Obstacle course.
Co-operative games- making a geometric shape.
The flying fox, aka zip-lining.
Friends at camp!
The chow line.
Thursday,
September 8th
The
boys slept well too, it seems. I heard them, but it was about 7. I
got up and organized the medications for the morning. Then we had
breakfast.
The
first activity today was Team Building which was actually a variety
of activities. Unfortunately the kids didn't listen very well and
didn't want to do some of the activities and the boys didn't want to
work with the girls etc. It definitely didn't build our team.
Don
was at Flying Fox helping kids get off the line. He called me over
and said, “Did you ever think of getting a real job?”
The
leader asked Don if he wanted a turn on the zip-line but he declined,
so I made the chicken noise and he said that he knew that was my
mating call but it wouldn't work on him!
The
second activity was the Flying Fox, which is actually zip-lining. I
had the job of helping the kids get off the line and take the rope
back up so the next kid could go.
The
kids loved this activity and at the end I took a turn which the kids
thought was funny.
My
parent volunteer noticed that the Giant Swing was just ending and she
knew that I wanted to try it yesterday but we ran out of time, so she
suggested I go take a turn. The staff there said it was okay. The
leaders all helped pull me up and the kids all thought it was good
fun. It was pretty good and gave you a good adrenaline rush as the
rope let go.
Then
it was time for a lunch of cold cuts, buns and salads, with fruit for
dessert.
Activity
three for the day was The High Ropes. This
was a combination of rock climbing, ladder climbing and tight wire
walking. I
thought it looked pretty scary and thought that kids would bail, but
I was very surprised by how fearless and confident the kids were.
Most of them were quite successful, especially the girls.
We
had afternoon tea before the fourth and final activity of the day:
Oceanography.
It
started with a lesson in a room with a leader talking about: 1) the
dredging of Port Philip Bay to accommodate freighters and the damage
that it did to natural habitats 2) The accidental importation of the
North Atlantic Sea Star and how it destroyed habitats and took over
from natural species 3) cuttlefish and their bio-luminescence, and 4)
the sea dragons that live by the pier. Then we went for a nature walk
to see the rock pools. The kids didn't behave particularly well and
we never really saw anything other than a dead pufferfish.
At
the conclusion of that there was an hour of free time. I went for a
walk along the cliffs over looking the beach. When I got back Nigel
(a grade 6 teacher from school) was there. He came to see the kids
and the camp. Next up was a dinner of chicken schnitzel and salads
with jelly for dessert.
The
teachers bailed on the planned evening activities: a talent show
night (because the kids had had no time to prepare for one) or the
disco (because the were too young for a dance). So they decided to
show a movie but couldn't get the equipment to work. While they
worked on that they set up board games in the dinning hall. They
finally gave up on the movie in the dinning hall and moved it to the
Oceanography room. They showed 'Finding Nemo'.
I
supervised the board game kids until bedtime. Two male students
helped clean up the whole room and put away all the games and pieces.
They were really quite amazing and helped us with meal cleanup too.
When
I asked if the camp is open year around, I found out that we are the
first group of the season. And when I asked Harry the leader who took
us on the night walk how long he had been working here he said “Since
Monday” So he had never done a night walk with kids at this camp
before!
It
had been a warm and sunny day until late in the evening when it began
to rain, which lasted right through the night.
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