Let's Learn About Water

Water was the theme of the literacy camps my church planned and ran at the public libraries in Union Town and Marion.

At first we out numbered the campers!

But as the word got out, our numbers increased everyday.

As the children arrived we had several games to keep them busy while we waited on the other children to arrive. The favorite was the "I Spy Bottles". I love the I SPY books and saw this idea in the Family Fun magazine and decided this would be good for the camps. You need a large bottle with a lid, (2 liter soft drink bottles will work, but a bottle with a large opening is even better), rice, and small trinkets to put inside. Because of the camp theme everything in our bottles had to do with water. But you can put anything in the bottle, you are only limited to what will fit through the opening. I put lots and lots of stuff in the bottles. I even put some SCRABBLE tiles in ours. After you have put everything in the bottle fill it with rice, but leave room so the rice and the objects inside can move around. As I gathered the items I kept a list of what was going in the bottles. Afterwards I made a "clue" sheet with a box next to each clue so it could be checked off as it was found. I even had words spelled out, some with the SCRABBLE tiles and some I just wrote on craft sticks. Here's an example of a few of the clues: □ Blue Sea Turtle □ Red Sea Turtle □ SWIMMING □ 1 Fish □ 2 Fish □ 3 Fish □ Make Some Lemonade □ W (scrabble tile) □ A □ T □ E □ R

To find the objects on the list just shake the bottle and the rice falls away revealing the items.

(I SPY!!!!)

"Needle in a Hay Stack" was another fun game. This is really simple, a tub full of shredded paper (hay) and words written on craft sticks (needle). You need two craft sticks for each word. Bury one stick in the paper and put the other in a cup. The children draw a stick then look for its match in the paper.

We gave each child a notebook to use as a journal and every day the children made journal entries. Some would draw pictures, some would write but most did both.

We did experiments!

(How many drops of water will fit on the head of a penny?)

We played charades and pretended to be aliens from ZORK.

We played water games!

We also learned about the weather, read books, and made books, but mostly we enjoyed being with sweet, smart, funny children that made us happy to be there everyday. We went to share the love of Christ with them but like all the mission trips I've been on I came away with so much more than what I gave.

Joyfully,
Elizabeth Ann