Wild West Camp
This camp was originally done in the summer of 2018. We love all things “Wild West” from Little House to Lewis and Clark. Just recently, I heard my kids talking about John Wayne; “he’s a real cowboy, you know…”
I guess our love for the “Wild West” has even called us to move further out west. (We are now about an hour and a half west of our last home!)
Just a reminder, this is a repost from an older blog I had when my kids were younger. You can find all of the DIY Summer Camps At Home Series here!
Day 1: The weekend before, I picked up a few boxes from Sam’s to create a simple puppet theater. The kids made popsicle-stick puppets and wrote a script for their show. (Once they got the hang of it, they created many on-the-spot shows!)
We read, Sam’s Wild West Show by Nancy Antle and Hannah Mae O’Hannigan’s Wild West Show by Lisa Campbell Ernst (in between coats of paint!)
Later in the day, Lola made a Little House on the prairie style sleep bonnet and biscuits for lunch!
Day 2: We began our fun by reading Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson. Then, I set out some supplies: pool noodles, heavy-duty clamps, wagon and a sheet. I didn’t give the kids much instruction and they figured it out pretty quickly.
They quickly filled their wagon with dolls and snacks before “heading out on the trail.” They took turns pulling the wagon before realizing it was a lot of work! After several attempts, they “hitched” the wagon to their pedal-go-kart. It went a lot faster 😂
After lots of wagon play, I showed the kids a classic….The Oregon Trail game! Perfect way to end the day (except that each of their families died in the game!)
Day 3: Our week ended up being a bit busier than I had planned, so I called in a “cheat” day! We stopped at our favorite craft store to pick up wooden snakes to paint… Simple, right? Well, they didn’t have any… So the kids picked out wooden lizards and still had fun painting, naming and playing with their new pets.
Day 4 I gathered a pile of rocks, sticks and glue guns on the table. Again, I didn’t give the kids too much instruction, as I wanted their minds to do most of the work. I gave them a cardboard “homestead” and told them to create a home for their family. They each went their own ways in creating unique homes. Of course, my little guy had to bring the Lego guys to live in his tent.
I’m not sure that we got around to reading anything together on Days 3 or 4. Earlier in the week, we listened to Boxcar Children: The Ghost Town Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner while driving around town. The kids also each read wild west theme books at bedtime: The Mystery of the Wild West Bandit by Gertrude Chandler Warner and The Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborn.
Day 5: I had originally planned to go to on a camping trip to wrap up the week, but it just didn’t pan out. We ended up pitching a tent in the backyard for a night. It was too hot for a real fire outside, so we roasted food inside over to stove. S’mores too! Then, we went back outside for a pretend camp-fire sing-along. We snuggled in our tent before dark (it was a busy week!!) to read another chapter of our current read-aloud (not Wild West themed…) The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews.
So much more could be done during a Wild West theme…You could explore the Gold Rush, Indians, your states’ history, outlaws, etc..
