Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Fun & games in Wonderland


Wonderland Relay

The kid's practiced their Mad Tea party skills in this relay. They were divided into two teams.

The first one in each team donned a lovely Alice wig...
  
then on go, they...
 
raced through the rabbit hole (Play tunnels).
Some raced so fast their hair literally blew off! 
  
They ran to the table marked "Eat Me",...
 
and without using their hands they had to eat a marshmallow.
 
I found out a lot of my luvlee's hate and/or gag on marshmallows!
Who knew?!!
 
Next they ran to a table marked "Drink Me".
 
They poured a cup of "TEA" and then ...

went back through the tunnel.
  
They poured their tea into a container.
 The team that reached the line on their container first was the winner.
 
Croquet With The Queen
 
 
We all know how much our beloved queen loves croquet. It turns out our campers loved it too!
 
 
 
 

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Oh, I've had such a curious dream!


Down the rabbit hole!
When we arrived back at Gramma's we were met by none other than Alice herself who invited us to join her as she tumbles down the rabbit hole and into the whimsical world of Wonderland.
 
Down the hole!
 
We were welcomed into Wonderland by that gracious greeting every weary traveler longs to hear,
"Off with her head!"
 
We were privileged to be little stools for the Queen of Hearts!
 
 The Mad Hatter's Haberdashery 
 
We proceeded to the Mad Hatter's Shop to decorate
little top hats for the girls and derbys and ties for the boys.
  
 
The shop was complete with ribbons, bows, jewels,
feathers and flowers for their creating pleasure.
 
 
 
 
 The finished products!
Mini Top Hat How-To
 

These are super cheap (under a dollar) and super quick to make. I used cereal boxes
 (with the cereal removed), Dollar Tree headbands, Styrofoam cups, felt (2 sheets per hat) and hot glue.
 
Depending on the size of hat you want, cut out two circle from the cereal boxes.
 I used a bowl for the larger and a large Styrofoam cup
(the same one you'll use for the hat)
 for my template.
  
 
Cut a piece of felt about a half inch larger than the cardboard. Glue the felt to one side of the circle. Notch the edges, fold over and hot glue to the cardboard
 
Glue another piece of felt to the other side trimming it afterwards.
 
Using some sharp implement, cut two slits about a half inch apart in the center of the circle.
 
 
Insert a headband and then after positioning it were you want it
(we tilted ours at a jaunty angle) hot glue it into place.
 
On a second sheet of felt, glue the edge to the cup and roll and glue until it's covered.
 
 
Trim up a straight seam and cut off any edges.
 
Cover the smaller circle with felt on one side,
notching and gluing but don't cover the second side.
Glue it to the open end of the cup.
 
Hot glue the cup to the brim and voila! a fabulous mini top hat.
You can curve the edges of the brim up if you so desire.
(Make sure the seam is at the back when you're decorating. Most of my haberdashers didn't notice and ended up with a seam down the front of their hats.
 

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Caps For Sale & Petite Rouge Riding Hood

Caps For Sale
 
This classic story has been around for over fifty years. It's the story of a cap peddler and his dealing with a tree full of mischievous monkeys. As I read the story the peddler came out balancing his wares on his head.
 
 
He grew tired and sat down under a tree and took a nap.
 
When he woke up his caps were gone, taken by those sticky fingered monkeys up in the tree. The peddler shook his finger at the monkeys and said, "You monkeys you. Give me back my caps!"
 
Caps for Sale Craft
 
The kids wadded up little squares of green tissue paper.
 
They glued them on the tree and added monkey stickers.
 
 
Caps for Sale Craft
Three Little Monkeys
 
Continuing with our monkey theme, we next read and acted out "Three little Monkeys."
 
Which then transitioned nicely to our next book and one of our very favorites,
"Petite Rouge Riding Hood."
 

 
 
Petite Rouge Game
 
 
                                    
 I made this game by laminating imagines from the book onto poster board.
 
Each picture had different points. They threw six times and added up the total points. 
 
The sticky "Claude" gators were found here.
(And they are VERY cool and VERY sticky. When you throw them hard they
smear across the surface in a thin layer, then regain their shape again.)
 
Old Claude Game 
 
 
We played the "Cajun" version of Marco Polo. The blindfolded "Claude" had a bottle of beans that he shook while searching for his prey, Little Petite Rouge. Petite Rouge also had a bottle of beans to answer with.
Every time "Claude" shook his beans "Petite Rouge" had to answer back with a faint shake of her beans. "Claude" had to avoid Bayou swamp trees(the other players) while searching for "Petite Rouge". "Petite Rouge" must stay in place while "Claude" hunts her down then gobbles her up. The trees of the Bayou may move around to distract "Old Claude."

Plastic Jar of beans with a reptile patterened paper covering.
 
 
Lunch on the Bayou
 
We arrived at Great Grandmere's house for a Cajun lunch under her giant weeping willow tree.
 


 
 

And who should be waiting there but Old Claude himself, that sneaky old gator!
 

The little Cajun kids dined on Muffuletta, Cajun Shrimp and Pasta Salad,
Jambalaya, Pecan Pralines and Gator Foot Cookies.
 
 
 
 
Just when we were finishing up our lunch the White Rabbit ran through
yelling something about being late for a very important date. What's up with that!