Day camp gives hands-on lessons

By ASHLEY LUTHERN

‘It’s a different way of doing camp,’ the recreation director says.

BOARDMAN — Moo is not a typical summer day camper. He’s small and fluffy, and he drools.

The dog was the subject of a recent science lesson at Adventure Day Camp in Boardman Park, as children learned about operant conditioning.

“Operant conditioning is like trying to get the behaviors we want out of Moo, like sitting, by giving him a reward for good behavior,” said Robin Walsh of Boardman, the camp’s science instructor and Moo’s owner.

Campers took turns telling Moo to sit while holding a treat in their hands. If Moo obeyed, they would give him the treat, but if he didn’t, they would completely ignore him.

“I like the science lessons a lot because in science in school we have to do a whole bunch of papers, but here we get to go outside and do more things ourselves,” said Janae Cruc, 9, of Boardman.

Another favorite program at Adventure Day Camp is team building, said Noah Zimmer of Boardman.

“I think the team building stuff is really cool. They actually make bonding kind of fun,” said the 11-year-old.

On another day, Noah and other campers will have to work together to design a cushion made from masking tape and materials from nature that can keep an egg from cracking during an 8-foot fall, said Debbie Betts, the team building leader.

“Last year, the kids really loved building a fort out of tarp, string and anything that they could find from nature. When we do these team building activities, we stress the ideas of communication, cooperation and trust,” she said.

The campers participate in arts and crafts, theater and sports, in addition to the science and team building lessons.

“We have every program for 40 minutes a day and it’s fun for the kids because it’s all outside,” said Karen McCallum, the recreation director for Boardman Park. “It’s a different way of doing camp.”

This is the sixth summer for Adventure Day Camp, which is divided into four two-week sessions during the summer and runs daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s available for children ages 2 to 12 and costs $130 per session for Boardman township residents and $170 for nonresidents.

“It helps parents work around vacation and sports camps because there are two-week sessions, but it’s great every day for the working parent, as well,” McCallum said of the camp that has 42 participants enrolled.

This is the first summer that the staff also includes junior counselors, ages 13 to 15, who volunteer to work at the day camp.

John Tomich of Poland is the first junior counselor at the camp, after having been a camper there for five years.

The science and art programs are the best to work on with the campers because there are always new things to learn, such as operant conditioning, Tomich said.

“We’ve got a fun staff and a happy balance between rules and structure because kids love routine,” McCallum said.

The regular schedule and rules are evident to campers. Earlier in the day, Zimmer told McCallum that she knew a good catchphrase for the day camp.

“Rules are like legs; they’re not meant to be broken. I think I read that somewhere, but that should be our new motto,” she said.