A MARVELOUS MOUNTAINS DAY
Welcome to our “Adventures in Nature Week” – an at home camp filled with days of relaxed learning and fun themed activities all themed to exploring nature – rainforests, mountains, caves, volcanos and more! For this day, we focused on mountains – what they are and how they form!
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
Whether your little one has actually climbed an actual mountain or has only seen them in movies or cartoons but on this day, we also focused on how they form!
If you need a few references, these are the ones that helped us explain to our little ones:
- Mountain by kids.britannica.com
- Different Types of Mountains by easyscienceforkids.com
AND just for fun, if you’ve got some extra time, these games from pbs.org are a fun little, educational diversion 🙂
- Rocky Mountain Roundup (Interactive Game). Photo scavenger hunt.
- Mountain Scramble: An Ecosystem Game (Interactive Game). Learn to make sure all the animals on the mountain
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:
- Where Do Mountains Come From? | Geology for Kids by SciShowKids (4m)
- The Magic School Bus Rides Again: S1E04 The Battle for Rock Mountain
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!
We found this nice snack that ALSO illustrated how mountains form (win win!). The snack can be found on Edible Mountain Building Tectonic Plates Experiment for Kids by rainydaymom.co.uk
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!
- One Million Oysters on Top of the Mountain by Alex Nouges. This one isn’t specifically about mountain formations or mountain climbing – it’s more focused on oysters and how they’re on mountains, but it’s a very fascinating read & our little ones found it super interesting.
- To the Top: Climbing the World’s Highest Mountain by S.A. Kramer. This is a Level 5 book, so if your little one is just learning to read, they may need some help. Otherwise, it’s a nice book!
- Where Is Mount Everest? (Where is Series) by Nico Medina. The Where Is / Who Is Book Series are great non-fiction books filled with facts!
- Boxcar Children #9: Mountain Top Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner. This comes from the beloved Boxcar Children series. It is a chapter book, so you may want to plan ahead if you want your little one to read this one.
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: NATURE, EXPLORATION, MOUNTAIN, PEAK
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!
- Imagine you have just climbed the tallest mountain on Earth. How do you feel?
- If you could climb any mountain on Earth, which would it be and why?
- If you were a bird flying high above the clouds, what do you think the tips of the highest mountains would be?
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!
- 3D Mountains: We followed this 3-D Snowy Mountain Winter Craft (out of Recycled Drink Carrier) from iheartcraftythings.com (without the snow).
- Popsicle Stick Mountains: Using popsicle sticks and construction paper, we made a simple craft of a 2D mountain.. We then decorated with other objects we picked up on some nature walks – pebbles, pine cones, leaves, etc.
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!
For our stem activity of the day, we followed a quick & mess-free activity from SciShowKids that showed how mountains form.
- Make Your Own Mountains! By SciShowKids (3m)
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 Nature-Themed Day, as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
