What does one do when grandkids are many miles away and travel is iffy and an ominous virus lurks!? I had accepted the fact that we couldn't have Camp Grandma this summer, realistically knowing it wasn’t going to happen. But - after my own experience in numerous Zoom gatherings for church, WeightWatchers, a retreat, and even a conference, a “lightbulb” moment happened! Maybe – just maybe - we could try a virtual Camp Grandma on Zoom! I texted our grandkids to see if they were on board to find a common time. All were excited and Camp ZoomMaPa took on a life of its own! To show you how to think this through, I followed the steps laid out in DIY Camp Grandma (available here on Amazon, btw, :-) First, we renamed our traditional Camp GrandMaPa to Camp ZoomMaPa. Then we texted all the grandkids (3 in high school and 2 in college) until we found a common hour/3 days in a row – without running practice, job obligations, appointments – and translated that into 3 time zones! The theme was built in, thanks to Zoom meetings: Camp ZoomMaPa! I trolled through Pinterest looking for fun Zoom games as I brainstormed a list of possible activities:
Sidenote: Our teenage grandchildren enjoy explaining what’s on their minds. So in the past few years, we’ve been selecting a story, a Scripture, or a topic to mull over together. For Camp ZoomMaPa this summer, we chose a small booklet called Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles Hummel (IVP Books) as our topic. It explains a classic approach about how to make important choices when life is urgent. We mailed copies of Tyranny of the Urgent in snail mail to keep and read on their own. Surprises were challenging since we’re not together physically; however, when I remembered Amazon Prime delivers and pays the postage…no problem! I ordered five intriguing masks that were in stock. A second surprise was chosen to use in our virtual games - individual whiteboards. Again, Amazon to the rescue. (I tried to keep the surprises a secret by mailing to the mommies of each household. I think it worked!) The only craft this year was drawing or writing answers on the whiteboard. It was enough. We made a simple agenda based a sequence of surprises, icebreakers, snacks, games, discussion, and wrap up. Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
BYO snacks! The easiest camp food ever. We each nibbled whenever we felt like it. I used Punch Bowl to send an invitation on each grandchild's I-Phones. It also reminded them each day until camp started. Setting Up Camp: I wrote our own version for most of the games. (FREE copies are available on here) Meanwhile, Grandpa planned how to explain and discuss Tyranny of the Urgent each day. He planned shorter times for explanation; longer for discussion. And used a marker and 4x6 card to show a grid. Important last step: We arranged to use a Zoom account and communicated the number and password through a group text. And the fun began: First thing, after we logged onto Zoom, was to have campers position their electronic devices with no windows in the background. FYI: Light behind a head makes for shaded faces in a picture. Solid backgrounds work best. Time to Smile! Taking pictures of Camp ZoomMaPa was simple. We wore our masks. Smile with your eyes, please! Ha. We held up treasures found in a house hunt. We showed trivia answers on the whiteboards. We shared goofy pictures on our phones. You can take screenshots with your computer, tablet, or phone. That’s it. Not a tremendous amount of flash or polish. Pretty basic computer stuff. Really. We are not technology experts. We simply got our grandkids to help us set it up and gave it a shot! Through face to face meetings in a virtual space named Zoom, we found precious moments to interact with our grandchildren. It felt so good we decided to do it again in a month! Bonus Blessing! Freebies!Download some of the activities we used:
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