Project: Surfboard Gifts

Last week we had our Father's Day Luau to honor the dads from our center! For our father's day gifts, Magic Kingdom made surfboard magnets that featured our pictures on them. They're really easy to make, and a perfect gift for many occasions!

Here is the template, just click to view the full size, and print. The pattern is 8 inches tall so you can use it sideways on letter-size foam, or you can always resize it to be a bit smaller.



















Next, transfer the pattern to a bright piece of foam and cut out. You can also experiment with other materials.

Take a picture. For best results, the picture should be a head-n-shoulders shot. Print so that the picture is about 2" - 2.5" around. Cut it out in a circle shape and laminate the photo.

Use double-sided tape to adhere the photo to the middle of the surf board. Write your greeting under the photo with foam marker or a thin sharpie.

Turn your child loose with decorations! We used foam flower stickers that we picked up at JoAnn's, but the possibilities are endless!

At the end, I tried to fashion a surfboard tail to adhere to the back so the surfboard would stand up on a desk.... suffice to say that it failed! Nothing I seemed to do worked and I was making a complete mess of things. So instead, we decided it was better to slap a small piece of magnet tape on the back. If you make a surfboard and devise a way to make it stand, please share!

So here it is: the final product!



















Have fun making these, and if you do, take a picture and show us!

Aloha!

(This post was written a week prior to posting it)

This week has been a busy start to our summer program! We kicked off by having a photo shoot for our summer passports. After applying for the passport and making sure the information was correct, we received our first “stamp” when we 'traveled' to the Hawaiian Islands!

After discussing where Hawai'i was located and looking at some pictures, we created our own leis to wear and also to give away to the father's at the luau. We also talked about surfing and how it was a very popular activity in Hawai'i. Unfortunately we don't have waves around here big enough to try surfing ourselves, we did get to design our own surfboards. Some of the boys were disappointed they didn't get a chance to “slash a wave”.

Other highlights of this week included making posters about ourselves to share with our old and new friends for the summer. We also created a special surprise for our wonderful fathers! Despite the overcast weather, we were still able to enjoy our first water play day of the summer! The children had a blast running through the sprinkler!

Our week culminated by hosting the Father's Day Luncheon, which we made a Luau this year! Several of the youth group kids helped serve our fathers a well-deserved lunch. We had a great turn-out this year and really enjoyed seeing all the father's get together with the kids!

We hope you have a great weekend! Monday we 'leave' for Mexico!

Welcome to Summer Youth!

This summer our youth program will be getting ready to embark on a trip around the world! We will be starting our summer journey by visiting Hawai'i – a tropical paradise filled with colors and fun flowers of all kinds! We will create surf boards, make flower leis, and learn to Hula dance. Our Hawai'i week will end when we host the special Father's Day Luau.

Please check back often to be kept up to date of our weekly adventures as well as upcoming field trips. This is sure to be an exciting, fun-filled summer. I'm so excited to have all your kids come along for the ride!

Cascading at the Picnic

Or Picnic-ing at Cascades? Whether the children were cascading or picnic-ing still remains up in the air! We had a great time playing on the huge playsets and going back and forth around the area with our friends. The slides were still a bit wet when we got there, but that didn't deter most of the children – they just had really wet pants. I think they all dried pretty well though after about 10 minutes because the children were so active. They raced down the slides, jumped on the bridge, and climbed the rock wall.





































































After a little while, we decided to go on a “walk” (in children-ese that means run!) up the big hill. They started off on a big race but Andrea and I couldn't make our legs go any faster than a leisurely walk. The children didn't last too long running though... about half way up they stopped running and waited for us to catch up with them. At the top of the big hill, the children were so excited to “be on top of the world” and look out over everything. Then we looked into the cascades and dreamed of swimming days ahead. The run back down the hill was just as fun!
















Then after our tasty lunches at the picnic tables, Miss Andrea was the waitress and took all the ice cream orders. Altogether we ordered 5 vanilla, 9 twists, and 1 slushie. When the bus came back to pick us up, we were exhausted! Four of the children even fell asleep on the bus!

Simple Activity, Complex Learning

Many of the most fundamental aspects of a child's growth and learning can be fostered through even the simplest of activities. Earlier this week I came across a bucket full of great learning potential disguised as colored alphabet balls. These balls expanded our children's knowledge far beyond letters and colors. They were exposed to sharing, teamwork, learning, postive reinforcement and fun all at the same time.
We carried the bucket outside and took advantage of the beautiful weather. All of the balls were spread out covering a small area in the grass. The children took turns choosing a ball and telling us its color. I asked Gabbi what color ball she was going to look for. "I want the purple one," she answered and then went and found a purple one. Noah especially enjoyed this activity, as he is already able to recognize all 26 letters of the alphabet. Noah brought me a ball and said, "it's a green 'n'. 'N' for Noah." After the children finding and naming the ball of their choice I decided to modify the activity. I began to ask the kids to find a specific color or letter. When one of our friends had difficulty finding a color or letter another friend always came to the rescue. "This one's red," Griffin said, as he walked over and pointed at a red ball that Maria was looking for.
Our friends loved choosing the balls, searching for specific colors, and helping each other out. I believe they felt empowered as they were having fun while they were learning and assisting their friends in learning. This experience was beneficial to the kids in many ways. It was exciting to watch their confidence increase with each little colored ball. It is always inspiring and exiciting to realize that sometimes the simplest of things can also create the most complete learning environment.

























































Reminder: All of our fathers are encouraged to attend our Father's Day Luau, this Friday from 11:3-12:30. Hope to see you there!
~ Ms. Jolene and Ms. Lois