sunflowers

This week at  "stay camp" was all about sunflowers and it was so much fun!!!  Somehow (unintentionally) I managed to incorporate many different areas of a school curriculum into our week.
PE/Critical thinking and following directions: We started our week with a visit to a local sunflower maze.  The kids loved running down the path looking for each marker while answering questions and clues to find out which direction we were supposed to take next. 
Science: We took a sunflower apart and investigated all of its different parts.  The kids were so funny using the magnifying glasses and I was impressed with the words they used to describe the flower. 
Language Arts/Art History: We read the book "In the Garden with Van Gogh".  We talked about Van Gogh and I showed them pictures of his famous paintings.
Art: I wanted the kids to feel like "real" artists so I gave each of them an easel and a canvas and let them paint sunflowers.  I loved seeing how different a three and five year old interpret sunflowers.  I think I will hang them in our playroom.
Math: We used our math skills to measure the ingredients needed to make cupcakes.  Then I let the kids decorate them to look like sunflowers.  I think I had the most fun trying to make the petals, although my son really enjoyed licking the frosting off of his fingers, the knife, the spoon, the bowl.....
We only have a few weeks left of summer so hopefully we will get to do at least one more theme before school starts again.