Summer Camp: Global Explorers Visit Romania

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. 

On Monday, we made 'passports' for each child. Every day this week, we put a stamp on our passport for the country we are studying. One of our parents sent in 2 expired passports so the children could see the authentic documents. It was very interesting to see all the stamps and visas from the different countries. 

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. 

Whew! The trip our Global Explorers took covered Asia, Africa, S. America, Australia, and Europe. Some of our toddlers even had jet lag by the end of the day. We had a great week and learned a lot about other parts of the world. We hope you have a wonderful rest of the summer and maybe even get to take a trip of your own. Thanks for exploring with us and Au Revoir!