Summer Camp: Saying Good-Bye

Today was our last day of camp and it was sad to say good-bye to our friends. We made a special treat, namely "A Beach in a Cup" to wrap up the summer and played our favorite games one more time.

 Here is the recipe:

• Put jello on the bottom half of the cup.
• Put Graham crackers in a Ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin.
• Top the blue dessert with crushed Graham crackers.
• Add Swedish fish as decoration.

We had a great summer together: We made new friends, strengthened our friendship skills  and learned lots of new games.

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE AT HENRY J. KAISER ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN OAKLAND FOR LETTING US USE THEIR BEAUTIFUL SCHOOL FOR OUR CAMP.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL AGAIN SOON.

Summer Camp: Friendship Rocks, Day 19

Featured Activities of the Day:  

COOPERATIVE ART PROJECT "ERUPTING PAINT"

We worked in small groups and first made baking soda paint (2 different colors for each group.

 Supplies:

• liquid watercolor paint or food coloring
• baking soda
• water
• spoon
• vinegar, salt
• eye droppers
• watercolor paper
• paint brushes

Directions:  To make baking soda paint, put 4 spoons of baking soda in a container and add water and liquid watercolor.  Mix well. The measurements do not need to be exact. The basic rule is that you don't want the paint too runny or it won't fizz a whole lot. You don't want it too thick, or it won't spread easily.  An even amount of liquid and baking soda works well. After making the paint, kids will work together and cover a watercolor paper with the two colors with the help of a brush. After painting the paper, provide eye droppers and a container of vinegar. You can also experiment by sprinkling salt onto the paper.

Using a visual such as the one below can help to get a conversation going:

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN?

• Fizz
• Erupt
• Change Color
• Nothing
• Other

• Fizz
• Erupt
• Change Color
• Nothing
• Other

 

FRIENDSHIP NECKLACES 

Making something for another person is a great way of practicing perspective taking. First, we put photos of each camper in a opaque bag. Each camper drew a picture out of the bag. The camper depicted in the picture was the person the other camper made the necklace for. We worked really hard to complete our necklaces. Then, we handed the necklace to our friend, another great opportunity of performing and acknowledging acts of kindness.

 

Summer Camp: Friendship Rocks, Day 15

Today, we made a FRIDAY FEAST: Hummus, Guacamole and a Strawberry-Banana-Orange Smoothie. Cooking and eating together is not only fun but cooked meals are great social events with tons of opportunities to practice social and conversational skills:

• Teaching life skills through cooking.
• Practicing teamwork by working on different tasks together.
• Conversations during meals: What is your favorite food? Do you like the guacamole or the hummus better? How does the smoothie taste? What fruit did you put in the smoothie?
• Practicing table manners.
• Trying new foods.
• Creating a sense of community.

To help our campers with conversations during meals, we use TOPIC TALK CARDS. These are self-made cards that state a certain topic as well as illustrate some options how to contribute to the given topic. The pictures help less verbal kids to participate as well.

We truly had another exciting week at camp. A BIG THANKS goes to our fantastic camp volunteers: Adrien, Elizabeth and Lior.

Summer Camp: Friendship Rocks, Day 11

We were super excited today since new students joined our camp. We right away practice our friendship skills and explained to our new friends the systems and the schedule we have in place at camp.

Very important are our friendship points. We earn those for following our camp rules (e.g., using kind words, listening to adults and friends, having a calm body and keeping our hands to ourselves). We also receive friendship points for being kind, helping other campers, cheering for our friends, etc. We need to have earned at least 6 friendship points at the end of the day and then can trade in the points for a prize. Of course, we can earn more than 6 friendship points. At the end of each camp day, we count how many the whole group received. Our record is 99 friendship points!!!

Our friendship point necklaces.

 Here is our camp schedule:

1. Arrival and free play
2. Opening circle, roll call and greeting ritual
3. Cooperative art/science/sensory or cooking project
4. Music/dancing game
5. Snack
6. Cooperative outdoor game such as obstacle courses, relays, treasure hunts
7. Playground time
8. Turn taking game with focus on practicing good sportsmanship
9. Lunch
10. Quiet time: painting to classical music
11. Favorites/dislikes: Reviewing the day
12. Movement game: following directions
13. Closing ritual: friendship handshake, friendship points, prize box

Summer Camp: Friendship Rocks, Day 8

Our day was jammed packed with fun.

• We used our self-made surfboards for a dancing game. 
• One group played a "Summer Matching Game" and the other group a "Summer Fun Friendship Board Game."
• But we especially liked the following two projects:

DRIP AND FOLD WITH A FRIEND

This art project is very simple yet addresses lots of social and communication skills: working with a partner; sharing materials with a peer; taking turns, e.g., with the rolling pin; compromising (e.g., what colors to apply to the paper); using materials as intended; commenting.

A poster board (approximately 11x14) is pre-folded and then opened up again. Campers work in pairs and apply dabs of paint all over the paper with the help of Q-tips. When enough paint in different colors is applied, the paper is folded in half again. Campers can use their hands or a rolling pin to spread around the paint. Then, the paper is opened up again and the kids can admire the design they created and talk about it.

  

WATER BALLOON CANVAS PAINTING This activity is a combination of an art project and a gross motor game with a big bang at the end. The activity is very popular with a great variety of ages and works for all skill levels. Supplies needed per small group are: canvas, paint in containers with a spoon, big tarp, water balloons. First, the kids work together and apply blobs of paint to a canvas with a spoon. Then, the canvas is placed in the middle of a big tarp (it will get messy). Next, the students take turns tossing water balloons onto the canvas and therefore mixing the colors on the canvas. The group can work on good sportsmanship behavior by cheering their friends on, giving high 5s. And here is the beautiful painting:

Summer Camp: Friendship Rocks, Day 7

Today, we played a fun game to review our friends' names:

 

FRIENDSHIP BOZO BUCKET GAME

Buckets with kids’ pictures are spread out on the floor. The player whose turn it is will stand behind a line and will try to toss a bean bag into one of the friendship buckets. Each player can try 3 times to hit a bucket. When the player hit the target, review the name of the kid, whose bucket the player hit. The player can also get a little treat (for added meaning treat can be in heart shape box) out of the bucket. The player then hands the bean bag to another camper to indicate the new player's turn.

Here are some other games we engaged in at camp that are great ice-breaker games and can be played to increase awareness who is in the group and to learn and review names. 

 

MY PLACE IS EMPTY (verbal skills required)

 

Students sit in a circle on chairs. One chair will be empty. The player whose chair on the right hand side is empty will call on a friend to sit next to him: “My place is empty, I'm so sad. ______ (name of friend) come sit with me and I’ll be glad. Make sure that the kids use the correct names.

 

BEACH BALL TOSS/PASS

Kids stand/sit in a circle and toss around a beach ball. Different variations can be played, e.g., beach ball is thrown to a specific person and the person with the ball has to say the name of the other student first and make eye contact; the ball can be passed from one person to another; passing the ball between the players’ legs without using hands. Let students come up with ideas how to pass the ball.