Our Spring Break Desperation Inventions! Win a WEEK of FREE Camp Invention!

This post is part of my Ambassadorship with Camp Invention

The children finally returned to school yesterday. We had no travel plans during spring break, opting instead for a “stay-cation” chock full of winter temperatures, and two squirrely Imig boys with too much time on their hands. Spring Break highlights included daily strategy sessions involving the bartering of 20 minutes of outside time for two hours of screen time ala:

SITTING ON YOUR DUFF IN THE DRIVEWAY DOESN’T COUNT AS OUTSIDE TIME. YES I REALIZE THAT TECHNICALLY YOU’RE FULFILLING THE REQUIREMENT BY BEING  (AIR QUOTES) OUTSIDE. FROM NOW ON IT SHALL BE CALLED “MOVE YOUR HINEY IN THE SUNSHINEY TIME, SUNSHINEY NOT WITHSTANDING.

We took one family bike ride, or “bicker ride” rather, which resulted in educational threats ala

QUIT CUTTING OFF YOUR BROTHER OR I WILL WORKBOOK YOU BOTH AT THE KITCHEN COUNTER BEFORE YOU CAN SAY THE “S” WORD. THAT’S RIGHT, BRAHHS… SUDOKU!

We movied, we mini-golfed, we play-dated. Of course we all ate plenty of ice cream, because nothing rewards forced decency and abstaining from fratricide like $75 worth of ice cream cones. We enjoyed plenty of inside togetherness. Gone are the days when my children played in the sink for an hour, or lost themselves in coloring pages (okay, that never actually happened), but both kids still love a new project.

In a stroke of desperation-is-the-mother ingenuity, as I prepared for our Passover Seder meal I suggested the boys iterate the Ten Plagues of Egypt in bricks. After remedying an I CALLED THE SLAYING OF THE FIRST BORN, FIRST! situation, they not only spent a good twenty minutes working together, they provided our festive holiday centerpiece.

Next, the boys wanted to use the crystal making kit I purchased from the once book order, now toys-to-beg-your-parents-for instead of books order. In process “rock candy” currently sits on the kitchen island, and my children are learning the valuable scientific lesson that watching crystals grow in your kitchen is FUN and that Popsicle sticks festering for days in a pound of sugar water resembling embalming fluid grows delicious!

Mercifully, at our precise Spring Breaking (Bad) point, we received a package in the mail from Camp Invention, with a set of two Super Go car kits.  My kids spent half a day on this project–first constructing the car and then adapting the kit to make the car run on its own so they could race. The cars are battery-operated and actually run (see video below)!!!

The Super Go project entertained them, got their imaginations working, and those logic synapses firing. Best of all, it excited them about attending Camp Invention this summer.

The best BEST news of all for you, weary parent? I’m giving away a full week of Camp Invention day camp for one lucky parent child FOR FREE. Go to the website and locate the camp nearest you (since you will need to provide transportation).

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is

1. Leave a comment on the Camp Invention facebook page or @CampInvention on twitter using the hashtag #CampInvention, sharing why you think your child would love #CampInvention

2. Next,  copy/paste your comment here in my comments below by Sunday April 27th 11:59 PM CST. I’ll pick a winner at random and announce next week! Bonus: The runner-up will win a Super Go car kit.

 This post and giveaway are part of a Camp Invention Ambassador campaign for which I’m compensated. The opinions and stunning photography are my own.