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Summer Camp Recap: My Favorite Fruits
Summer Camp Recap is our weekly seasonal segment featuring our summer camp programs. This is the place for camp parents to find pictures of their campers in action and see the fun things we did all week. It’s also a great place for educators to pick up craft, story and lesson ideas for their own early childhood programs.
Last week we hosted our Little Sprouts for My Favorite Fruits! Everyday our two – four-year-old campers explored the many kinds of fruits that our plants provide through singing, dancing, and creating. Throughout the week, campers learned about the shapes, tastes, sizes, colors and textures of fruits!
Day one we learned that our fruits come from flowering plants. We used our senses to listen to, touch, smell, see and even taste different fruits! We explored the Tropical Forest and discovered some of the fruits on the Sweet Orange, Kaffir Lime and Coffee Tree. We even stopped at the Tropical Market and checked out some of the fruit that grows in the Congo! Campers created art using blueberries and finished off the day with a felt fruit scavenger hunt around the Lagoon.
Day two was all about the plants that fruit come from. We looked at the different parts of the plant and learned that fruits come from flowers. Campers took a walk up to the Tropical Fruit and Spice Room and met our fruit and spice specialist, Teresa. She showed us where the fruit trees and bushes were in that room and even told us some cool facts about the fruits. Campers planted cantaloupe seeds to take home and danced around like flowers in the wind during our freeze dance.
On day three, we talked about the things that all plants need in order to grow big, strong and healthy. Campers participated in a plant play acting out the steps it takes to get from s tiny seed into a big apple tree. We explored the Edible Garden and searched for all of the fruits in trees, bushes, vines, and small plants. Back in the classroom, campers decorated their camp t-shirts using paint and real fruit! We had a farmer harvest relay race to burn off some energy and finish our fun day.
On our final day of camp, we explored all of the colors that fruits can be. We traveled to the Stove Room to see our pollinator friends the butterflies and see all the colors they can be, too! Campers searched for colorful balls representing different fruits for a harvest hunt and decorated a fruit bowl.
Book suggestions from the week:
Beautiful Bananas by Elizabeth Laird
Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall
Apples, Apples, Apples by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
