Gee Family Tech-Free-Tuesday Day Camp

After vacation, I felt like I needed to work on our tech free Tuesdays.  We didn't have one while we were vacationing, and the Tuesday before that, I was sick in bed so the kids watched a TON of TV.  We were all kind of unexcited about starting up again.  Even for me, the temptation to say, "forget it!" was pretty strong.  But instead of giving up, I put together a really fun day.  I don't do theme days every week, but I needed to get us all excited again.  So I put on a little "camp" for the kids.

We built a "campfire" where we sang camp songs and read a few books about camping.

We made S'mores in the microwave.  They weren't very smokey, but they were still just as messy as the real deal.

I bought some containers, stickers, rope, and LED candles at the dollar store.  Each kid made their own lantern.  They still use them at night sometimes.

We set up our tent in the back yard (big shout out to David for putting it up all these years - it's HARD!) and the kids played out there off-and-on all day long.

Quin liked it.  

So did Joshua.

One of the best things we did was make "mud" and play with it.  It's actually just a salt dough recipe with cocoa powder in it.  It's easy, not messy at all, and smells just like brownies.

We used little dino, bug, and snake toys to make fossils and tracks in the mud.  

All four kids played for a long time without getting bored.

Half hour later, and we're still going...

For a snack, the kids went "fishing."  I tied a string to a pretzel rod for the pole, and a gummy worm for the bait.  Then, I gave each kid a baggie with Goldfish Crackers and Swedish Fish.

They ate their snack out in the tent.

For dinner, we made tinfoil dinners.  We cooked them in the oven instead of a fire, of course, but they were still amazing!

Yum!  I'm going to make those again soon!  Even if we're not "camping."

It was a really fun day.  I'm glad I made the effort to put together something special.  On a side note - I'm writing this entry on a Tuesday, and it's not going to be tech-free.   Bronson has been throwing up since last night, so we're going to be watching a lot of movies while resting on the couch today.

For my own future reference, here's the recipe for chocolate play dough:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 c. salt
• 1/2 c. cocoa powder
• 2 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 2 Tbs. Cream of Tartar
• 2 c. boiling water
• 4 drops glycerine (optional - for increased shine and stretch) I didn't use any

METHOD:

• Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl
• Stir in the vegetable oil.  Mix together.
• Stir in the boiling water and mix until combined (adult only).
• When it has cooled a little, knead it on a clean surface until it loses all stickiness and becomes smooth and stretchy.  If needed, add water if dry or flour if wet, one Tbs. at a time.