone else’s shadow. There are lots of other variations of the “tag” game. I found a great resource here:

http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/tag-games.page-1.html

Other Classic Outdoor Games: I also want to teach my grandsons some outdoor games that I loved as a child such as Kick the Can, Red Rover, and Red Light, Green Light. I found this resource which has the rules for these games as well as several others that I might try: http://www.wired.com/2013/03/30-classic-games-for-simple-outdoor-play/

Tic-Tac-Toe: I want the grands to understand that natural materials can be used in place of paper and pencil to play some familiar games. For example, I’ll have the grands collect long sticks to make the grid for tic-tac-toe. Then the grands can gather natural items for the “X” and “O” pieces by collecting items such as rocks, bark, or pinecones.

Other games using natural materials can be found at this website: http://artfulparent.com/2014/05/10-diy-outdoor-games-to-make-rocks.html

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

One of my favorite childhood games uses the Spatial Intelligence as part of its playing area. 

Hopscotch: Information on the more traditional hopscotch games can be found at this website: http://www.parents.com/fun/activities/hopscotch/

I also found a different type of hopscotch using the book, Play With Us (see Linguistic Intelligence),  where the player kicks a stone instead of hopping from each numbered space. The game is called “Kicking the Pebbles” and uses a different type of hopscotch formation: a large square playing area that has been divided into 8 different five sided or four sided spaces with some chalk. The player throws a “pebble” into space #1 and then tries to kick the stone from space to space in number order until the player gets to the end. If the player is successful to getting to the end without kicking the stone out of a space, then they get a second round by throwing the “pebble” into space #2 and repeating the pattern of kicking the stone from space to space in number order. 

Treasure Hunt: My grandson, Kona, just loves to follow maps so I will include at least one treasure hunt during this day camp week. The first time we play the game, I will hide one of their toys as the “treasure” and draw a map for the boys to follow to find the toy. In subsequent games, I will have the grandsons take turns hiding the “treasure” and creating a map. (I’ll have someone help Tahoe when it is his turn.)

Olympic Ring Craft: I discovered an idea for a craft from another blogger. This idea uses bottle caps to create the Olympic rings. It can be found at this link: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/olympic-rings-cap-sorting/

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

Many of the games listed in other places in this post would also fit under the Interpersonal Intelligence because you need more that one person to play these games. Besides those activities, other examples of interpersonal games that I plan to include in my day camp week would be Hide and Seek, Mother May I, board games (like Checkers), and card games like “Go Fish.”

 

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)

I want my grandsons not only to enjoy playing these games, but hopefully develop some physical skills as well. That is why I will include “lead up games” in my day camp for the grands.

Red Light, Green Light Dribble: This basketball lead up game will allow the grands to practice dribbling a basketball. To play the game, each player needs a basketball. Then the grands will line up on one side of the basketball playing area and the “Leader” will be on the other side. When the “Leader” calls “Green Light” the day campers move forward while dribbling the basketball. The players must stop when the “Leader” calls “Red Light.” If a player doesn’t stop at “Red Light,” they are sent back to the beginning. The first player to catch up to the “Leader” is the winner. (I may have the youngest grandson start the game closer to the “Leader” since this skill will be more difficult for him.) I found other basketball lead up games that I might use with my grandsons at this website: http://www.csosports.org/4-fun-basketball-dribbling-games-for-young-players

Water Balloon Toss: Besides being a very cooling game for a hot summer day, this game teaches skills such as catching with two hands and throwing with accuracy. You will need even numbers of players for this game. Day campers play with a partner and stand about three feet away from each other. Each partnership has one water balloon. At a signal, the player with the water balloon tosses it to their partner. If the partner is successful in catching the water balloon, they take a small step back and then throw the water balloon back. Play continues like this until the water balloon breaks. I plan to have lots of water balloons ready for this game so the grands get plenty of practice in throwing and catching.

Soccer Pirate Attack: This lead up game will help my day campers to practice their soccer dribbling skills. To play this game, you will need several hula hoops and several soccer balls. Using a large flat playing area, place the hula hoops (Safe Islands) about the field. All players start the game at the edge of the playing area. The child who is the “Pirate” has to turn around and count to ten before “attacking” the other players. Meanwhile the other players are allowed to roam and/or dribble the soccer ball around the field. Players are not allowed to touch the soccer balls with their hands. When the “Pirate” finishes counting to ten, the “Pirate” calls out “Attack” and runs to tag the players with the soccer balls. To be safe, the players with soccer balls must be inside a Safe Island with their soccer ball. Anyone who is tagged by the “Pirate” before reaching the safety of the Safe Islands (or who doesn’t have a soccer ball) becomes the new “Pirate” and the game starts over again.

 Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

While most of the games that are in this post require other people as part of the activity, there are some games and projects for this day camp experience that are Intrapersonal:

• Some games can be played with one person such as shooting baskets, single jump roping, playing with a hula hoop, hopscotch, and hitting a ball against a wall.
• Reading books about games: I will have the books I used during the week available for the grands to use and look at throughout the week.
• Journal Writing: I want to give each grand a chance to reflect on their day camp week by writing, drawing, or telling me what they enjoyed most about the games this week. (This is an activity that is best done at the end of the day camp experience.) 

 

I hope you are finding these Multiple Intelligence activities useful as you plan day camps or lessons for children in your care. If you would like to see more of these unit studies as I create them, you can become a follower of this blog.

I love to add my blog posts to link parties such as:

 

 

 

 

I  have three active grandsons that I love to babysit several days a week, and I like to keep them busy with lots of activities that are enriching and possibly educational.  This summer I will watch the grands, Tigger (8), Kona (6), and Tahoe (4), for several weeks before the two older ones return to school in the fall and I wanted to create an in-home day camp experience for them. I decided to plan a variety of day-camp-type activities by choosing a theme and planning activities for each of the eight Multiple Intelligences when designing the day camp. I also wanted some academic focus embedded in the activities I chose. (Update: This is a great day camp unit to repeat. In 2019, I decided to use this unit again and added some new books to the program. The grandsons are now ages 11, 9, and 7 and enjoy making ice cream even more than they did in 2016.)

I have planned four weeks of day camp activities and will make each week a separate post. Here are the four themes that I will offer in this series:

Week One Theme:  Ice Cream Dreams

Week Two Theme: The Game Plan

Week Three Theme: We Like Bikes 

Week Four: Water, Water, Everywhere

 

Week One: Ice Cream Dreams

The weekly schedule: Each day I will “dip into” the Read Aloud Book (see Linguistic Intelligence), have the grands (or day campers) make ice cream using a different recipe or method (see Mathematics Intelligence), and offer a craft project (see Spatial Intelligence). I will prepare at least one activity from the other intelligences sometime during the week, so that all eight intelligences are covered by the end of this day camp unit. I will also mention any academic focus I plan on integrating into any of the activities. For a sample schedule for the week at the end of this post.

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart)

Read and discuss books- It’s always nice to include books as part of the day camp experience. I usually get my books from the library. During the week these books can be used to go along with the theme:

Nonfiction:

How to Make Ice Cream by Tom Greve is a book that gives directions for making ice cream using  zipper type plastic bags. There is also some information on the science used in making ice cream. It is especially good for grades 1-3. Academic focus: Following Directions or Sequencing-If I use the method for making ice cream described in the book, then the academic focus will be on following written directions. Otherwise, I will use this book as a sequencing activity. Since there is also a table of contents and picture glossary in this book, I will make sure to point those features out to my grands as well.

 

From Milk to Ice Cream (Who Made by Lunch? series) by Bridget Heos explains how the ingredients for ice cream are made (specifically milk and sugar).  Additionally, the book discusses how the milk and sugar contribute to making the ice cream at the factory, before eventually reaching the grocery store. The grands enjoyed the beautiful illustrations.  I found that this book went well with the activity I had planned in the Naturalist Intelligence section.  Academic focus: Text Features: Map and Glossary- At the back of the book there is a simple world map showing where dairy cows are raised and where sugarcane is grown. I will use this with the grands to practice reading map keys and identifying the continents where each of these foods are raised. There is also a glossary with words such as homogenizer and pasteurize, so I’ll have the grands use this text feature to make sure they understand those words.

Ben and Jerry: Ice Cream Manufacturers by Joanne Mattern is mostly about how these two entrepreneurs started their successful business. I chose to add this in 2019 to this day camp, because I wanted to show the grands how people can develop their interests into a lifetime job. The book also shows the charitable side of the Ben and Jerry’s business which I think is an important lesson for the grands. Academic focus: Vocabulary- This book has a glossary with words such as franchise, mission statement, and stockbroker which are words my grandsons don’t encounter in their usual reading, so I thought it was important I focus on helping them understand those words and how they are used in the context of this book.

