Nantasket, Take 2

Given that the weather for this coming Thursday's field trip looks tenuous, we decided to bump our trip up to today. In what turned out to likely be one of the best decisions of the summer, we ended up on Nantasket for arguably the most phenomenal beach day of the season. Wuhoo!

The weather yesterday wasn't too shabby, either. This was a relief for Upper Camp, who had the opportunity to hike and swim at Breakheart Reservation in Saugus. There is a special "Eye-Spy" photo in the pictures below. Can you see what we see?

Given that this is our last week (sniff, sniff) of adventuring together, we will be updating the blog at least twice more to keep you on your toes. Also, please remember that our carnival, talent show, and slide show will be this coming Friday starting at 1pm. We hope you'll be able to join the celebration!

A Great Wind Blows

We play a wonderful ice-breaker with CADC staff and campers called A Great Wind Blows. The directions are as follows: everyone stands in a circle around a single staff member or camper. The staff member or camper thinks of something that is true for him or her and says, "A Great Wind Blows for anyone who has ever...." Everyone else for whom that statement is true must run around and make a dash for a newly available spot in the circle. When all the spots are taken, the "last man standing" becomes the person in the middle.

It's very fun.

Here is today's virtual version for all you readers: A Great Wind Blows for anyone who has ever gone to a beach only to be greeted by (nearly frigid) temperatures and a surf that might intimidate even the gnarliest, most adventurous of boogie boarders.

Anyone?

If you were with CADC at Nantasket Beach today, you need to find a new place in the circle.

It may be a bit extreme to use the words "frigid temperatures" towards the end of July, especially when last Thursday we experienced a record heat that had us fleeing to the sanctuary of a movie theater. But with the gust of cold wind that whipped sand into our hair and salt water onto our skin this morning as we tried to make the best of our day, it's really not too far off.

Thanks to some wonderful staff and the amazingly positive and resilient campers we have, our trip today was a true success story. We made sand castles and played soccer, football, and dodgeball. Some of our more daring adventures even dipped their toes in the ocean! As you can see from the pictures, it was actually a whole lot of lark and play.

I like to call this one: The Lonely Life Jacket

It's always a good day when you have the chance to make the most of it.

Yesterday, our Lower Campers had the opportunity to visit the Harvard Museum of Natural History thanks to their Wonders on Wednesday Out-of-School-Time Program. The children had the best time investigating some of the wacky and wondrous phenomenon on display in the exhibits.

On site yesterday we had the opportunity to continue our exploration of Spring. In Cooking, campers made Spring Vegetable Frittatas filled with the yummy goodness of asparagus and spinach. In Art, campers designed paper collages by using individually-chosen color palettes and magazine pages to bring a spring sketch to life.

Lower Campers also had fun doing their own Design Challenge in which they had to make musical instruments out of recycled materials. In the photo below, you see two of our youngest campers working on handmade maracas designed with toilet paper rolls and tissue paper.

Tomorrow we will finish our week with swim lessons and onsite programming. It's difficult to believe that we will be heading into the final week of camp this coming Monday. There is so much fun yet to be had; so many adventures yet to be complete. It'll be a mad dash to the finish line, but I know that we'll be laughing all the way!

If Week Four Showers bring Week Five Flowers...

...what will those flowers bring?

It wouldn't be spring without a little rain, and today we are happy to see it. It's easy to wish it away when camp is in session, but it gives us an opportunity to remember how important it is to the health of our gardens and our planet!

We have had a busy start to our penultimate week. Yesterday, inspired by Friday's puppet show at the Puppet Showcase Theater in Brookline, our Lower Campers made puppets. In the next few days, they will work with the Group Leaders to write and perform skits about spring using their puppets as props. They also had yet another opportunity to enjoy the sunshine at Houghton's Pond. This summer has been fantastic in terms of our utilization of state parks for recreation. The children love having the opportunity to go swimming, and it's been wonderful to watch them become increasingly comfortable in the water as they develop essential water safety and swimming skills.

Today they have stayed at camp working through programming inspired by spring. In Cooking, they made crudite and homemade ranch dressing to celebrate the planting and harvesting of nutritious and delicious vegetables. In Studio Art, they made butterfly collages, and in Movement, the campers had fun playing a variety of team-building activities as a metaphor for the many symbiotic relationships found in nature. This afternoon, they had Choice Time in which they could choose a variety of activities to get busy with, including Open Studios in the Art Barn, Legos and Board Games, and even a movie (Pixar's Ratatouille). We will use the movie to inspire our own CADC Ratatouille in Cooking next week.

Upper Camp spent the morning yesterday working through their third design challenge, which was to build a zip line that would transport a ping pong ball from top to bottom in four seconds. The zip line was four feet long, so the activity was a bit more challenging than campers originally anticipated. Nevertheless, many of our teams were successful and able to move on with extension activities, including slowing down the speed of the ping pong to a travel time of ten seconds and creating a zip line that could transport multiple ping pong balls simultaneously using the same amount of materials. 

In the afternoon, they headed back to Dealtry Pool for some sun and splashing. This has become a favorite activity that resounds with laughter and squeals of delight.

Today, thanks to the generosity of Associated Grant Makers, the campers had an opportunity to visit the Record Company in Boston. As stated on their website, the organization is "committed jointly to the innovation and revitalization of youth music education and the advancement of independent record-making." Our camper groups selected songs that they were able to mix and record during a real-world studio experience in TRC's commercial recording facility.

IMPORTANT: We still have a few spots left for our CADC Extension Week! During the week of August 5th through 9th, a limited number of campers have the opportunity to continue their adventures with us at Nature Linc. The schedule remains the same; our program will run from 9am to 4pm every day, with transportation from and to Cambridge provided. If you are interested, please contact Kristina at the Cambridge Camping office as soon as possible. (617-864-0960)