Camping in the Classroom for Upper Elementary!

Every year I LOVE doing a themed camping week! Camping in the classroom is such a great way to get kids engaged and enjoy learning, but also can make for great rigorous learning! My kids love getting to experience life as a camping expert!

Camping in the Classroom Decor

First I start with decorating the classroom! I do not mention camping week to my kiddos at all until they walk into the room! They get so excited to see everything all decorated. Do you need to decorate? No! The activities are plenty, but it is a fun addition!

 

Tents- I always ask parents to donate tents for the week and I have never had a problem getting one!
Table Cloths- I tend to get mine at the Dollar Tree or on Amazon! You can find the Amazon ones  here!
Lanterns- I ask parents to donate and I have bought some off Amazon here!
Finger Lights- We always buy each kid a finger light from the week off of Amazon! It is pretty inexpensive and the kids love them. Check them out here!

Everything else I get out of my house or camper. I pick up some wood and use tissue paper to make a fake fire and I pick up s’mores items to tempt my kiddos all week! 😉

Camping in the Classroom Reading Activities

We keep our camping theme up all week long and we try to incorporate it with all subjects!

For reading we participate in centers were students read camping books, listen to camping books, complete a mad-libs activity, read camping articles, and participate in a teacher lesson! I love centers and my kiddos love camping centers even more because they get to sit in tents!

We also read many camping stories! You can find my favorite camping books below! Click on the book for affiliate links!

 

Writing Around the Campfire

When we do camping in the classroom writing is one of my favorite parts!

We write campfire songs, scary stories, and we research the national parks! I love watching my kids be creative and they love sharing their work! Plus, it is great to see them learn more about the national parks!

Quick Tip: For each piece of writing I let them share it around the fake campfire which they love as well!

Camping in the Classroom Math

For math, we save the bears in a super fun review game around South America! We participate in a word problem race in order to earn s’more ingredients!

So, if the kids want s’mores they have to work really hard at math word problems. WIN WIN!

We also have fun planning a camping trip by working on elapsed time and money! We plan what food we are going to take and what activities we are going to do!

Content for Camping

In social studies, we work on making our own camp ground using cardinal directions! We also make a history of camping  timeline using research!

For science, we make solar ovens to cook our s’mores that they earned during math and we learn all about making bubbles!

It is truly a week full of rigorous learning and FUN! We never stop laughing and creating memories all week long!

You can find all the activities that we participated in during camping week here!