 

Fiction:

Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis: This is such a cute story of a little boy who writes a letter to his grandfather about all his adventures during the summer. Interestingly, all of his summer activities seem to involve ice cream in some way. He practices his math, spelling, reading, and even learns about other countries and some history…all in the pursuit of his favorite pursuit: ice cream. The pictures are adorable because they use the ice cream cone motif in the illustrations of  sand castles, airplanes, and even maps. Academic Focus: Details-I’ll have the grands give me a few details from the story.

 

Ice Cream Soup by Ann Ingalls is a cute rhyming book about a boy making an ice cream cake that eventually becomes a yummy ice cream soup. I chose this book in 2019 to add to this day camp unit because I wanted a book that my youngest grandson,Tahoe, could read on his own. This book is a Level 1 Penguin Young Readers book, so it was just right for Tahoe’s independent reading level. Academic Focus: Rhyming- The story is told in rhymes, so after reading the book, I had the grands review the rhyming words and had them create their own “additions” to the story using rhymes.

 

Read Aloud: The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery  by Gertrude Chandler Warner explains the story of four siblings (Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny) who help out at a local ice cream shoppe during the summer and solve several mysteries regarding missing parfait glasses, chocolate syrup, broken windows, and spoiled whipped cream. My grandsons love this series already, but this story is certainly a favorite since it deals with ice cream. I love how the Alden children enjoy helping others and the thought processes they use to solve the mystery. This is a great read aloud book, and is also available as an audible book (which is great to use when traveling in the car with children). Academic focus: Making Predictions:  At appropriate points in the story, I will have the grands make predictions on the solution of the mystery in the story.

Storytelling or Writing Prompts: I will give my grandsons at least one of these prompts and have them tell me a story (or write it down depending on their interest or age level.) Academic focus: Main Characters and Plot (Complete sentences if used as a written activity.)

• The Ice Cream Shoppe down the street was having a contest to see who could make the yummiest new kind of ice cream. The winner got free ice cream sundaes for the whole family. I decided to enter the contest and went right to work… 
• Yesterday afternoon, I accidentally left a carton of ice cream on the kitchen table and went out to play. When I returned two hours later, I couldn’t believe what I saw in the kitchen…
• The ice cream truck was parked next to the playground so I asked my dad for some money to buy an ice cream. But when I walked up to the ice cream truck, there was no one inside…

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart)

Make Ice Cream: There are many ways to make ice cream, even if you do not own an ice cream maker. Even if you have an ice cream maker, I think it is fun to have the children learn different ways of making this cold and yummy treat. Why not make a different recipe or method each day? Academic Focus: As part of making ice cream, day campers have to use measuring spoons, measuring cups, etc. so they are using math as part of the process.  

Here are some different recipes and methods for making ice cream:

Using coffee cans: http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-coffee-can-244054

Using Zipper type baggies: http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream3.htm

Using a blender: http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-blender-ice-cream-recipes/coconut-bliss

Using an ice cream maker: There are plenty of recipes on the internet for making ice cream with an ice cream maker. Some require cooking first, but I like to use recipes with my grandsons that are easier than that. Here is one of my grandsons favorite ice cream recipes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/140877/easy-eggless-strawberry-ice-cream/

Tigger needs to have a dairy free option so we have been using this recipe (with or without the cocoa powder) in the ice cream maker and using the ziplock bag method. In both cases, we had to place the ice cream in the freezer to finish the process. https://detoxinista.com/chocolate-coconut-milk-ice-cream/

 Musical Intelligence (Music Smart)

What would a day camp experience be without camp songs!? Instead of creating my own, I found several websites that have songs about ice cream that I can teach my grands (or day campers):

http://www.preschooleducation.com/sicecream.shtml

http://bussongs.com/songs/chocolate-ice-cream-song.php

http://www.prekfun.com/themes/prekthemes/g-m/IceCream/IceCream__Songs.htm

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart)

Where do the ingredients for an ice cream sundae come from? This is a great discussion or research topic for the grands (day campers). I’ll have the grands list the ingredients for ice cream and some of the other foods that might be used to make an ice cream sundae and then either tell them or have the oldest grandson look this information up on his computer. Academic focus: Use a map or atlas to identify the origins of some of these foods used to make ice cream.

Here are some ingredients we might discuss:

Cream: Cream can be produced by cattle or goats. Cattle that grazes on natural pasture usually gives cream with a slight yellow tone. Indoor fed cattle or goats produce cream that is more white. 

Vanilla: This delicious spice comes from the vanilla orchid, a vine that grows up in trees. It originally grew in Mexico and Central America, but now is grown around the world.

