When my son was 14, instead of sending him to summer camp, I had a couple of his self-contained special-education classmates come to our house every day for crafts, science, academic work, play, and fun. Throw in some field trips, a bowling league, and free movies, and we had something I like to call Camp Mom. Use this list to follow the day-by-day blog entries that chronicled our activities, and consider it a template for organizing your own summer fun. For more help, refer to my step-by-step instructions.
Day 41
Photo by Terri Mauro
Monday was a hard day to keep kids busy. What we did:
- Went to a playground
- Played a money game
- Did homework
- Played Turbo Yahtzee
- Read the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book The Abominable Snowman
- Played with clay
- Did paint-by-numbers
- Wrote in journals
- Had free-play time that ended in injury
Day 42
Cover image courtesy of Choose Your Own Adventure
Tuesday is bowling league day. What we did:
- Bowled two games and had an end-of-league pizza party
- Did homework
- Read the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book The Abominable Snowman
- Made play dough
- Wrote in journals
- Had a little supervised free play time
Day 43
Photo by Terri Mauro
Wednesday was a free-play day. What we did:
- Went to a playground
- Decorated frames
- Played with cars and fake food
- Played videogames
- Did homework
- Wrote about robots
- Wrote in journals
Day 44
Photo by Terri Mauro
Thursday was playground day. What we did:
- Went to two different playgrounds
- Played with toy food and tricks
- Made sticker pictures
- Did homework
- Wrote in journals
Day 45
Photo by Terri Mauro
Friday was our final day. What we did:
- Took a last walk through the neighborhood
- Played with shaving cream
- Played videogames
- Played with fake food and toy trucks
- Made French bread and Boboli pizzas
- Skipped homework and journals, for once
