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Ariana 06:42 AM 03-27-2012
Does anyone do "themes" during the summer months or special days of activities? I'm thinking about devoting July and August to summer theme weeks but am struggling for good (and easy) ideas!! We can't really leave the daycare so it will have to be in my home or yard or the playground area near my home.

So far I'm thinking:
Bug week
Beach week
Pirate week
Bring your bike week

Any other ideas or tips? Thanks
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daycare 06:51 AM 03-27-2012
Originally Posted by Ariana:
Does anyone do "themes" during the summer months or special days of activities? I'm thinking about devoting July and August to summer theme weeks but am struggling for good (and easy) ideas!! We can't really leave the daycare so it will have to be in my home or yard or the playground area near my home.

So far I'm thinking:
Bug week
Beach week
Pirate week
Bring your bike week

Any other ideas or tips? Thanks
all of those sound fun, but I don't think I would do the bring your bike week. For me that would be too much liability. Do all of the kids have bikes or trikes? DO they have helmets, Can they actually ride the bike safely unassisted?

We do a sports theme in the month of June. Every week it's a new sport. One week golf, we go to the golf range, play mini golf, and chip away at balls at the park.
another week its something else. Being that you are at home, I think a sports week would be fun. Maybe I should ask what your ages are.
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Meeko 07:06 AM 03-27-2012
I do weekly themes all school year. This week is dinosaur week. Next week bunnies and chicks and Easter stuff...... I don't do pre-school...we just have fun activities that go along with our theme.

Then during the summer, our days just rotate.

Monday is art day. Lots of arts and crafts

Tuesday is bake day. We bake goodies, make candy etc.

Wednesday is music and dance day. All kinds of music and dance.

Thursday is movie day. We "sell" tickets, have popcorn and treats...watch a certain movie and then have related activities afterwards. For example "Finding Nemo" could include ocean related activities and crafts. We have also made our own movie which is great fun!

Friday is free to do as we please!
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SunshineMama 07:08 AM 03-27-2012
Camping theme?
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Ariana 09:12 AM 03-27-2012
LOVE the camping idea!!! An ocean and movie theme might be cool as well. Any recomendations for appropriate movies for my age group? Nothing scary

My ages are 2, 3 and 3.5. They all ride tricycles so I don't see it as too dangerous and helmets would be mandatory. There is a short path to a play structure near my house so I was thinking it would be fun to ride our bikes up there and then come back and have a "car wash" with the hose.
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daycare 09:18 AM 03-27-2012
Originally Posted by Ariana:
LOVE the camping idea!!! An ocean and movie theme might be cool as well. Any recomendations for appropriate movies for my age group? Nothing scary

My ages are 2, 3 and 3.5. They all ride tricycles so I don't see it as too dangerous and helmets would be mandatory. There is a short path to a play structure near my house so I was thinking it would be fun to ride our bikes up there and then come back and have a "car wash" with the hose.
My kids are a little older and most ride 2 wheels...so I couldn't do bikes...BUT your idea sounds fun.

What about mud pies...We did that last year. It was more like mud baths. I filled a kiddie pool up with mud and the kids had a field day
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Ariana 09:53 AM 03-27-2012
Originally Posted by daycare:
My kids are a little older and most ride 2 wheels...so I couldn't do bikes...BUT your idea sounds fun.

What about mud pies...We did that last year. It was more like mud baths. I filled a kiddie pool up with mud and the kids had a field day
Yeah no 2 wheelers here!! The mud pies is an awesome idea...maybe that will have to coincide with bathing suit and pool day for easy washing
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Kim 09:59 AM 03-27-2012
I'm very lax in the summer. I have less kids and we take it easy. We take lots of trips to the library for some of their summer programs, visit a nearby playground and have lots of sprinkler days.

Besides the themes already mentioned I do a Teddy Bear Picnic Week in the summer. Each day the kids bring their favorite stuffed friends (doesn't have to be a teddy bear) to school. Sometimes they bring the same one each day and sometimes they bring 5 different ones for the week. On Friday we have a Teddy Bear Picnic outside on a blanket with them. The kids love it. We bake special treats during the week to get ready for the big picnic day.
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Soccermom 05:59 PM 03-28-2012
Fruits and veggies week
Taste new fruits and veggies, visit a farm or have a farmer come in, plant seeds, etc.

Fashion week
Make tshirts with the kids, make macaroni jewellery, have a dress up fashion show, etc.

Planes, trains and automobiles
Themed books, make your own car out of a big box (summer is ideal because they can paint outdoors), take a pretend trip somewhere with suitcases and all in tow.

Splash week
Water balloon toss, sprinkler fun, slip and slide, homemade bubbles, water experiments outdoors, etc.
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Blackcat31 06:36 PM 03-28-2012
Start with a "planting" theme and then sometime in the middle do a "caring for the garden's" theme and follow up with a "harvesting" theme later on.

Summer is a wonderful time to do a stars and planets theme too because the stars are so bright and clear in the summer skies. Another good summer theme is weather and weather patterns or clouds and cloud shapes etc.
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VTMom 07:52 PM 03-28-2012
Didn't someone mention a country of the week theme last summer? For some reason I recall someone focusing activities, food, etc around a different country each week. I think that would be pretty cool!
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Countrygal 05:51 AM 03-29-2012
Summer "hope to do" themes list:

Garden
insects
birds
water
camping
weather
clouds
storms
how things grow
farm animals (may pick out a couple of individual ones - not sure yet)
county fair
sun
moon
stars
trees

NOTE: all will not get done, these are what I have so far to choose from!
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Ariana 09:15 AM 03-29-2012
LOVING the ideas ladies
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Tags:per-school theme, summer theme, themes, weekly themes
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