Sugar: Most sugar in the United States comes from sugar beets. Modern sugar beets were first cultivated in Prussia. The sugar is made in the leaves of the sugar beet plant during the photosynthesis process and then stored in the taproot of the sugar beet plant. Another popular source of sugar is from sugar cane which is a tall grass native to tropical and subtropical areas of South Asia.

Chocolate: This comes from the seed pods of a small tropical tree, the Theobroma cacao, which is native to Central and South America. It is grown in many places in the world now, with about 70% of the world’s chocolate being grown in Africa. 

Strawberry: The garden strawberry can be grown in many places in the world, but was first cultivated from wild strawberry plants in France. This compact plant can grow in small areas that get at least eight hours of full sun. (Another project could be to plant some strawberry plants in the backyard to grow strawberries to use in recipes or to top ice cream sundaes.)

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart)

Craft projects: The grands love to do art projects, so I always have lots of activities in this intelligence. Lot of materials that you already have around the house can be used to make the crafts including egg cartons, cotton balls, paper plates, and playdough.

 

Here are links to some crafts that I will use for the day camp:

http://artasticartists.blogspot.com/2012/03/we-scream-for-ice-cream-and-cupcakes.html

http://intheplayroom.co.uk/2015/04/18/egg-carton-ice-cream-cones/

 

I will be using a few more craft ideas from these links:

http://www.playideas.com/25-ice-cream-crafts-for-kids/

http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/12-OF-THE-SWEETEST-ICE-CREAM-CRAFTS-EVER

 

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart)

Circle Storytelling: Sit in a circle and start a story. Have the day campers take turns going around the circle and contribute to the story. An example of a story starter is: The ice cream store down the street has so many new flavors. Each day last week I went to the ice cream store and tried a different flavor. On Monday I ordered……

Dramatic play: Running an Ice Cream Parlor-I will have the grands pretend that they own an ice cream shop. Besides using household objects to create their ice cream parlor, I will have my three grandsons design a menu of ice cream cones and sundaes for this shop. Besides having them plan their own special items for the menu, I will encourage them to name each of the items using the names of book titles or storybook characters, such as “Pete the Cat’s Too Cool Banana Blast.” Then the grands can work together to make a poster of the featured items at their ice cream shop.

Ice Cream Social: Plan a party for friends, family, or neighbors using ice cream that the day campers make themselves. Have them make invitations and menus for the party (which is also a Spatial Intelligence activity).

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart)

Racing for Toppings: In this physical activity, the grands (day campers) will have to run back and forth a few times to pick out the toppings they want on an ice cream sundae. The winner, of course, gets their ice cream sundae made first. To prepare for the race: Find a place to hold the race, whether it is in your backyard, playground, or playroom. Make pictures of the different toppings and/or ice cream flavors from which the day campers can choose such as  chopped walnuts, chocolate syrup, strawberries, cherries, whipped cream, etc. (The day campers can make the pictures or you can find pictures on the internet and paste them onto paper. I will make multiple pictures of each item so more than one grand can choose the same topping during the race.) Spread the pictures out at one end of the racing lanes. Then decide how many toppings you want the day campers to have on their sundaes. The object of the race is to run and pick up one topping each time the day camper runs to the end of the lane. So if you have allowed each child to have three toppings on their sundaes, they will have to run back and forth three times.

Ice Cream Exercises: To prepare ahead of time: Cut out eight paper circles (to represent scoops of ice cream). On one side of the circles, write a letter from the word ice cream. On the back of each circle, list an exercise. Put these circles in a container such as a bag or basket. To play: I will have the grands take turns picking a circle out of the container. They will read the letter on one side and then read the exercise on the other side.  Then all the grands will do the exercise before the next child gets to pick out another circle. Here are suggestions of exercises I will use for my grands (day campers):

• Ten jumping jacks
• Two forward somersaults
• Run in place for 20 seconds
• Hop on one foot ten times
• Ten mountain climbers
• Hold plank position for ten seconds
• Hold downward facing dog position for ten seconds
• Do a crab walk for ten feet

 

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart)

 

• Discuss individually with each grand: What is your favorite ice cream? Why?
• I leave the library books in a convenient place for the grandsons so they can browse or read them on their own.
• Journal: I will give each day camper a little booklet, and have them write or draw their favorite experiences from this day camp theme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more activities and books based on an ice cream theme, look at these links from educators:

http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2015/05/ice-cream-day-end-of-year-theme-days.html

http://www.theclassroomcreative.com/2013/07/ice-cream-craft-and-activity-ideas/

 

Sample Daily Schedule for Day Camp

Monday:

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart): Sing “Take Me Out For Some Ice Cream.” http://www.preschooleducation.com/sicecream.shtml

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read How to Make Ice Cream by Tom Greve and Ice Cream Soup by Ann Ingalls.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart): Make vanilla ice cream in zip-lock baggie (and offer sliced strawberries or blueberries for topping). http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream3.htm

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read several chapters from read aloud book while grands are eating the ice cream they made: The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart): Start making list together of ingredients that are in ice cream. (Save and add onto this list in the next few days.)

