Our favorite way to get our campers ready for the day is blasting music in the drop-off line. You’ll see dozens of smiling faces and eager helpers — we want to make sure your little one feels as comfortable and safe as possible. Welcome to the Chipmunks Cabin! Your typical Chipmunk is between 3 and 4, but sometimes we get the occasional 4 and a half if we’re lucky.
It’s time for your Chipmunk to put their backpack away — hang it on the hook and run into the classroom. There’s a variety of toys to play with, from Paw Patrol to building blocks. We’ll play until all of our friends arrive; usually it takes about 30 minutes for us to get all settled in. Then we get in line and make sure to check who is line leader for the day — it’s an incredibly important and strenuous job — only the fittest survive. In all seriousness, we make sure there is a new line leader each day to ensure that everyone feels important and heard.
Now we make our way to the morning meeting. Owen Sullivan will yell “Good Morning, Camp Evergreen,” to which we reply “Good Morning Sully!” Owen is the assistant director at Camp Evergreen, and he exemplifies everything it means to be a team player. Owen is one of the backbones of camp, and we are so thankful for his help. We’ll go over what is happening for the day at the morning meeting. Will we have archery? Or maybe four square and basketball? We celebrate birthdays at this time as well.
When the morning meeting is all done, we return back to our cabins. We transition to our desks and start with some coloring. Next up is snack! By now, we’ve worked up an appetite — it’s hard work playing with friends all day! We make our way outside and eat our snacks in a circle, discussing our plans for the day. After we finish our snack, we return back to our cabins to start our art activity. One of the most fun art activities we have done is create rockets that spell out our name. Sometimes your little one needs a little bit of help to finish their projects — and that’s okay! We love teaching and growing together.
After art, it’s time to go outside. Spending time outdoors is a great way to blow off some steam and get our wiggles out. We have the opportunity to play games like soccer and dodgeball, and it’s also a great way to get to know friends in other cabins! We’ll take a quick water break — we know how important it is to stay hydrated during the summer.
After these activities, it’s time for lunch. We’ll go outside, sit in a circle and talk about our day. The ups and downs — this is the perfect time to reflect on all of the fun activities throughout the day. We also use this time to gauge how each camper is feeling; it’s helpful to understand if there are any issues that have come up. After lunch, we get to visit the animal room. There are dwarf hamsters, lizards and fish. We get to learn a little bit about how they interact with one another and how they behave in captivity.
After we spend some time in the animal room, we return to the cabin for our academics portion of the day. We read books to one another, we listen and learn counting songs, and we practice communication skills throughout the day. As things start to calm down, we find ourselves coloring or playing with toys. There is always something fun to do at Camp Evergreen.
At 1:30, we make our way to the carpool line. This is the counselors' least favorite time of the day because we have to say goodbye to our wonderful little campers. But there's another fun day of exploration, friendship and creativity on the horizon tomorrow!