After sharing our ideas for pirate theme day and sea animal theme day with my best friend when she and her 3 little ones were up last week, we decided to start our own mini summer day camp with all our kids. (After all, it’s much cheaper than any of the day camps we’ve seen and no worries about what our kids are doing or who they’re hanging out with.)
This week we had our first day camp at her house – centered around trains!
With little ones to consider, the 100 degree temperatures kept us from playing trains in the sprinklers like we originally intended, but there were plenty of train activities to enjoy inside.
After peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (a favorite for all our kids), we made fruit and veggie trains.
This was the sample train my friend had set up to show the kids. It’s very simple: a full graham cracker at the bottom and a half one on top to make up the train body. Cucumbers and sugar snap peas make up the wheels and a strawberry with a blackberry (for smoke) make up the smoke stack.
The kids had a blast creating their own edible trains, and a lot of fruits and veggies were eaten in the process! I especially liked when a few of the kids started making “chugga chugga” sounds as they ate!
After lunch there was plenty of time for free play with trains, with a different track set up in each room they played in! (She even had one on the dining room table!)
And then it was craft time! Who can resist a craft you can eat? (Okay, so part of lunch was a craft you could eat, too…. What can I say, the boys like crafts they can eat!)
There were lots of train cookies ready to be iced and decorated. And just look at all the decorations she had ready for us!
Keeping in line with the theme days I had shared with her, she had some great train books ready to read with the kids. Thomas is a favorite with her 2 boys and my own little Monkey. And the girls seemed to like it, too! I couldn’t resist snapping a picture of her reading Thomas and the Jet Engine. 
We all had a “trainrific” day, and can’t wait until our next at home day camp day!
JDaniel4's Mom says
What a fun sandwich!
OneMommy says
Yes! I wasn’t expecting my friend to take it to that level – I’ll have to really work hard when it’s my turn to host “day camp!”
Mothering From Scratch says
{Kathy} What a fabulous idea! Not only do you save money, the kids make great connections with other kids, have fun and get out of the house.
OneMommy says
Sometimes just getting to mingle with other kids (and Mommy getting a chance to be with another adult) is all it takes for a great day!
Donna says
This is a great idea. I’m sure all the children enjoyed themselves.
OneMommy says
They all had a blast! Can’t wait until we do it again!