Once again, it is that time of year when I sit down and plan out all the delights of my upcoming summer camp. This involves a lot of library time (which I love), research, lesson planning and, of course, totally necessary snacking.
About The Camp
I used to describe the Noctiluna summer camp as an Art camp, but it is really much more than that. Nowadays I call it a Creativity camp, as it addresses all aspects of creative thinking and activity. The camp is planned in a way to encourage students to adopt projects and take them in their own directions with support from teachers and counselors. Since it is such a small camp, and I am personally present as a teacher for its entirety, I get to work really closely with each student and see their distinct mode of thinking and working. This means that there is flexibility built into our projects and discovery is a big part of the learning process. A good example of this is when in a past camp, a couple of students found interestingly shaped leaves during an outdoor break. The whole camp ended up spending a day printing with found natural objects. Totally unplanned, but with beautiful results and a lot of new skills learnt.
This summer I am only running two weeks of camp, as my eldest child (and the head camp counselor) is starting college. We have exciting pre-college travel plans and possibly an early move in date, so there will be a shorter camp experience just for this year. It is all the more important that I make the most of those two weeks and pack them with fun filled, extraordinary learning experiences.
This Year’s Themes
I picked the themes based on feedback (and some pleading) from last year’s campers. There are elements from past camp themes in there, but we will bring a fresh approach to them. Both weeks will involve teamwork and learning to listen and respond to others’ ideas. I always include critiques at camps because it is such an important practice. Campers learn to analyse and discuss each others’ work objectively, and to give and take constructive criticism. Funny story, I once had a camper who would yell “Now let’s criticize each other!” at the end of each project and make the whole room collapse into giggles.
Week one will be Ancient Illustration and Storytelling. Think medieval manuscripts, mughal paintings, examining ancient mythology, learning about oral storytelling traditions including songs and puppetry, and creating our own elaborate puppets based on Indonesian shadow puppets. We will probably perform our own shadow puppet version of an ancient myth and film it.
Week two will be Transit Design and Urban Planning. Campers will discuss the components and layout of a selection of cities and their transit systems, and go to work planning their own cities and transit systems. We may make this a local project and look at ways in which our own neighborhoods and can be positively impacted through design. This week will involve learning about cartography, architecture, urban planning and graphic design.
Playtime!
In addition to the above themes, there will also be plenty of down time and unstructured breaks. We usually manage to pack in quite a few games of Apples to Apples and Poetry for Neanderthals each week. Kids play with modeling clay, read books, lie in the sun and play outdoors. I personally love our games of Freeze-dance, Musical Chairs and Twister, at which I have definitely unlocked mastery level.
On Friday afternoons we watch a movie that fits in with our camp theme and eat popcorn, because it is the summer break after all and camp is always equal parts learning and fun.
See you this summer? I hope so!
