Camp Mom: Day 1

I mentioned earlier this month that my son isn't going to a day camp as usual this year, but will be spending time at our house with a couple of his special education classmates in a kind of "Camp Mom" designed for enrichment, companionship, and fun. I thought I'd check in here every day when "camp" is done to share what we did, what worked and what didn't, in case there are others out there casting around for things to do with kids with developmental delays.

Today was our first official day, but it was more of a planning day for the moms and a play day for the kids. The "campers" played a round of the board game Trouble and watched some of the movie Shiloh on DVD while the "counselors" strategized the bigger events of the summer: our own little bowling league on Tuesdays, free movies at the local cinema on Wednesdays, and a field trip every Thursday. Our planned destinations include a few different science museums, a Wild West park, miniature golfing, and a zoo trip.

After that, the kids played outside for a bit and we all went on a long walk. The last activity of the day was baking cookies -- yes, I baked with them. We made Snickerdoodles (pictured) and everybody seemed to enjoy it ... except my son, who was either overwhelmed by so many people in the kitchen or perseverating on the Shiloh movie, and stayed away from the baking. It may be a challenge to keep him with the program for our intended four hours a day, but we'll see.

One thing I usually do when baking with kids is use smaller measuring cups than the recipe calls for, so my associate bakers have to do a little grappling with fractions. It always surprises me how much trouble even my middle-school and high-school friends have answering questions like, "How many quarter cups in 1-1/2 cups?" I think baking has helped my daughter get stronger in that area. Now I need a similar trick for strengthening money skills -- it's going to be one of our major Camp Mom focuses. Anyone have game recommendations for that?

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Photo: Terri Mauro