Welcome to our “Mythical Creature Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun themed activities all themed to oh-so-fascinating Mythical Creatures – Dragons, Unicorns, Mermaids, and More! For this day, we learned all about the elusive kraken!!! Read on to check out if this terrifying creature really can take down an entire ship!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 But the gist of our day is having our kiddos focus on some work books or online learning tools in the early morning, an intro to the day’s theme after they were done, some videos around lunch time, and themed activities (reading time, writing time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments) in the afternoon. Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
Some kids may or not be familiar with this mythical creature – the kraken! If you need a bit of an intro, check out this article from wonderopolis.org: What was the Kraken? This is a website with a brief description of the kraken – written for kids. It also has a few suggestions for additional learning as well as a coloring page!
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- Release the Kraken! Origins of the Legendary Sea Monster | Monstrum by Storied (6m)
- The Kraken – Exploring the Origins Behind the Legendary Sea Monster by Mythology and Fiction Explained (13m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
For our snack of the day, we had some sugary treats
- Red Kraken – Jello & Red Pepper Strips
- Trolli Octopus Gummies
READING
It’s no secret that reading helps prevent that summer slide. Some even say this is the most important. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned!
The first two are books we brought back from our intro day and revisited just the page on the kraken in each book. We added the last one in as the giant squid may or may not have been the actual creature inspiring the kraken!
- DK Mythical Beasts by Andrea Mills.
- The Book of Mythical Beasts & Magical Creatures by Stephen Krensky.
- Tentacles! Tales of the Giant Squid by Shirley Raye Redmond.
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing helps prevent that summer slide by both encouraging their creativity but also their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: MYTH, KRAKEN, TENTACLES
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Many theorize that the kraken is actually based off of the giant or colossal squid. Imagine these deep sea creatures actually know about humans, their fear of this mythical creature, and that these kraken were actually sightings of their own species. What do you think they would think?
- Imagine you were a deep sea diver who found a family of kraken! What do you think your encounter would be like? Would they be friendly or scary? Would they welcome you into their underwater village? If so, what would it look like?
- Imagine you were a kraken for a day. Describe all the things you would do!
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning!
For our crafts of the day, we gave them a few options that would help them enhance their pretend play or add in some of what they learned:
- Make this Fun Squid Craft with Construction Paper by www.thepurplepumpkinblog.co.uk
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
This one is not specifically a kraken-themed experiment; however, it does show how cephalopds (like giant squid) move through water. We’ve done this before for an ocean themed week and it was such a hit that the kids wanted to perform it again!
- Jet-setting Cephalopods by sciencefriday.com. A simple experiment using plastic bottles and balloons to show how an octopus (or squid) moves through water.
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home camp article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Ocean Ideas, Dragon, Fairy, Mermaid, Unicorn, or Fantasy Ideas, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
