Teddy Bear Camp... Glue guns for k-2!?!

Hello there.. sorry for the late late late post. My mom was in town for the fourth and then this morning Cézanne got loose somewhere in my apartment and I have no idea where he is... and I have just been so so so soso busy this summer. But I will try and sum up Teddy Bear camp as best I can....

Teddy Bear camp was centered around 4 year old thru second grade campers and their parents/guardians. There were about 50 people including kids, their parents, and counselors. I did not have to plan the craft activities for the campers because the deans took care of that, but they definitely utilized Rockland to its full extent. It was impressive to see so many kids and adults working together on their individual projects and crafts. 24 hours is not a lot of time to complete three different crafts!!!

The one dean arranged and dictated the crafts to be made and the counselors helped the kids and their parents. I was asked to work at certain 'stations' and tables to help with steps in the crafts. My first task was to make name tags with the kids and their parents. I will post a picture of mine later. It says 'Craft Queen' on it. Because I am.

The kids were working on three different crafts centered around three different bible stories: Jonah and the whale, Zacchaeus, and Daniel in the lions' den. Day 1 was all about making the main characters - including the lion, the whale, and the little bible people (out of clothespins, too cute). The kids also worked on creating backgrounds for their stories which was fun to watch. Each one looked different.

The crafts were completed by tables. Four tables; four different crafts. Craft stations were divided up between the crafting periods for each day. LOTS of kids would finish early on non-glue gun crafts so that became a little bit of a roadblock to making progress smoothly. Transitions are everything!!!

Day 1 cubby... almost full already!

Crafts were as follows on day 1...part 1
Zacchaeus craft: twig and tissue paper tree
Daniel craft: brick background of lion's den, Daniel doll
Noah craft: glue eye on whale, background of ocean with sandy beach
...part 2
Zacchaeus craft: clothespin Zacchaeus doll
Daniel craft: felt lion, gathering rocks for cross on wall of den
Noah craft: sunflower

The dean of this camp was determined to teach campers basic craft tools and safety. Therefore... we used glue guns. JUST A TAD BIT PAINFUL ON THIS END. And some of the kids were getting sizzled, too! Other than that little hiccup (of pain) the crafts went very smoothly and the parents sat back and let the kids do their own work. Some of them anyway... some were just as wary of the glue guns as I was/am!

Day 2 was insane. Not just because of the amount of crafting going on but also because IT ALL GOT DONE. I was very impressed with the dean's ability to organize such a big group and break up the projects into steps via tables and counselors. I will have to remember some of the techniques the dean used to organize the kids and get their attention.

Crafts were as follows on day 2...part 1

Zacchaeus craft: tree background using shape punches, markers, and glue

Daniel craft: pounded flower/plant robe for Daniel doll*
Noah craft: Noah doll
Finishing touches on each craft were made after stations and then there was a break.

Part 2 was where the crafting got VERY interesting. Now we could put it all together! The crafts came together as follows...
Zacchaeus: tree background + Zacchaeus + twig tree
Noah: ocean background + Noah + whale + sunflower
Daniel: Daniel + den background + lion + rock cross
Each background had a bible verse to attach that corresponded to the story the characters were telling. The kids really knew their stuff! I had to ask my mom who Zacchaeus was when she visited haha

Each craft had complex elements to it that required the kids to hammer nails, stain fabric, use evil glue guns, and even screw screws into wood. The end product was a TRAIN made out of each separate story. The backgrounds were glued into pre-cut wood pieces with holes drilled into the sides for wheel axles! The kids had to assemble everything from scratch, including putting the wheels and axles and an ENGINE together! It was pretty great seeing the kids learning about the tools and the best ways to make all the pieces fit. Unfortunately, I could not snap a picture of the finished product because I was doing craft damage control.. and by that I mean I was tending to my burned up arm from those dang glue guns! I will see if I can contact a dean to mail me a picture of the bible story trains.. This whole craft was completed in only 24 hours! Teddy Bear camp is centered around Rockland and making crafts, so that was the goal.

Day 2 cubby.. pieces are coming together..

* Pounded fabric craft

This was SUCH A COOL PROJECT. The kids went out and collected fresh flowers and plants and brought them back to Rockland. The dean passed out pieces of muslin fabric to make a robe for the Daniel dolls. She also provided the kids with triangular cuts of wood, just big enough for the kids to pound on with hammers and also hold onto the edge of the fabric pieces. And then... the noise started. For about 15 minutes, the campers sandwiched their plants between the wood and the fabric and banged hammers over top of both to extract the plant colors and patterns. REALLY COOOOOL. The kids were totally into it.. only a few finger casualties. The next step was to flip the fabric (if they wanted) and iron it on the wood cut. This seals the plant patterns and colors in the fabric so they won't fade. I will have to remember that craft for my elementary campers! Science is always awesome..

That's it for now.. A new camp is arriving tomorrow afternoon so I am going to try and catch up on some much needed sleep and try TRY not to stress too much about my snake.. I'm sure he's just hiding somewhere cold because it's over 90 in Marquette! I would be hiding too, if I could.

Time to crash.. and put a new bandaid on my burn! Ow.

Ms. K