Day 5 (Aug 3)
We had an amazing time today! It’s been such a fun week full of excitement.
Today we went to South America and Ecuador!
Kids learnt all about mariachi bands, made Cinco de Mayo masks, made Maracas and did nail and thread colouring on blocks of wood! They saw a matador fight a bull and learnt about races in Quito where parents build wooden carts and push their kids down a steep hill!
Our middle eastern tea was this afternoon and it was so much fun! Most of the kids tried dates for the first time. They also drank mint tea and had yoghurt with cucumbers. It was a fun experience for all of them!
The tie-dye shirts were superb and kids loved wearing them.
Our oldest camper Kevin finished weaving his plastic mat for the church ladies who garden and we presented it to them. They were really touched and have even asked if they can send the picture in the newsletter. It was a lot of effort to weave it and it’s really admirable that he completed it.
We wended the day with breaking open our piñata ! I am pleased to say with Meghan’s help, our piñata was successful!
Such a fun week! Look forward to seeing them all again very soon!
Day 4 (Aug 2)
We turned the schedule upside down today. Instead of learning about a country and doing arts and crafts after, we spent an awesome morning immersed in art. (Love it!)
At 9am, our awesome campers made pasta from scratch! Most of them had never cooked anything before so this was a fun experience. They mixed the dough, rolled it out and cut it into whatever pasta shape they wanted. Dinner is ready! The pasta is very edible, so please cook it in boiling water with a bit of salt and a little oil for about 3 minutes.
After pasta, we did tie-dye. Again, this was the first time for a lot of campers so it was a lot of fun and they enjoyed the whole process of tying the cloth, folding it, putting rubberbands on and dyeing it. There was so much excitement and "wow" as they saw the dye on their shirts. We will keep the shirts here overnight. It's very messy to remove the rubber bands so the kids will do this here and we will dry it in the garden and then they will all wear it for graduation tomorrow.
After a very short break, we made pinatas. My wonderful counselor Meghan has done a lot of work to make sure the pinatas actually form. My fingers are crossed! Tomorrow we will fill candy in them and the kids will break it and eat the candy. (More waivers needed!)
After lunch we learnt all about Italy and the Renaissance. They learnt about Leonardo da Vinci and tested out the "eye trick" with Mona Lisa! They also learnt about the Vitruvian Man and measured each other to see their proportions! What they were most astonished about was that people in Italy didn't always eat pasta and pizza and some of them had pure shock when they found out that pizzas were only made 110 years ago.
The boys have totally taken to marbles and spend all their free time playing it. It's nice to see kids engaging with each other and not only with their devices. They were also very happy that the rafts they made floated!
Splash Time will end the day and the church ladies have put out sprinklers for the kids to play.
Tomorrow is Graduation!! Please come with your cameras at 3.30 as our campers get their certificates!
- Friday: We didn't have time to have tea today so we will do that tomorrow. Kids will be offered Fresh Mint tea and dates for snack tomorrow. If you haven't signed the waivers we need them by tomorrow morning.
- Friday: We will fill our pinata with candy and we need more waivers for that.
- Today: Cook pasta at home that they made. 3 minute in boiling water with salt and a bit of oil.
- After-Care: Kids need to be picked up at 4.45 pm
- Snacks and Lunch for them.
- Don't forget to come at 3.30pm for the graduation ceremony!!
Day 3 (Aug 1)
Such a fun day! We started the day with playing musical chairs.
We learnt all about Ancient Egypt today. They had fun learning about Pharaoh's and writing their names in hieroglyphics.
At sports the boys impressed us with their long jumps and the girls set up their own gym.
After that they learnt some key words about Ancient Egypt and out we went for lunch.
Today was art extravaganza after lunch!
The girls made crowns, capes and fish aquariums.
The boys got the chance to wrap themselves up as a mummy! What fun! They then made rafts that we will try and float tomorrow!
After this we pounded leaves and flowers into t-shirts and the results were quite amazing.
And after a rather competitive game of egg and spoon races we were out for Splash Time!
Please send with your child tomorrow:
- All kids need an old t-shirt tomorrow for tie dye.
- Thursday: We need to get waivers for kids to have Fresh Mint tea and dates for snack tomorrow - so please remember to sign these tomorrow.
- Thursday: Campers will be making their own pasta to bring back with them. This is totally edible and they will cook it at home.
- After-Care: Kids need to be picked up at 5.15pm
- Snacks and Lunch for them.
- Friday 3.30pm we have a Diploma Ceremony. Please join us to watch your camper get their certificates!
Day 2 (July 31)
The day went by so fast! We have so many projects planned and only had time to do a few of them!
The morning started with the kids learning about Australia and the environment. We spoke at length about the Great Barrier Reef, how Aussie's like to shorten the names for everything - including their own country which they call "Straya"! The kids were fascinated by Christmas traditions in Australia (BBQ on the beach and Santa in shorts and a tank top!).
When we discussed the environment we spoke about the Ozone Hole, the Great Barrier Reef dying, the problems with pollution and how this impacts kids in Australia. We also spoke about the waste problem that affects all of us and the sea of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean. The kids were really amazed to find out all this information.
After we broke for sports, the kids painted their salt lamps. The experiment Kevin did with creating a salt bowl was also successful! Bravo to him. The bowl held water!
We also successfully turned the salt lamp into a functioning oil lamp!
After this we started to weave our plastic rug out of plastic bags. The point was to teach kids that you can reuse stuff and innovate.
The campers also got to try Fairy Bread which was a success! Fairy Bread is a treat that kids in Australia love.
And we ended the day with Splash Time!
Please send with your child tomorrow:
- An old THIN Light Colored tshirt. We are going to attempt leaf transfers on t-shirts. We will use the same tshirt for tie dye later in the week. (We didn't have time today so will try again tomorrow!)
- After-Care: Kids need to be picked up at 4.45pm.
- Snacks and Lunch for them.
- Thursday: Campers will be making their own pasta to bring back with them. This is totally edible and they will cook it at home.
- Friday 3.30pm we have a Diploma Ceremony. Please join us to watch your camper get their certificates!
Day 1 (July 30)
It's a great start to the week!
We've got a small group today of amazing kids so this is sure to be an awesome week.
Today, we went to Asia and focused on India. Kids learnt all about the Taj Mahal. They also learnt in the morning about Ganpati (the half elephant + half human god that people in India believe in) and different festivals in India.
We did an hour of obstacle racing, ultimate frisbee, wheel barrows and loads of other games.
We had a late morning activity where campers made salt lamps (they are currently cooking in the oven all night and will be painted tomorrow). One of our campers, Kevin, who is incredibly imaginative and detailed oriented, made a salt bowl! It will be interesting to see how it turns out tomorrow.
We also learnt some Hindi and all campers wrote their names in Hindi. After this we played the very Indian game of Kabbadi which is always a success and Tumbang Presso which the girls won hand down.
The older campers learnt the Indian tradition of passing stories through drums and had quite a good time with it!
We then played a game of marbles in teams and ended the day with some Splash Time!
Please send with your child tomorrow:
- All the plastic grocery bags you have. We are going to attempt to make a rug out of plastic bags.
- An old THIN Light Coloured tshirt. We are going to attempt leaf transfers on t-shirts. We will use the same tshirt for tie dye later in the week.
- After-Care: Kids need to be picked up at 5.15pm. Please send a quiet activity with them as we may be displaced from our room at 5pm.
- Snacks and Lunch for them.
