Camping Preschool Lesson: 4 Day Unit

Over the summer this was our last week long preschool unit that we did (before I got pregnant!) and it was definitely one of our most fun! Our son had been very interested in camping so we put together a whole unit to learn about camping and the outdoors. 

Later that fall my husband even did a follow up camping night with him in our yard so he could experience the whole camping concept for the first time (me and our girl slept inside!). We look forward to when our kids are just a little bit older (especially the one growing in my belly!) so that we can all take our first real camping trip together!

D A Y // 1

+ Read Curious George: Curious About Summer (has a camping part)
+ Popsicle tent craft (inspired by Glued To My Crafts)
+ Cut out stars to put around the house for our "campsite"
+ Shooting stars and constellations - match star stickers with a white crayon to make a constellation, popsicle stick and star sticker craft for the one year old
+ Watched Curious George Camping episode on YouTube

 

 

Easy constellation activity - match star stickers with a white crayon on black paper.

"Shooting star" craft for little ones. Just attach star stickers to a popsicle stick!

 D A Y // 2

+ Read Goodnight Campsite
+ Make smore ice cream sandwich
+ Popsicle stick smores craft

 

Smore ice cream sandwiches were a huge hit! Very easy to make and kid friendly. And we all loved how delicious they were! 

We used:

- Tillamook Udderly Chocolate Ice Cream (white chocolate and chocolate!)

- Graham crackers

- Mini marshmalllows

Make ice cream sandwiches on a pan and then pop in the freezer to freeze!

 And this adorable smore popsicle stick craft was pretty darn cute!

D A Y // 3

+ Read All Aboard! National Parks: A Wildlife Primer
+ National Park coloring page
+ National park videos - searched on YouTube

 

I found some fun National Park coloring pages on Pinterest that we colored and discussed along side our books. And then we followed it up by watching a few different National Park videos on YouTube.

  D A Y // 4

+ Read/browse The 50 States
+ Set up pretend campground
+ Make toilet paper fire
+ Pillow sleeping bag

We ended our unit on camping by setting up a campsite in our living room! We made a pretend fire out of toilet paper rolls and tissue paper. And roasted pretend marshmallows (cotton ball on a stick!). I also had sewn together a pillowcase sleeping pad (sew four pillowcases together and then stuff with pillows - the top pillow folds over as a head rest).

We later took out our play food to cook over our campfire.

Then we ended our lesson with watching camping videos from our tent. So much fun!

See all our other preschool lesson units and activities here.

Praying For My Children

 

A few years ago I found a great book on praying for my children that has helped shape my prayer life when it comes to my kids. I cannot proclaim to be a super prayer warrior. It definitely is an area of my life I would like to improve but I also understand that this season of life with little ones is very different than other seasons of my life. That being said, it is not an excuse, but rather an explanation of how much I appreciated the help of this book!

Each chapter covers a different area to pray over and it is an easy read that has a guided prayer. I chose to write down specific areas that I wanted to focus on - that were personal to me and how I wanted to pray for my child. I don't think there is one right way or right thing to pray. But with this as a guide, I could pray for things that I hoped for my children. 

This may sound silly, but things like praying for specific safety of my children is not something I would think about regularly or even need to pray daily. But the thought that I have at least prayed for it once gave me a lot of peace of knowing I have taken the request to the Lord and can trust Him with the life of my children.

The Power Of A Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian

I also really loved The Power of A Praying Wife when I was a newlywed and will still come back to it as a guide for specific areas I want to pray for my husband.

Merry Christmas + Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year! It has been a crazy year for sure. But if I have learned anything from this year it is this:

 

+ Time with loved ones is our greatest gift here on Earth

+ We are all stronger than we ever thought we were

+ There is always room for more kindness and love both to others as well as towards ourselves

 

As we turn a new year, my perspective shifts to a whole lot of more grace, gratitude, and patience. 

Wishing you all the best as we turn another calendar year. See you again in the new year! 2021 will mark my 13th year of blogging! Crazy! How time has flown by.

And as always, thank you for reading, for your encouragement, and your support. xo Ashley

P.S. And thank you to the kind man at the pumpkin patch who ended up being a photographer who offered to take our picture. Always say yes when someone offers!