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart): Make ice cream cone art from construction paper. http://artasticartists.blogspot.com/2012/03/we-scream-for-ice-cream-and-cupcakes.html

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart): Write (or draw) in journal about their favorite part of the day camp today.

Tuesday:

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart): Sing “On Top of My Sundae.”  http://www.preschooleducation.com/sicecream.shtml

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read From Milk to Ice Cream by Bridget Heos. Begin Ben and Jerry: Ice Cream Manufacturers by Joanne Mattern.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart): Make vanilla ice cream using coffee can (may offer chocolate syrup for a topping) http://www.food.com/recipe/homemade-ice-cream-in-a-coffee-can-244054

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read several chapters from read aloud book while grands are eating the ice cream they made: The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart): Add to the ingredient list started on Monday. Discuss the origin of some of the ingredients (as mentioned in the Naturalist section) or have each grand do some research on one of the ingredients and report back.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart): Ice Cream Exercises activity.

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart): Make ice cream cone craft using egg cartons and cotton balls. http://intheplayroom.co.uk/2015/04/18/egg-carton-ice-cream-cones/

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart): Journal writing or individual discussion: Describe the taste of ice cream using as many descriptive words as you can. The grands are free to read the books from this unit independently whenever they have a break.

Wednesday:

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart): Sing “Hot Fudge, Cherries, Toffee Crunch.”  http://www.preschooleducation.com/sicecream.shtml

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis. Continue reading Ben and Jerry: Ice Cream Manufacturers.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart): Make peach ice cream using blender (and offer sliced fruit as a topping). http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-blender-ice-cream-recipes/coconut-bliss

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read several chapters from read aloud book while grands are eating the ice cream they made: The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart): Dramatic Play – Owning an ice cream shoppe.

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart): Make a poster advertising the ice cream shoppe they created in dramatic play.

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart): Journal writing, independent reading, or individual discussion: What is your favorite ice cream. Why?

 

Thursday:

Musical Intelligence (Music Smart): Sing “Here’s the Scoop.”  http://www.prekfun.com/themes/prekthemes/g-m/IceCream/IceCream__Songs.htm

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Finish reading Ben and Jerry: Ice Cream Manufacturers.

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart): Make strawberry ice cream using ice cream maker (and offer chocolate chips for a topping)  http://allrecipes.com/recipe/140877/easy-eggless-strawberry-ice-cream/

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart): Ice Cream Exercises activity while waiting for the ice cream maker to finish making the day’s ice cream.

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read several chapters from read aloud book while grands are eating the ice cream the ice cream maker made: The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

Naturalist Intelligence (Nature Smart): Use an atlas or map and find the locations where the ingredients from ice cream originate. The grands can use the ingredients list and research they have done during the week.

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart): Plan an ice cream social for Friday. Choose who to invite and which ice creams and toppings to offer.  Remind them that there were four methods they learned and try to make an ice cream with each method. (Make a grocery list too which is a Logical/Mathematical activity.)

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart): Make invitations and menus for ice cream social.

Friday:

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence (Body Smart): Racing for Toppings-Have grands do this activity to choose the toppings they will use on their own sundae at the ice cream social.

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart): Circle Storytelling

Logical/Mathematical Intelligence (Number/Reasoning Smart): Make the ice cream recipes that were planned on Thursday.

Interpersonal Intelligence (People Smart): Prepare for the ice cream social by setting up the ice creams, toppings, bowls, and utensils. Hold the ice cream social with the ice cream the grands just made.

Linguistic Intelligence (Word Smart): Read (and hopefully finish)  The Boxcar Children-The Chocolate Sundae Mystery.

Spatial Intelligence (Picture Smart): Paper plate ice cream craft. http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/12-OF-THE-SWEETEST-ICE-CREAM-CRAFTS-EVER

Intrapersonal Intelligence (Self Smart): Journal writing, independent reading, or individual discussion: What was your favorite part of this day camp?

 

I hope you are finding these Multiple Intelligence activities useful as you plan lessons for children in your care. If you would like to see more of these unit studies as I create them, you can become a follower of this blog.

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