Disney Camp: Where the Magic Comes to Life

Day 1

Disney Music-Guess That Tune

This is a very simple game, but the kids loved it. You play music and have the kids guess the name of the song and movie! You can have the kids get into two teams and earn points for each song that the team gets in a certain amount of time. I played the game with a group of younger children. Instead of having teams, we passed around a wand to the child who can guess the song first and then they can keep the wand until the next song.

Spray painting backpacks

We had stencils of different Disney characters and we let the students pick a backpack color and spray paint color and we sprayed their backpacks with the stencil of the Disney character they picked.

Painting Cocoa Skulls with Pom-Poms

We got the idea from this blog, but based on a survey we gave, our kids were more interested in Coco than Up so we changed the background of the picture to a skull from Day of the Dead, instead of making houses from Up. The kids loved painting with the pom-poms and it was maybe even more successful for them than a paintbrush! They were also using fine motor skills and it was easy to change colors because the kids all got their own clothespins, but the pompoms stayed with the same color.

Growing Frozen Snowflakes

We grew snow crystals as a STEM experiment. We used the idea from this blog. The crystals worked great! A few things to think about if you try the activity: the crystals will not grow so much that they cover the color of the pipe cleaner, so if you want it to look like a snowflake use white or blue haha ours looked like spiders (but still worked and very cool). Also if the water isn’t hot enough or the borax isn’t stirred long enough, borax will settle at the bottom of the jar and the crystal will be harder to remove because it will form down to the borax at the bottom. Overall, a really cool experiment!

Day 2

Star Wars Day

As the kids were coming in that day we had them pick a pool noodle (we precut the noodles in half). Then we had them pick a color of duck tape that we wrapped around the bottom to make a handle and another color that we ripped a small piece of to make the button on the handle.

After the kids had their lightsabers we spent the day doing Jedi Training games. We played Simon Says only instead it was “Jedi Says.” Then we played the game Keep the Deathstar up (a balloon we drew on to make it look like the Deathstar), but the kids used their lightsabers to touch the balloon instead of their hands. Then the older kids got in a circle and played Ninja with their lightsabers and the younger kids just went outside and had duels. The kids loved the duels and Ninja ( we modified the original game by having the kids stand in a circle a little farther apart and you only lost the limb if your lightsaber touched it).

Podracers STEM Activity

To end the day we did a STEM activity where we made Podracers (paper airplanes) and saw which ones could fly the farthest. We looked up some simple ways to make paper airplanes, but the activity could be adapted for older kids by doing more complex paper airplanes.

Day 3

Slime Day!

Making slime is always a great activity. There are so many recipes out there for great slime. We made a cloud slime with shaving cream and a more gooey slime with glue and contact solution. We also put in some glow and the dark paint in one and glitter in the other. It was messy but very fun for the kids. We called the glittery slime Aladin Ginnie slime and the green glow in the dark slime the kids put googly eyes in and called in Toy

Story Alien Slime.

STEM Moana: Boats that can withstand the Wind

This activity worked well for every age group. We gave the kids lots of materials to work with (paper cups, plates, bowls, popsicle sticks, tape, felt, plastic bags, paper, tissue paper, tin foil ext). To make boats like Moana’s Boat. We talked about how she steered the boat in the movie and how she needed to catch the wind with her sail in order to get the boat to move. Then we gave the kids the materials and let them make their own boat that could float in the water and had a sail that would catch the wind. The kids then got to test out their boat. I had a long plastic tote filled with water on a table and I placed a fan level with the boat. Then I placed a fan level with the tote and the kids placed their boats in the water. I turned on the fan and we raced the boats. The kids wanted to go back and make a new boat fixing problems with their design or changing things to make their boat even better. It was fun and exciting to see their energy.

Day 4

Humpty Dumpty Egg Challenge

The kids complained that Humpty Dumpty wasn’t Disney, but they enjoyed the challenge of trying to build a contraption that would keep the egg from breaking. We gave the kids lots of material choices, but next time I do this activity I will make sure I have sponges, straws, popsicle sticks, and foam. We had very few eggs survive the fall, but the kids still enjoyed learning from the ones that didn’t work and trying new things. A wonderful engineering lesson (and life lesson) for kids!

Inside out characters

We use and activity from this blog to make the characters. It was a simple activity, but still gave room for the kids to have some creative space. The younger kids also enjoyed having their character as a “toy” for later.

Popsicles and Freeze Dance

We played freeze dance to Disney music while parents picked up their kids on the last day. The kids would listen to music and dance. Then when I paused the music they had to freeze until I started it again. If the kids moved when the music was off they were out.

We had a wonderful last week of camp! Thanks to the kids, parents and Emilee Johnston for their help and involvement that was crucial to our success!