"I saw a movie about you Santa"

After the children's initial shock of Santa arriving set in, they followed directions better than they had ALL summer long. I believe some one's presence in the room helped with that a little bit, haha. We had the children continue by singing him our welcome song then as they were participating they got picked to come get their picture taken with Santa. We took a group picture with Santa before he left. As Santa was leaving, his son (who didn't quite figure it out, we dont think) runs up to him and says."I saw a movie about you at my house, Santa", then runs back to the group. These children were so cute and so excited! It brought smiles to even the counselors of the big kids camp! They were absolutely adorable and this was a wonderful day to enjoy with your children! I personally, truly loved those moments and was happy to experience them with the kiddos.

After Santa's visit we finished up a few morning routines then began our "Christmas Brunch". We were expecting our regular parent attendees but no one showed up this week. That was all right and we just went ahead with our schedule. The children ate lunch inside due to the extremely hot weather this week. After lunch they all created their own picture frames to put their Santa photo's in. After, craft time they got to watch a slide show with all of the pictures from the summer. They seemed to enjoy this, but we have a LOT of photo's so it was a long slide show. They didn't even finish it all the way through before campers started asking to lay down for nap and mats got put out.

After nap, they were supposed to be able to put their photo's of them with Santa into their picture frames. Due to technical difficulties at Wally World the photo's were not ready. They will be ready on Monday morning and you can take them home anytime Monday.

The rest of the day was filled with games, character value games, singing, reminders of rules, bathrooms breaks and plenty of water breaks. This extreme heat has really taken a toll on every one so we are making sure that all children/workers are hydrated and inside during the hottest parts of the day.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and hope to see you on Monday for our Kamp Kermit Festival Week.

P.S. more pictures to come the site is not working correctly at this moment :-/ Every time I have attempted to upload a picture it gives me an error page and then starts back to the empty blog page. It took quite some time to just get this portion up. There are many more photo's coming and even more from the cookies we made Santa. Keep posted and check back later today or tomorrow. Have a great weekend!

"Ho,Ho,Ho"

"Santa's here!Santa's here!" That is what you could hear the children screaming and yelling all across the cafeteria. He entered while we were starting our singing portion of the morning. It was quite funny in a way, I knew Santa was on his way. . .BUT, I assumed we would have a text or phone call on the walk down the hall. So, the staff was just as surprised as the kiddos were when he waltzed into the door. We were just starting the song "Sally the camel had 5 humps. . ." hahahaha! then we see Santa arrive. I am posting a picture so you can all see.

After the initial shock of Santa actually arriving the children were all given directions on how the rest of Santa's visit would continue. I am on my way to pick up photo's right now to finish our projects for this week. I hope they are ready before you all arrive for pick up. Check back later tonight for more about today's visit with Santa.

"Good Grief", Charlie Brown said.

Today we read A Charlie Brown Christmas and the children loved it. It's a rather long book, so we read it in intervals. We began it this morning, sang some songs, went over rules for The Paint Spot, took a bathroom break, read a letter Santa wrote to us, played in the gym (while waiting for the Paint Spot to arrive, they got stuck in traffic) and then FINALLY were able to get started on our masterpieces! Each child received a salad plate which has their name on the back side of the plate. They were sitting in sets of 3 at a table to share the paint and water to clean off their brushes. They also were spread out through out the cafeteria to give each other space to work and not be too close together. They all did a wonderful job painting today. Some got a little rowdy, but they were very excited to do something different here at camp. After they completed painting, whatever they wanted on their plate, some one came around and picked their plate up. It was set aside to dry a little more before being taken back to The Paint Spot. Once it is taken back to the shop they will put them in the kiln and "fire them up", I believe there is also some type of glaze put over them before putting them in the kiln. Regardless, the plates will be ready by August 4. If they are done before we will let you know. A staff member will pick them up and have them waiting at camp for you that day. IF your child will not be at camp, they will be available for pick up at the Southwest YMCA's front desk.
After we completed our artwork, we went straight to lunch. These crafty, artistic children get hungry VERY quickly! They ate at a record speed today, I do believe. We then cleaned up our areas, took another bathroom break and went back to the room for nap time. There were a few children who listened so very well and were quiet every time they were asked. The counselors were so proud of those 5 children that they were able to stay back in the cafeteria to work on a special project while the others went ahead to get down for rest/nap time. We are really working hard to reward those who listen, follow directions quickly, help out others, respect others, show responsibility and are caring. We are so thankful that we have such a great group of children who already show these traits.
As many children were not able to get to sleep today, even after backs being scratched/patted, we got up a little early. Every one helped to pick up the mats and blankets so we could go take a bathroom break and get ready for water breaks/snack. Before we left the room the children all sat down to finish listening to the book we began earlier in the day. As the book ended, they lined up to go get snack.
The children did SUCH a great job with the field trip coming to us and have really been excited about "Christmas in July" all summer, that we have tried to go all out and bring out the Christmas music, the tree, some blow up yard items, making ornaments, writing letters to Santa, reading books AND we even got to watch A Christmas Charlie Brown this afternoon :-)
We do not do movies very often but I explained to the children how every holiday I always watched Charlie Brown shows with my dad and now it's become a tradition with my daughter and my dad too. They thought it was funny and kinda neat. Well, when we began reading the book I explained to them that we also had the movie and if they continued to have a good day that we might get to see the video later in the day. Most kept up their end of the deal, so we watched it. Some had to start the movie facing backwards but did join us after their few minutes of time out were over. They seemed to really enjoy it after reading the book first.
This week we have not had many posts on here due to a thumb injury of mine, sorry, I do apologize. I also had trouble getting online one night due to power issues. I am going to attempt to add some photos if the site will allow me to tonight. I will also do more of an overview of the week on Friday. Don't forget to wear Christmas colors on Friday to the "Christmas Brunch" and parents if you are joining the children for lunch~Please remember to bring your lunch with you. We do have the children's lunches provided but this week their are no lunches provided for any one other than the children. Next week we WILL have hot dogs, grilled chicken and ask you guys to bring a side :-) Have a great evening and we shall see you tomorrow.
Swimming tomorrow~swimming gear, extra clothing, underwear, sunscreen