Camp (Education Outdoors game review)

We picked this game up from a local toy store when we were looking for an indoor activity on vacation last summer. It was an impulse purchase. It caught our eye because it claimed to be suitable for a variety of ages, and because it wasn't strictly a luck of the draw game. Besides, I'm fond of trivia and wildlife, so this game seemed to have it all. We have been pleased with the game. Calvin loves playing, and it's something that we can enjoy right along with him.

Camp is a fun trivia game. Participants roll dice and move forward as many squares. The square they land on determines whether they get to answer a trivia question, are sent (forward or backward) to the club house square and read a factoid, or sit and wait for their next turn. Each trivia card has four questions, each from a different difficultly level but all related to the same topic. The game can be played with three people in less than 30 minutes.

The cute game pieces and the board are very well made, and the questions are fun and interesting. Questions from the easiest difficulty level are extremely easy, while questions from the top level are challenging and at times obscure, but not on a par with Trivial Pursuit. Calvin is able to answer questions from the first two levels, and sometimes even the third.

Writing and illustrating

It was towards the end of a particularly difficult day (chores, bad weather, snuffles) that Calvin up and declared he was going to write a poem and illustrate it. When he finished I suggested that he write a story about the same topic to feel the difference in composition. He illustrated that as well, and the next day he proceeded to write more poem and story combos with fun illustrations. I love this new found confidence not just in writing, but in creating.

The A, A, B, A down the left side is his plan for the rhyming scheme.

Note that the pig is clearly singing. *love

As he was drawing this one he made a line for the mat and told me that he knew that was how a mat would look from the side, but he wanted people to be able to see the pattern on the mat so he was drawing "a different perspective." *more love

I am linking this to the wonderful Saturday's Artist.

Rinkitink in Oz, by L. Frank Baum (a review by Calvin)

Fun, imaginitive, a bit of good vs. evil with good winning the fight, Rinkitink in Oz is a standard Baum fairy story, but the only reason it's an Oz book is that Dorothy and the Wizard make a cameo appearance in the last chapter or so, and the new Nome King, too. I think Calvin missed our old friends, but he's so captivated by these books in general that I'm not sure he remembered he missed them until they showed up at the end. Another Baum that gets an A+ from us.

Math–Coloring hundreds charts

I've balked a bit in the face of math. I've talked before about our general philosophy of learning, and while I really can't call us unschoolers, we lean heavily in that direction and only my need to quantify and commemorate keeps me from going entirely that route. Well, probably that and fear. Every part of me believes that children are capable of learning for themselves, but a lifetime of conditioning is difficult to shake, and I spent a year in UofM's school of education learning how difficult it really is to teach. Maybe, but it really isn't hard to learn. See, the person who needs to be un-schooled is me. So I fight a daily battle between following and leading the learning cycle, and sometimes striking what I hope is a good balance. For instance, I don't believe Calvin needs to be taught math. I honestly believe that it will be picked up at the right time and during or for the right activity, but if that's true, then exposure, as long as it isn't off-putting, is okay, right? Calvin actually gets a lot of math. We measure when we cook, he counts when he plays music, and he's entirely responsible for his dice play when we get out a board game. A few weeks ago, though, I saw someone playing games with a hundreds chart and thought, hey, that's not such a bad idea, so I printed one. It was pretty helpful when we were counting horse power by fives in Katy and the Big Snow, and again when counting car speeds by tens for The Two Cars, but that was pretty bland.

So now we're coloring by numbers. I plan a picture and guide him through the chart, having him find a number or pick a number and color it accordingly. And I have him move from one number to the next with directions for adding or subtracting so many, sometimes by tens. It's a fun game, actually. We most often take one with us to the library because when he can't help me sort, I can still call off numbers, clues, and colors while I do. 

He spends a lot of time trying to figure out what the picture will finally be. Sometimes, much to my chagrin, he's still trying to figure that out long after all the squares are colored in.

Saturday's Artist—The Book of the Dead

We are finishing our exploration of Africa with a stop in Egypt, and though we started in modern Egypt curiosity has taken us back in time to the ancients. I think it will be a short stay for us right now—my concerns over timing on the death issue (as I mentioned here and a little here) will probably return us to the modern in a day or two—but we've done much just the same. I love exploring myth cultures so while building the pyramids we also read about the beliefs of their creators and inhabitants. Calvin finds the myth stories fascinating, and why wouldn't he? They are the building blocks of culture and society, and they read like fairy tales. The only down side is the prevalence of violence, but it's not like the brothers Grimm did any better.

Back to the art. To go with our pyramids this week Calvin decided it was important to create a copy of the Book of the Dead. I suggested a paper bag for the paper, to give it an older feel and look, and Calvin decided on colored pencils for his medium.

A few weeks ago, at the Border's closing sale, we luckily picked up a set of hieroglyphics stamps that came in handy here.

He used a book to copy pictures of Osiris, Isis, Horus, and the scales that weigh one's heart against a feather for admittance to the Field of Reeds.

He originally intended to create three copies of the scroll, one for each pyramid as it was the custom to bury (rich) people each with their own, but so far he has finished just this one over a two day period. I left everything out for him so we'll see if he goes back and creates more, or if we will leave the dead behind and return to the living, and camels, and sand. This morning I found him reading a book on archeology, so maybe he's actually finding that important link between the two worlds.

Come join, or at least visit, the parade of art linked to Saturday's Artist at Ordinary Life Magic.