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Adventure Day Camp winding down at Boardman Park
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Brianna Simione (left) and Ceanna Curtis (right) make bookmarks for the arts and crafts session at the Boardman Park Adventure Day Camp.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Teambuilding instructor Debbie Betts (back) has kids demonstrate group skis from previous week's Olympics. Performing the task are, from left, (front) Kelsey McCallun, Nate Hodge, Amanda Yocum, Haylee Boggs and Kennedy Pickard.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.Many household products can be used to make fun crafts and science experiments. Shown are, from left, (front) Wesley Rich, Grace Hu; (back) Amanda Yocum, and Kennedy Pickard as they use the homemade bubble wands during the science session.
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Neighbors | Alisa Manna.The instructors, couselors, and group leaders at the Adventure Day Camp were, from left, (front) Janae Cruz, April Hill; (second row) Jamie Vitullo, Debbie Betts, Marie Fryda, Brandon Cappelli; (third row) Staci Wahlman, Rachel Hawkins; (back) and Shelby Ryan.
By ALISA MANNA
The Adventure Day Camp hit Week No. 8 when students from kindergarten to fifth grade met at Boardman Park on Aug. 6, monitored by several instructors, counselors and group leaders.
According to Karen McCallum, director at Boardman Park, Adventure Day Camp started in 2003 and is a great way for kids to learn things not taught in the classroom.
Science instructor Marie Feyda explained the camp has a different theme each week, so the instructors incorporate that element into what they are teaching.
“This week is bubbles and balloons,” Feyda said. “So we made bubbles and bubble wands with coat hangers and other household products.”
Second-grader Elena Woods from Boardman said her favorite experiment throughout the summer was a solar bag she made with Feyda.
“We took a soft bag and long tube and then filled it with air so it would flow up like a kite,” Feyda said. “We had to cut it in half because the kids went too close to the pine trees.”
Jacob Woods said his favorite part of the day camp is dodgeball on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, where the kids compete against the staff.
“We have breaks where the kids play dodgeball or we take them on group hikes to promote exercise,” McCallum said.
Team building instructor Debbie Betts had teams compete to create a Great Egg Tower using tape, foam pool noodles and other supplies. The challenge was to see who could build the highest tower possible that balanced an egg.
“Team building is something they don’t teach kids in school,” Feyda said. “It’s about working as a member, or a leader, and working with others.”
April Hill, the Creative Arts instructor, said she usually teaches literature, dance and poetry, but because it’s one of the last weeks, she had the kids create memory books.
“We’re supposed to trade our memory books with other people around and then decorate and draw our best memory with that person,” Hannah Heikkinen said.
The Arts and Crafts instructor, Rachel Hawkins, showed her group of kids that paint, soap and water can make bubble art that looks like a watercolor painting.
“I’m trying to show them that art doesn’t have to be perfect — there’s no right or wrong,” Hawkins said. “They can use unconventional tools and paint with different things.”
Kids that come to Adventure Day Camp start as campers and when they get older they become junior counselors and eventually staff. Though it’s an educationally-based environment, the kids also play as they learn.