Another Year as a Camp Director

Another week of camp in the books. I may have moved across the country, but I didn't have to give up my church job. I was asked to work with the 8-11 year old girls again, as an Activity Day Leader. And, of course, that meant I wanted to do a day camp again.

This congregation has never done something like that before, so I get to ease another group into the idea, but luckily the other two women I work with only pushed back a little ;), and it turned out the girls and their families were totally on board (I knew they would be, but I don't think everyone else believed me.) We had between 9-15 girls each day, plus my three kids, which was a bigger turn out than we've had to any of our other activities.

Because it was a new concept, and we only had three months to plan, we started smaller than what I did last year. Actually, it was a lot like the first year of the NC camp--4 half-days of camp. 4 afternoons gave us time for a few different field trips, lots of games, and a short spiritual message each day. The girls had a lot of fun, hopefully learned a few things and were inspired to be just a little kinder and to push themselves to do a little more.

 Monday was our service day.

We went to visit a retirement home where we sang a few songs (patriotic and camp songs),

made paper lanterns in red, white, and blue, and visited with the residents.

It was really beautiful watching these young kids talk with the men and women there. I think everyone involved enjoyed it.

Then, we came back to the church and made dog toys to give to a local rescue group.

These were fun, and easy enough to make that the girls could do most of it on their own.

Tuesday we took a trip to the library. We got a tour, including going behind the scenes to see how the "dragon" AKA book return works to check in and sort the books as people "feed" it. The girls did a scavenger hunt in the children's section,

and then we went back to the church to make origami bookmarks.

 These were a huge hit and no one was ready when we had to clean up.

Wednesday we had planned a fun water day for all the girls in the Livermore area (5 congregations).

We'd actually started this planning a few weeks ago

and the girls got to help with the preparations for the different games

and then we all worked to set up the whole thing that day.

We'd also talked about being a good friend that day and did a team building activity--The Human Knot. This was such a great moment of truth. It was a large group, and they had themselves pretty tangled, to the point that a few of them were asking if they could start over, maybe split into two groups to make it easier. But I encouraged them to try for a little longer, and after about 15 minutes, they got it! They were so proud of themselves, and I hope they will remember the experience of doing something hard, even when it seems like quitting might be better, and then feeling success. I love how games can reflect real life.

Then, we had all the fun water games and more friends coming to play.

Sponge Relay Race

(A bunch of my girls--they are all fun kids.)

Peanut jumping in and playing with the girls.

The race to see who can fill their bucket first,

one spongeful at a time.

We made boats from pool noodles, water bottles, and other small materials.

This could be a great longer activity, where someone discusses the physics of boats with them first and lets them try out some different designs.

We only had 20 minutes, but they had fun and most of them didn't even hesitate with their design choices, but dove right in.

Human Ring Toss--not as popular since it didn't involve water, but still fun.

This little Peanut liked the game, even though he flinched every time a hula hoop came his way. The girls were all so great at including him all week.

Cup Relay

This was one of the favorites.

(They got a little silly with it.)

Some of them really tried to move the water.

I think some were just trying to get wet. :)

And Sponge Tic-Tac-Toe. Once again, the most fun part seemed to be ringing the sponges out over their heads.

And then, it was Thursday, our last day, and the pool party.

This has become a tradition for every camp I've organized. The pool changes each year, and the girls, but its always a favorite day.

I love it, too, because it requires minimal planning and setting up, and by the end of the week, that's what I'm ready for.

I'm so glad my boys like hanging out with all the girls. They always enjoy this week, and the girls are great about it.

I'm also grateful for the people at church with pools who are so generous with sharing their homes. They make things like this possible on a small budget.

The kids spent most of the time involved in some sort of war game. One of the other leaders commented that you could tell there was a boy in the mix, but I'm pretty sure the girls had just as much to do with the organizing of the game.

Only structured part we played was making ice cream in a bag.

And that was a total fail this time. When we did it a couple years ago, it turned out great, but I think the ingredients weren't cold enough when we started this time and just couldn't freeze. The girls still liked it because it was sweet ("It's like melted ice cream!")

And that was year number 4 of Activity Days camp! I've received a lot of positive feedback from parents, girls, other leaders, and even people who just heard about it. I'm excited that this congregation seems really enthusiastic about this and hope that we can encourage the other groups in our area to start their own. It's such a great experience for these girls and so much fun. And I loved getting to know them all a little better.

Coming Together

 

Last week was Activity Days Camp--where I got to spend the week with these adventurous, creative, kind, funny girls. All the weeks of planning and preparations came together in 5 days of being World Explorers. And I'm not going to lie, it was a lot of work putting this together, but after spending the week getting to know the girls better, watching them form friendships with new people, and seeing their excitement with each new activity or adventure, it was worth it. There were a few bumps along the way, a few lessons learned for next time, but overall, everything went really well and I think it was a positive experience for everyone involved.

Day 1:

 First step to becoming world explorers--getting a passport! They filled out the personal info and then I took pictures of each of them.

 

It's easy to tell that my two children are related.

 

This was the unprompted face I got when I first told them I was going to take a quick passport photo.

 

Meanwhile, one of the other leaders got them going on a self portrait "I AM" project.

 

I love how unique each of these turned out, just like the kids they represent.

 

 Some used the preprinted faces, some drew their own. Some painted a lot, some left things as more of a sketch. Some added lots of things to the "I AM", some only had a couple. 

 

After lunch, we did a little service project. We split into two groups and then went to visit two of the older women from our church congregation who don't get out of the house much these days. We sang a song, asked them some questions about their childhood, and just talked with them.

 

We were even able to do a little watering for one of the women, which the girls really enjoyed. Work can be fun!

 

Finally, back at the church, we talked about our first country we were visiting--Switzerland. After sharing a few facts, one of the leaders taught the girls a couple of games that kids in Switzerland like to play.

 

It was a good first day activity because it helped the girls connect with each other. Our group live spread over such a large area, with kids in about 10 different schools, so they don't really see much of each other besides Sundays and our twice a month activities. This week was great for getting to know each other.

 

We also had 3 girls who aren't in our regular group. We were so glad that Ms. V. wanted to come back after doing camp with us last year, too.

 

The chocolate game was a huge hit, of course. And what says Switzerland better than some good chocolate?

Day 2:

 The second day took us to France, and on a search for art, history, music, fine food, and a little city exploring. The passports served as a record of each day, with a "stamp" representing the country we explored, and then a couple other stamps that could remind them of what activities we did that day.

 

We may not have been able to travel to Paris, but Uptown Charlotte offers plenty of cultural opportunities.

 

We found the queen our city was named for.

 

explored the history of one of Charlotte's banks,

 

made our own money,

 

found art work all over the city,

 

and spent the day with friends.

 

We had a picnic in the park where a saxophonist was playing (and the shade barely offered relief from the insane heat.)

 After lunch, we had one final stop--a local french bakery. One of the bakers talked with us a little about their place, the girls got to watch them making pastries, and then we had some macaroons. This was a popular stop for the day.

Day 3:

We moved on to Saudi Arabia, where the hot, dusty horse arena seemed just about right.

 

This was the day most of the girls were really looking forward to.

 

Some had experience riding and were excited to get back on a horse. 

 

Most of these kids had never been on a horse without someone leading them, so this was a whole new thing.  

Others had never been on a horse at all, and when they first got on and realized how high up they were, weren't sure they wanted to do this. But we were able to encourage them to stay on long enough to fall in love with it.

And watching their smiles when they realized that they COULD do hard things was pretty fun. I was proud of them for not giving in to their fears.

I think the experience lived up to the anticipation.

 

They were a happy group at the end of the morning.

 

We finished things off with a hot hayride, and then retreated to the air-conditioned church for the rest of the day.

 

We talked about Saudi Arabian art, including the mosaic designs they use to decorate buildings, and made our own paper mosaics. We also talked about how their dress reflects their environment and sampled some traditional foods--dates and tabbouleh. I was actually really surprised and impressed with how much they all liked the food.

Day 4:

Our day in Columbia started with a short presentations from a family who are from Columbia. 

 

They showed us traditional clothing, jewelry, and art, as well as letting us try some delicious empanadas, which the girls, one again, absolutely loved.

 

Then, we delved into a little botany. Thank goodness for having a friend who is a naturalist, and always excited to share her wealth of information with others.

 

Sandra helped the girls make their own hydroponic growing systems to take home with them. 

 

This was such a great combination of nature and biology, with a little tech thrown in. And she encouraged them to experiment with different plants, seeds, etc. . . at home, so hopefully the lesson will continue.

 

We took a break for lunch,

 

and some of them even played a plant-based board game to keep with our nature theme.

 

Then we went on a little nature walk to collect plants. Sandra had planned to also make plant presses with the girls, but there just wasn't enough time, so we stuck with learning how to sustainably gather items for further study.

 

Sandra lives right next to the historic Rural Hill farm, so our hike took us past some fun sights.

 

We peeked in at the medicinal garden and talked a little about the plants there and spent a few minutes exploring the area.

 

 

I think more than a few of the kids were a little surprised at how much they loved this day. Before camp, everyone was talking about the horseback riding and the pool party, but there were a couple who told me Thursday was their favorite day out of the whole week.

 

This group really was so much fun this week. For the most part, they were all agreeable and open to trying new things and we had very little drama. It made it a lot of fun and gave us a chance to really get to know each other.

And that brings us to Day 5--our final adventure:

Austrailia (which we really did very little with the actual country, but there's a lot of water there, and our afternoon was spent at the pool.) 

 

We began with a lesson on physical health and encouraged the girls to choose some activities that they enjoy and then to exercise each day for the next month. Then, we played some games and did a few fun relays because exercise should be fun!

 

Along with watching the kids have fun together, I also liked seeing how gentle and helpful they were with the leaders' little kids who came to play with us. 

 

They were so patient and inclusive and really demonstrated some good leadership skills.

 

And then came the second most anticipated activity of the week--the pool party.

 

They splashed and swam and made up games to play for almost 3 hours.

 

It was a great end to a great week.

What did we learn? 

1. Always better to have more chaperones than you think you'll need. We didn't really run into chaperoning issues, just a couple transportation issues. But there was some stress because of leaders' schedules and activities taking a little longer than we'd planned. In the future, I'd just plan to have at least one parent signed up for each day, or 1/2 day. Plus, it would be fun for the parents to get to see a little of what we do.

2. Speaking of parents seeing what's going on for the week, I followed the example of the cubscout leaders from Bug's camp last month and tried to post pictures each day, as well as sending out a short email each night. The parents really liked having a glimpse into our days.

3. Also in the idea of keeping the parents informed, it would have been helpful to have had a couple parent meetings in the months before camp, just to hand out and collect all the permission forms and waivers, as well as give them a loose overview and answer questions.

4. Over-planning is good. We never ran out of activities (and even had several that we didn't get to), and while there were small pockets of free time, it was better to keep the girls busy so we didn't have to worry about them running wild through the church and making messes.

5. They get really hungry! We should have planned a morning snack each day because it was just too long until lunch for a lot of them. And they really loved the food samples from the countries we visited, so incorporating food into the week would be good.

6. Working with this age group is really fun. Sure, there is a pretty big span of abilities and interests when you get a group of 8-12 year olds together, and some personalities will always be challenging, but these kids are so open to life and excited about everything that it can be really enjoyable to do just about anything with them.