"Camp Plastico" comes to an end. Sort of.

Last week was our home camp... "Camp Plastico". I'm sure you're wondering where we came up with the name, right? Thought so. Let me tell you... My Baby Boy is very much into plastic army men. And lots of them. So his idea was to make 'homemade' army men. And since they're made out of plastic... yeah, there you go... "CAMP PLASTICO". 

And by the way... I have NO IDEA how to make your own army men. Just sayin'...

Well... Baby Girl wasn't easily convinced. Especially since she is quite the 'princess'. Her idea of camp was a bit different from his... but, since she loves hanging out with her brother, she was finally swayed. "Camp Plastico" it is.

The first day of home camp is always about the t-shirts. We each make our own 'camp' t-shirt that we wear when we do our camp activities at home or if we go out for activities. Keeps them from painting on their good clothes. The kids have fun thinking of a logo and what color paint we should use. Should we all match? Make our own logo with the same colors? Or the same logo with different colors? It usually differs each year, but always fun to do. The kids did a great job this year. It was amazing how much paint was actually on the t-shirts instead of the kitchen table! Yep. They're growing up fast.

So during the week we had many crafts for them. With the army men theme in mind, we went to Michael's and picked up several projects for them to do. My son really wanted to make a diorama. (Is that a word?) Anyway... that's what he wanted to do, so most of the smaller projects were things that would lead up to and tie-in to the diorama. That would be made on the last day of camp so they could use everything else they had made during the week. Well... most of it tied in.

We found some great little kits at Michael's... but after checking out the cost, I decided we could explore and see how we could create the same thing for less. They had a lot of little model kits for $1 each so they picked up 3 each. A jet, a cannon, fire engine, castles.  Out of everything we bought... I was most impressed with these because they were a nice size and they took about 1 1/2 hours to complete. Sand the wood, put together, glue, paint. And the kids could follow the directions themselves. Hey... for a buck... that's a lot of entertainment. AND... I only watched. I let them do them all on their own. If you knew me, you'd know how hard it was for me to sit and not offer my help.

Anyway... we also made posters, painted ceramics and wooden animal figures. We averaged 2 projects a day and still didn't finish them all. That was pretty good. For less than the price of sending just 1 of them to day-camp, we had a week full of fun and quality time spent together. It was relaxing. No set time. Just have fun and be creative. We even had a couple nights of  'camp food'. They like to choose meals that they don't normally have so it feels like 'camp'.  All in all it was a great week.

This summer we will have another camp week.. cooking camp. AKA "Camp Plastico: Part 2". I've found several kid friendly recipes for them to try and they are so excited. I can probably have them cook every day for a week... maybe 2 things a day... for around $20 using what I already have in my pantry. To send them to the 'cooking camp' offered by their school it would cost $99 each for only 6 sessions. Teaching them myself is not only cheaper but it let's me in on the fun too. You know... homemade really is better!

Thanks for reading,

Mary Ann :)