Camping Theme?

Alright creative peeps, I am going to be teaching 2nd grade next year and the school-wide theme is "camping"...I have the camping cricut cart and loads of other scrappy resources...any ideas for decorations and/or sayings for my classroom?

I'm having a brain fart!! LOL
I figured I could do frogs, bees, insect related things in this

S'mores

camp fire pics/decorations

camping gear (sleeping bags, camp chairs)

butterfly nets ($1 in the toy sections) or at Dollar Tree

make a fake campfire to sit around for reading/story time

That sounds not only fun, but really cute!

How about including a couple of overhead or bullentin board flag-type banners (which are really popular right now!)

You could either spell out a saying, a theme for the year, include your repeated characters (frogs, bugs, etc.) and or include each of the children's names.

HTH!

When you think of camping you thing of the outdoors, animals and bugs should be incorporated some how, and children love them. The campfire, smores are good ideas, but also use some plants and think of stuff you could use in your lessons as well.

I like the banner idea!!

also, you could see if a local store would let you use a firepit, throw some real firewood in it, and use white Christmas lights wrapped in orange/red/white tissue paper to make flames. I made a "firepit" for a photography prop for a friend using white lites and red and gold Christmas tinsel that reflected the light and it worked really well also.

other ideas?
Camping chairs around the "campfire" for a reading area.

the banners on the front of their desk might be fun to....as Kelly said, you can incorporate their name and the insects at will.

lanterns hung from the lights might be fun

I'm trying to think of something with log cabins.......you might email all your friends and see if anyone has an electric fireplace...you could make the classroom into a log cabin??

I always think of fishing when we go camping also. Maybe have a "pond" with small prizes of some kind. Figure out something that would allow them to "go fishing" for a prize. You could put a little bucket on the end of a fishing pole and put all the prizes behind a screen of somekind. Give them "bait" for things done well or good deeds and once a week, the kids can trade in their "bait" (paper worms or minnows or something) for a prize. It can be something as simple as pencils, fun erasers, etc etc. My kids used to earn some kind of bonus bucks and they could "buy" gifts once a week. Maybe different types of bait give them different prizes. Worms are the simple things, minnows give them bigger prizes??? Or maybe if they save up say 10 worms, they can go "deep sea" fishing for a bigger prize yet? There is a lot you can do with that one!

that's all I got now....let me think some more.

I need some creative sayings for the banners!
I love these ideas.

I know they make "fake" campfires... our church has one we used for our VBS theme last year - it looks like the flames from the fake torches you can buy

it looks something like this:

focus on Lewis and Clark........they went on the ultimate campout LOL!!

Camp 2nd grade??? You could do like a survivor logo.

you could make little wooden signs around the room that instead of don't feed the bears could be the classroom rules.....Don't talk while someone else is talking etc etc!

2nd graders have "smore" fun

back to basics

Fireside story (reading area banner?)

Happy Campers!

yes, I'm bored at work because my online bookkeeping program is down today and I'm amusing myself with your thread!

Hook, Line, and Reader (back to the "pond", maybe they get bait for every book report they give?)

You could also call your room the Wild Blue Yonder.............

Pitched tents as their desk tags, have a few paper bugs scattered around the room. I LOVE the campfire idea....

Search the titles section here under the RESOURCES tab to get lots of title ideas. Love the campfire

Have you ever made s'mores kits? Might be a fun snack time activity for kids--it is something we do with Girl Scouts.

http://www.southernplate.com/2008/11/smores-kits-great-gift-for-classmates-from-guest-bloggers-brady-katy.html

hth!! Sounds like a lot of fun

You've gotten some great ideas in this thread. If you want to make something, both Cosmo Cricket and Bella Blvd have really cute camping themed pp.

I made this camper birdhouse using Cosmo Cricket "Mr. Campy" papers. I had never altered anything before and this was super easy and fun to do.

Happy Camper By IzzyB

how big of a room do you have???

It would be fun for the class to name your "camp" the first week of school.

My son will be in 2nd grade this year this is what he said...

-bear tracks on the floor
-camp flag to hang with the American flag
-trees and leaves everywhere
-swimming pool with water to be a pond (that one might not be doable LOL)

That birdhouse is the cutest thing ever!!!

love, love, love these ideas!!

Before I changed grade levels to the garden theme, I had a reading nook called
Camp Read Some More. I had a fire bowl of large rocks, kids sized chairs like beach chairs and a picnic table. You could use a small pup tent. For the backdrop you could use trees. I stored books in picnic baskets I picked up at garage sales.
By the way former students come back looking for that Book NOok. How about Camp Learn A Lot?

How about flashlight nametags. This is a mini version: page candy for camping By Scrapbookingteacher

Bouncing off of the pond & campfire ideas...

- How about a thinking pond/reflection area = individual reading/quiet time.

- And or a campside pow-wow/circletime area = group storytime/sharing time.

- As for the camp trailer, how about turning the classroom library in a makeshift bookmobile, lawnchairs, pink flamingoes, pinwheels & all!



p.s. Also, don't forget the stars & the moon! You can hang some from the ceiling, as well as the walls!

please post pics for us later on of what you decided to do because I'm really liking some of these ideas!!

I like Camp Reads alot....how about another area of the classroom as Camp Adds a Lot and doing math games and activities in there?

my cricut is cutting away tonight girls, been working in my room for the past week! I will share pictures when it's finished...

Don't forget the outhouse and the row boat!!

Have a bulliten board that says Happy Campers with pics of all your students...