Campamento Widjiwagan, Day 1 - Academic Review & a Craft

Today began our long-awaited "Campamento Widjiwagan*" experience.
(*Widjiwagan is a word from the Native American Ojibwa tribe, and means "lifelong friend.")

Campamento Widjiwagan is a month-long, summer camp themed, kindergarten review program. Each day, Monday through Friday, for the month of June, Mag and I will be completing one page of an academic skills review book, as well as one quintessential summer camp activity. (I have amassed a collection of camp activities to choose from, here on my CW Pinterest board.)

Today, Day One of our Campamento Widjiwagan escapade included a skills review page (covering math & literacy skills in Spanish: 3-D shapes, 10s and 1s awareness, rhyming words, and sentence formulation), and the one craft that starts every good camp experience:

the sit-upon.

Remember the good old sit-upon? In the 80s, they were most often made from a stack of newspaper, with a square of wallpaper laced together onto the front and back. I remember making them; not so much using them. But a kid's gotta make one, or it's just not summer camp. Right?!

There are many materials you can use for a sit-upon:

• tablecloth vinyl over polar fleece remnants,
• wallpaper over newspaper,
• black-out/thermal curtain lining over thick bubble wrap
• anything semi-waterproof over anything semi-cushiony.

And there are just as many ways to make your sit-upon:

• hole-punch around the edges of the cover and lace together with yarn,
• staple around the edges,
• duct tape the edges,
• hand stitch,
• or sew with a machine.

We used a picnic tablecloth cut to 13" by 26" and stuffed with polar fleece. The sit-upon gave Mag got her first experience with a sewing machine. I drew a sewing line onto the fabric for her to follow, she did a practice run on a remnant to get a feel for the foot pedal, and then she was off. It actually turned out perfectly; she was very pleased and proud of her work!

And so now, as we continue our time at Campamento Widjiwagan, Mag will have a nice cushy square to "sit-upon."

Join us tomorrow for a science review page, and a fun fire craft.

And you? How are you keeping academic skills fun and fresh this summer?