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Our last day of camp brought us to the country of Romania in eastern Europe. Our Toddler Teacher, Ms. Oana, is originally from Romania and had lots of interesting and authentic items to share with the class. We started off the day examining traditional clothing, weavings, flutes, and wood carvings.
Ms. Oana showed us some beautiful pictures from Romania, and talked about the special items she brought in. You can see two of the boys are playing wooden flutes. These are traditionally used by shepherds to play for their sheep.
She also introduced the children to some traditional songs and games. The game they are playing below is like 'London Bridge' but it is about rocks falling down. They loved it!
After a few minutes outside, we came back in for our snack. Today we had a customary Romanian bread, grapes and cheese. Sheep cheese is a popular food item in Romania, though we stuck with cheddar :) The beautiful woven cloths are examples of traditional colors and weaving patterns.
Our art project was making sheep. Sheep have always been an important part of Romanian agriculture.
 For our science experiment, we made 'snow' from shaving cream and baking soda. It made a cool, powdery substance. The night before we froze water in sand castle molds. The children loved building ice castles, especially after seeing pictures of real castles in Romania earlier in the morning.
We finished off the day with water play, trying on our tie dye shirts, lunch, and taking a group photo.
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Today we continued our trip around the world with a visit to Japan!  We found Japan on the globe, looked at photos, and read the book, 'A Day in Japan.' You can see there is a picture of Mt. Fuji and another of cherry blossoms. These subjects inspired two of our activities today.
Our snack was a bento style spread, including grapes, snap peas, and bread cut into shapes. For our art projects, we made koi carp fish. These fish are thought to symbolize luck, prosperity, and good fortune in Japanese culture. We also made trees with cherry blossoms. Cherry blossoms, or sakura, are seen as symbols as the fleeting beauty of life. Because they are fragile and bloom only for a short time, they have captivated the imagination of people the world over.
Our science experiment was making a volcano! While not as big as Mt. Fuji, the volcano we made from cloud dough was so exciting for the children. We molded the cloud dough mountain around a water bottle, filled the bottle part of the way with baking soda, and poured in the vinegar. We had multiple 'explosions', much to the delight of the children!
We finished up the day with fun outside in the sprinklers! We're looking forward to tomorrow, when we visit Romania with our own Ms. Oana leading the expedition!
Today, we visited Brazil! Since Brazil was home to the last world cup and soccer is popular sport there, we started the morning playing soccer.
Then, we came inside, found South America and Brazil on the globe, and looked at pictures. We also read 'Welcome to the Green House' about the rain forests of Brazil. The children enjoyed singing a song to the tune of 'The Wheels on the Bus,' but instead goes like this: The parrots of the rain forest go squawk, squawk, squawk... The frogs of the rain forest go ribbit, ribbit, ribbit... The pythons of the rain forest go ssssss, sssss, sssss... For our snack, we went on a scavenger hunt to find popcorn, coconut, raisins, golden raisins, and banana chips to make 'Rainforest Trail Mix'
For our art projects, we made parrots out of paper bags and maracas out of paper plates. The children loved making music with the maracas!
Our science experiment was making 'Rainbow Milk.' We put a layer of whole milk in a dish, then dropped in food coloring. Using a q-tip dipped in dish soap, we swirled the colors together. The fat molecules of the milk interact with the soap and make a cool firework effect.
We finished up with playtime in the garden, sprinklers, shaving cream, water soccer, and the rest of the food coloring! A great time was had by all, and we are looking forward to visiting Japan tomorrow!
Today, we continued our trip around the globe and visited Egypt! After some playtime outside, we came in and identified Africa, then Egypt on the globe. We read some books and looked at photos from Egypt. We also talked about the pyramids, the sphinx, and King Tut. It was very interesting to see the pyramids and compare them to our pyramid geometric solid from the Primary Casa!  For our snack, we made pyramids form grapes and toothpicks. We also enjoyed peaches and cantaloupe. All of these fruits are grown in the region.
We had two art projects today. One was making a camel out of a handprint (you'll see the final product on Friday) and the other was creating a necklace from beads. Ancient Egyptians placed great importance on the colors and symbols in their jewelry.
Our flowers from yesterday were much brighter today!
We finished the day with water and outdoor play. See you tomorrow when we visit Brazil!
This summer, we are exploring all over the world! We are learning about different countries through stories, songs, games, music, photographs, art and science. Today we visited Australia.
We started off the morning playing outside, coloring, and making our passports. It was great to reunite with old friends and meet new ones!
For snack, we made 'kangaroo pouches' from pita bread, hummus, and cut up veggies. Yum!
We ended the day with lunch and water play. A great time was had by all and we can't wait to see you tomorrow when we travel to Egypt!
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