Morgenstern Books will host free interactive events for children interested in camping Friday and Saturday. The activities will be from the book “Kids’s Ultimate Camping Experience: Activity Book, Camping Log, & More!” which was published by Cosmic Creations Publishing.
At 6:30 p.m. Friday, kids have the chance to participate in two activities: homemade ice cream making and glow-in-the-dark bucket tossing. President of Cosmic Creations Publishing, Amie Crites, said Friday’s activities would be best for children ages 6 and up.
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, there will be a camping-themed book reading and an opportunity to create butterfly mandalas, which is also an activity from the camping activity book. At both events, children will be able to win prizes such as a compass, bookmarks and stamps.
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Cosmic Creations Publishing is also run by Crites’s mother, Debbie Goodman, and sister-in-law, Amber Goodman. The Bloomington-based company was founded in 2020 and the camping activity book was published this year. The company has published multiple other books, but mainly caters toward children.
“COVID happened and it shut things down and we really needed to get family time and some grounded time in nature with the chaos of the world around us,” Crites said. “So, we just started camping a lot.”
Crites’s brother and sister-in-law have two children, ages 6 and 9, and created the book for children ages 6 to 11.
“The whole goal was to get people in nature and get people connecting with nature and get people connecting with each other,” Crites said.
The book has over 50 activities within seven different activity logs in order to reuse the book on multiple trips. The book also explains the “Leave No Trace” nature rule, which encourages campers to be respectful of the outdoors and clean up after themselves.
Campfire awards are listed in the book, including one for the first person to fall asleep. There are also drawing activities, bingo and educational information about camping. Packing lists are provided in the book for each activity. The interactive book has blank spaces to commemorate where the camping trip is, who’s there and when it takes place.
The book is available on Amazon, Cosmic Creations Publishing’s website, at Morgenstern Books and at multiple nature centers including Paynetown Campstore, Turkey Run State Park, Spring Mill State Park and convenience store, The Fishin Shedd.
