Wednesday Week Six

Leadership Academy Week Six 

This week Leadership Academy is focusing on their “TCD” skills which stand for Teamwork, Communication, and Decisiveness.  Counselor Matt said, “TCD is the key to success!” He believes by perfecting these skills the campers will be productive members in society. Leadership is instilling skills that will help campers go far in life. Monday was Communication; campers learned how to be professional conversationalists! They practiced how to get their point across, how to listen, and incorporating non-verbal cues. Camper Guillermo said, “These skills are helping me become a better communicator”.  Guillermo and his leadership buddies used his communications skills to tackle teamwork.  He realized that he needs these communication skills if he plans on playing soccer with a team. Campers used their new found communication skills to tackle Tuesday’s theme of Teamwork.  Campers were given the task of crossing the pretend “treacherous toxic lava pit” with only a wooden plank and “magical shoes”. Each camper’s voice was heard in the exercise by taking turns listening. They showed their teamwork by wearing the magical shoes and literally “piggybacking” on one another to get across the plank one by one.

Today was Decision Making; campers were given a series of problem solving scenarios such as deciding on a group flag, name, etc. Camper Chris said, “It took us a while to make up our minds but the skills from earlier in the week helped. These skills will help me when I go to college and even after when I enter the real world”. This is Chris’s last year in leadership academy and he wants to come back to be the leadership counselor.  He is a Leadership counselor in training! 

Thursday and Friday campers are looking forward to creating skits using Creative Thinking as well as being Counselor Assistants. 

 Specialty Week Six 

Critter U! is Week Six’s Specialty Camp!  Critter campers added to their previous knowledge of different animals and environments from around the world, played games that focused on each individual’s favorite animal, and learned how to properly care for house pets.Monday was filled with crazy animal games and a group jungle mural.  Early in the day, campers played a silly card game named “Might I Bite”.  Campers and their friends chose cards and put them on their heads and asked yes-or-no questions to try to figure out which animal they chose.  This game taught the campers basic facts about different animals like species, body parts, and various abilities. Amanda, a ten-year-old Critter Camper, explained the fun in playing these card games.  “We used mud to write on our cards, then we got to show them to our friends and ask questions.  It was a little messy, but still really cool!”    Later that day, Critter campers created a Jungle Mural depicting an African Landscape.  Each camper had a paintbrush and paint to create whatever they thought would be in a jungle scene. Ten-year-old Critter Camper David said that making the mural was really fun.  “It helped me get an idea of the different animals in Africa and what it looks like.”   

Tuesday was all about pets.  To start the day, Critter campers played “Pet Pals”.  In this game, each camper was told which household pet they were, and then through yes or no questions had to find their match.  After a slew of games and activities like “Chase the Cat” and making Animal Frames, Critter U! closed the day with a discussion on pets.  Using information from Petco.com, campers gained a wealth of new knowledge on the benefits of having pets, which animals would be right for them, and how to show a pet enough love, care, and affection.  

Today, Critter U! took a trip to Howell Farm to feed chickens, shuck corn, and learn about the different farm animals.  Then, to finish up the week, Critter Camp will have an Ocean Themed Thursday and a Zoo Animals Friday.  Also on Friday, get ready for a visit from therapy dogs and the All-Camp BBQ! 

MVP Wednesday POST

Week six MVP, the campers started off the week with a day of football. The kids have always been up for a good game of Football! The kids played like professionals as they threw to teammates, caught great passes, and ran into the end zones. The group always gives their best effort and they have great sportsmanship. They had a lot of fun during the start of the week.

On Tuesday the campers went to Community Park Elementary school for a Hoops Tour. The Hoops Tour was a day of learning Basketball. Our Y camps were there, joined also by the Community Park Summer Program. Community Park was crowded but fun, with the kids learning new techniques to the sport. They watched and as a coach showed them how played and then tried the new-seen skills. The campers worked on shooting, passing, and dribbling. Team skills grew and so did their own skills! MVP counselor said, “The Hoops Tour was very fun, the kids had a blast. We got to meet Hip Hop, and World Be Free who was an NBA superstar. Net games was a lot of fun too, I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.” This was a special day for MVP.

The first half of the week concluded with a variety of games. The games included a game called “Newcomb” which is like volleyball, but the campers are allowed to hold the ball. They played this variation, as well as actual volleyball. Other net games included Badminton, Soccer and Basketball. Camper Isaac said “it was a lot of fun!”

The rest of the week will be just as fun as exciting as the beginning. Thursday the campers will play Orienteering, and on Friday there will be another BBQ!

Discovery Week Six

This week’s theme of Discovery is “Anything Goes” which is a time to be crazy and be silly. On Monday the campers had fun with their hour swimming lessons and free swim. Camper Colin, age 7, loved swimming this week and said he enjoyed splashing his counselors in the pool and playing with his friends with the noodles.  During arts and crafts, the campers got to make butterflies and bring them home to show their parents. For the all camps activity each group Pioneers, Navigators, Explorers, and Voyagers got a specific prop such as a plant, school zone sign or a fake arm, using this prop the whole group had to make a skit. Pioneers took home the gold with their skit about monkeys swinging from a tree.

On Tuesday, Discovery Camp had a pudding eating contest where the campers were blindfolded behind their counselor whose hands were tied behind their back. The campers had to put their arms through their counselor’s arms and feed them with a spoon in one hand and the pudding cup in the other trying to get the spoon with the pudding in their counselor’s mouth. If the campers had bad aim the counselor would have to move their head to get the spoon with the pudding into their own mouth. The Voyagers got the victory by feeding their counselor five cups of pudding the fastest! The counselor of the Voyagers Julianne said “I liked the pudding eating contest because all of the kids are getting involved and having fun.”  The campers also got to make noise makers in arts in crafts to make some wacky sounds!

Today Discovery is rounding up to go to Jer-Z-Jump in Monmouth Junction and bounce around. The campers are excited to have fun, play in the arcade and have a slice of pizza. Camper Caroline said “ I liked going to Jer-Z-Jump because I liked sliding down the slide and playing in the arcade!” Later on in the day it will be crazy hair day! There are going to be many different looks, from Mohawks to rainbow hair.

Looking forward, there will be a super gunk day where the kids will be getting messy and playing with their friends and counselors. There will also be a BBQ on Friday to end the week with a bang! This will be a fun packed Thursday and Friday.