And so the first week of this year’s Noctiluna Summer Camps is over. I had planned to write this post on Friday evening. Turns out I was suffering from the convenient amnesia that occurs each year at the beginning of camp season.
I always forget just how intense this camp is for everyone – campers and counselors alike. Yes, it is an art camp but we play A LOT at Noctiluna camp. High jump and limbo contests, jump rope, frisbee and a weird amalgam of bowling and hockey that the kids invented keep our bodies moving all day when we aren’t making art. With school recesses and time for free play becoming increasingly short in today’s world, the kids are initially stunned by this but their bodies quickly adapt to the extra activity. My body obviously takes a little longer. Everything still hurts (and I didn’t even take part in the high jump!).
Last week both the big and little kids explored Architecture and Town Planning. One of the geeky highlights of our week was when a real life town planner for Fairfax County visited us to answer our questions and discuss her job with us.
Amongst many other things, we looked at different architectural styles, drew aerial floor plans for buildings, learned about different styles of bricklaying and tried them out with Lego bricks, block printed facades, discussed Universal Design, designed and built our own buildings using cardboard and found objects, and planned out towns in groups.
By midweek, the kids found their feet and were the driving force behind the projects, which was really rewarding to watch. It was a fantastic week and their work is really impressive. Here are the photos to prove it:
The two towns are called Townsville, and Noctilunaville (which doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue!).
This week’s camp is all about Books and Comics, and I’m hoping that it will catch the kids’ imaginations in much the same way. I’ll be back with a brand new update when the week is over!
