Books and KC Outings for a Neighborhood Theme

We had a whole week about Your Neighborhood for MOMS Camp and it was a blast! I chose that theme to fit a few projects I had in mind, but was so happy to find many fun ideas (besides a walk in our own neighborhood and regular errands like the bank and post office) all week long! As always we began our week with a trip to the library to pick up some books and DVDs I'd ordered ahead of time. We really loved the Elmo's World: People in my Neighborhood DVD  because it talked about police officers and firefighters, etc. Even Molly (5) watched it, even though she tried to tell me she was too old for Elmo! Here's a few of our favorite books from this week:

Welcome to My Neighborhood by Judith Casely
This is My Town by Mercer Mayer
On My Street by Eve Merriam

Our favorite outing this week was to the Kidscape exhibit at the Johnson County History Museum! It was free to visit and a great break from being outdoors in the summer heat. The exhibit has several little wooden stores (big enough for adults to walk through), creating a miniature town inside the museum. There's a doctor's office, library, store, theater, pretend fish pond, and my personal favorite room: CARS AND TRAINS! Everything was made so nice and it was kept up so well. My kids were not ready to leave when it was time to leave so I'm sure we'll be going back some day!

(I admit the wooden patient in the doctor's office was a little disturbing... but the kids didn't seem to notice anything accept the fun potential and educational value!)

If you haven't been to Antioch Park you definitely need to take your kids! They have three playground sets, one of which is brand new! They have great walking paths and two ponds... but for this week the important part was their play town! There are several wooden buildings (also large enough for adults to walk through) laid out like an old western town with signs painted on them like "Jail", "Town Hall", and "Hotel". Here's my poor, wrongly-accused children in the jail: