Register, Orientation, Dinner, and Get to Know Your Fellow Participants

Dinner: Arrival time for the program is 4:30 p.m. The first evening includes an introduction of the sponsoring personnel, an orientation to the program, dinner, and get-acquainted activities.--- Please be aware that program activities and schedule times could change due to local circumstances. In the event of any changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding!--- This program is designed for a high degree of participation by both grandparents and grandchildren. Both learn from each other while learning and reminiscing about the games, toys, songs, and customs during the days of the grandparents youth. (This was a time when families made many of their own toys and created their own fun.) Together grandchildren and grandparents construct a dulcimer which the grandchildren learn to play. Under the guidance of a competent staff, grandparents and children together play, dance, make some old-time candy, laugh, sing and participate in a talent show. Get rest tonight as it is an exciting educational journey ahead of you!---

Lodging: Branson Towers

Meals Included: Dinner

Experience with your grandchild: Building your own Mountain Dulcimer, Old Fashioned Games, Making Ice Cream, and an evening of Story Telling

Breakfast: Enjoy a fine breakfast

Morning: Workshop and Build your own Mountain Dulcimer: The Appalachian dulcimer (or mountain dulcimer) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings. It is native to the Appalachian region of the United States. Work with seasoned musicians on building with your grandchild your very own dulcimer. The instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with one hand, while fretting with the other. The dulcimer may also be placed in a similar position on a piece of furniture such as a table or chest of drawers, to enhance the sound. Presenter: Judy Domeny, Folklorist and Performer

Morning: Get a visit from Granny Dingle and discuss life on Growing up in the Ozarks: A cultural examination in what it is like to be raised in the Ozarks region. How does the lifestyle different from other areas? What are the 'rites of passage' for the youth? How are the traditions and lore passed from one generation to the next? Also, look at the idea of 'chores' - Daily or routine domestic tasks, especially a farmer's routine morning and evening tasks, such as feeding livestock.

Lunch: Great lunch will be served on site.

Afternoon: Workshop on making Ice Cream: You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! While ice cream has been reported to be around since 200 B.C. in China, ice cream recipes are relatively new. Ice cream recipes first appear in 18th century England and America. A recipe for ice cream was published in Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts in London 1718. Learn some great ways of making old fashioned ice cream and then later you get to sample your handiwork!---After the fun there will be some free time until Supper. This would be a great opportunity to catch an afternoon show in Branson. Please visit explorebranson.com for offerings.

Afternoon: Workshop on working hard at playing games. All of the games you will learn or re-learn have no batteries and require little assembly but a lot of imagination! Revisit your childhood with your grandchild playing marbles, jacks, and all the games you played with string. Presenter: Judy Domeny, Folklorist and Performer

Dinner: We will have a fantastic dinner (we call it ‘supper’) served on site.

Evening: A night of fun with Ozark Storytelling: Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images, and sounds often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture and in every land as a means of entertainment, education, preservation of culture and in order to instill moral values. Meet some of the best storytellers in the Ozarks and listen to them spin tales thru the night.

Lodging: Branson Towers

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Experience with your grandchild: Folksongs, Learning ‘Spoons’, Bee Keeping, and enjoy an ol’ fashioned picnic!

Breakfast: A great breakfast

Morning: Spoons As a musical instrument, spoons are classified as an Idiophone or an instrument that produces noise when struck upon or shaken. Spoons have been associated with Western and American folk music as they provide easy and accessible accompaniment like the jug and washboard, to any variety of instruments such as fiddle and guitar. However, musical spoons can be seen in other cultures further back such as those of Russian Gypsies that improvised and created almost all of their music from what they had around them. Presenter: Judy Domeny, Folklorist and Performer

Morning: Folksongs The term folk music originated in the 19th century as a term for musical folklore. Old-time music (folk music) is played using a wide variety of stringed instruments. The instrumentation of an old-time group is often determined solely by what instruments are available, as well as by tradition. The most common instruments are acoustic string instruments.

Lunch: Another fantastic lunch will be served on site

Afternoon: Lecture on Bee Keeping: Beekeeping (or apiculture) is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, by humans. A beekeeper (or apiarist) keeps bees in order to collect honey and beeswax, to pollinate crops, or to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers. Our lecturer, a professional bee keeper, will discuss the history of this cash crop in the Ozarks and its role today. Presenter: Dr. Fred Pfister, Bee Keeper, Editor, and Local Historian

Afternoon: For the rest of the afternoon, you will join your grandchild in painting your dulcimer in your own unique style. At this time you will also glue your fret board to the dulcimer. Staff will be onsite to help with this process to create a lifelong memory. Depending on the time needed for this project, you will have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy – perhaps a cool dip in the swimming hole (pool)!

Dinner: Enjoy a good ol fashion picnic with all the fixins’!

Evening: Enjoy watermelon spittin’ contests, relays, sing-a-longs, and everything that makes the summer so much fun!

Lodging: Branson Towers

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Experience with your grandchild: The Adventure of ‘Ride the Ducks, Early Pioneers, and Animals of the Ozarks!

Breakfast: Enjoy a fine continental breakfast.

Morning: Take a trip on the adventurous 'Ride the Ducks' sightseeing tour! Your duck ride combines fun and music with history and sights aboard a one of a kind amphibious vehicle. You will Ride through the Ozarks, Splashdown into the Lake for a fun cruise. While on the lake you can drive the duck (if you want). Your Captain will en-tour-tain you with stories of past and present. Learn about Ozark Mountain history, the lakes, its famous personalities and its impact on the state and our nation. Find out about Branson's role in film, song and sports too!

Morning: Presentation on Ozark Living: This presentation is chock full of information about America’s early pioneers. Based on the old saying “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without,” Judy displays and discusses animal skulls and hides, quilts, a washboard, children’s toys, products made from antlers and corn, patterned feed sacks and more. Judy intersperses traditional American folksongs throughout the presentation, accompanying herself on the mountain dulcimer, banjo, and guitar.

Lunch: A great Bar-B-Q lunch will be served!

Afternoon: Presentation on Animals of the Ozarks: The goal is to introduce grandparents and grandchildren to the aspects of wildlife that might otherwise go unnoticed or misunderstood in their busy lives. They will learn the close connections between different aspects of the environment and how ecosystem shifts occurring in Missouri might be indicative of changes abroad. They will study the diversity of animal and plant life you find just by stepping onto your lawn and will learn how animals fulfill different roles in the ecosystem. Following the lecture there will be a Q&A session with focus on a particular group of animals designated to your grandchild

Dinner: A great supper will be served on site.

Evening: Free evening! Go out and explore Branson with its amazing shows, fantastic family centers, or take a walk on Lake Taneycomo! Please visit explorebranson.com for great places to go.

Lodging: Branson Towers

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Experience with your grandchild: The love of toys, Shirt Painting, Tuning and playing your Dulcimer, and end the day with the Spectacular show – Dixie Stampede!

Breakfast: A great breakfast

Morning: Workshop on toys: Toys have been unearthed from the sites of ancient civilizations. They have been written about in some of our oldest literature. Toys like Marbles, jackstones, and balls serve similar functions in child development, allowing children to use their minds and bodies to learn about spatial relationships, cause and effect, and a wide range of other skills. We will journey back to a time when many toys were made out of natural or household items – rag dolls for example.

Morning: Workshop on playing your dulcimer: The paint and glue have dried and it is time to learn how to play your dulcimer! The instrument is to lay it flat on the lap and pluck or strum the strings with one hand, while fretting with the other. You will also learn how to tune your dulcimer for years of enjoyment. Learn some new tunes in a fun and encouraging atmosphere while forming a lasting memory with your grandchild! A wonderful lunch will be served on site.

Lunch: Enjoy a fantastic lunch

Afternoon: Workshop on painting shirts: With brush in hand go back to a time when kids would paint their own unique shirts vs. just buying them at a store. Work with your grandchild to express yourself and then proudly wear your creation! Take as much time as you need and work with several seasoned art instructors to get that perfect image or style you want.

Dinner: Please see below

Evening: Participants eat a super fun-filled meal at the family-oriented Dixie Stampede dinner show followed by a beautiful and dynamic performance of entertainers and comedians singing, dancing, and riding majestic horses. With 32 horses, dozens of cast members, live buffalo, amazing ostrich races, magic and seating for 1,000 around a 35,000 square-foot arena at each facility. We will arrive early and take a stroll by the outdoor stable area where you can get a preview of the magnificent performers – the horses themselves!

Lodging: Branson Towers

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Experience with your grandchild: More memorable folk songs, Coon Dogs, and say our goodbyes to new friends!

Breakfast: Enjoy a great breakfast buffet

Morning: Reminisce about the week’s activities while enjoying one last moment with new friends. Have a safe trip home!

Morning: Lecture on Coon Dogs: We'll see some real Ozark Hound dogs or ‘Coon Hounds’ and hear stories from a man who hunts with them. A Coonhound is a type of scent hound and a member of the hound group. The dogs are prized for hunting animals that didn't "go to ground", but instead took to the treetops to escape, such as raccoons, opossums, bobcats and even larger prey like cougars and bears. A good coonhound will bark and keep its prey treed until the hunters arrive. Presenter: Arnold Evans, Local Historian

Morning: Another fun round of singing folksongs. This program is a mix of contemporary songs themed around Judy’s experiences of living on a farm. Her farm program is entertaining and always changing, depending on the latest escapade with her animals. Song topics include gardening, farm animals, cutting wood, auctions, love of the land, buying machinery, milking cows and more.

Meals Included: Breakfast