Posts Tagged ‘MDC Jr.’

Boulder Creek

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Our final day of the week with our campers, and the last day of the summer for some of them, took us down to boulder creek.  Before we made it to the creek, we got a nice surprise of getting to use the rock wall for the morning.  The campers loved the wall, and we had some very successful climbers.  After climbing we prepared for our trek to the creek, making sure to put on lots of sunscreen for our very hot day.

Once we arrived at the creek we set up for lunch, making sure to find some shade to eat under.  After lunch we played a game of Ship/Island and Freeze tag, before playing on the playground for a short while.  After the playground we returned to base camp, for some quiet relaxing time.  We then moved into our craft for the afternoon, which was making snake puppets, which created some great play between the kids.  After our craft we got to eat GORP that was ordered by the Sleeping Dolphin Dragons.  With only a short amount of time remaining in our week, we all shared our favorite moments from the week before singing “On Top of Spaghetti” to wrap things up.

It was another great week in Juniors, but we are sad to see some of our campers leave for the last time this summer.  Luckily we do have some people returning next week and some new campers we are excited to meet!

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Junior Pool Day

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Today we started out the day with two songs, called in the swimming pool, and fishing. We then proceed and made turtles that we hung on the kids backs. They had fun crawling around pretending to be turtles and goofing off. During this time we let kids who were not in there swim suits to go change so we could get ready to go swimming. After we got the kids ready, we started our walk to the pool. On our way to the pool we stopped and had lunch in a mini meadow. When we arrived at the pool the kids did a swim screen and started  to play. A few of the kids went to the splash park. everyone had a great time at the pool.

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Reptiles at Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Wednesday was another great day as we made our way out to Sawhill Ponds for a Naturalist tour around the water.  Before we got on the bus in the morning, we had time to make snakes, which were used for bracelets, toy snakes, and even bookmarks.  We ended up with very colorful and creative snakes.  Once the bus returned from Eldorado Canyon, we loaded up and headed out to the Ponds.

Upon arrival at Sawhill Ponds, we settled into the picnic tables for a delicious lunch before our Naturalist guide Robin arrived.  We began our tour by wading in the water around the edge of the pond looking for reptiles.  Our bus driver Ed was able to find us a toad in the mud, and caught it for all of us to see.  We also found shrimp, maefly larva, and tiny snakes in the water.  Out of the water we were able to look at all the creatures and plants we had scooped up under magnifying glasses.

Next we headed out on a hike around the lake to look for more creatures and to read a story that taught us all about what reptiles are, and how they are different from mammals and amphibians.  Our guide Robin was extremely helpful and we were very grateful to have her there.  After the story we had to jump back on the bus to get back just in time for GORP, which the Star Wars GORP Eating Tree Snakes had created, before parents came to pick up the campers.

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Mesa Trailhead

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

For the first time at Mountain Day Camp, our Juniors hitched a ride with the Eldorado Canyon Program, getting dropped off at the Mesa Trailhead on the way up to the Canyon.  We caught a ride on the bus to try it out for next year, when we will hope to do it on a regular basis.  It worked flawlessly, and our Juniors enjoyed the chance to ride the bus with the older kids.  We jumped off the bus at the Mesa Trailhead where we sung our morning songs and played a game.

With our morning routine finished, we set off in search of “Reptile Eggs” that our Junior Leaders had planted in the surrounding area.  It was an enjoyable scavenger hunt, and we found lots of eggs.  After our Reptile search we settled in for lunch at a nice shady picnic table to avoid the unbearable heat.  After lunch we explored more of the area around the trailhead, looking for reptiles around the meadows and river.  Unfortunately we were unable to find anything even bugs.  After our expedition, we attempted a large group jump rope in which the campers had to work together to make it under or over one rope.  It went surprisingly well and we all made it through successfully.

Back at camp we hid out in the air conditioning to read stories before having GORP for our afternoon snack.  With time winding down we ran out to the “mini-meadow” for some free play with frisbees and jump ropes.  It was a good day, but we were all drained from the heat by the end.  Tomorrow we are off to Sawhill Ponds for a Naturalist tour, so don’t forget to pack some extra water shoes!

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Slithering Reptiles

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Today was the beginning of another exciting week in our Junior program, with our theme this week focusing on reptiles.  All of our campers this week are returners from previous sessions which made for a seamless transition this morning.  We got a chance to re-decorate water bottles and make bookmarks this morning, after naming our cabin groups (Star Wars GORP Eating Tree Snakes and the Sleeping Dolphin Dragons).  After naming our groups we set off to the “mini-meadow” to play a game of tunnel tag, before we ventured out to Canyon Park for lunch.

At Canyon Park we found a nice big tree to eat under before exploring the park and playing games.  It was an incredibly hot day, so it wasnt long before we were all ready to return to the cool inside to read a story.  Our Junior Leaders then prepared a skit about reptiles for our campers to introduce them to the upcoming activities for the week.  We talked about all kinds of snakes and lizards and other reptiles.  As the Day began to wind down we had our afternoon GORP before closing up the day with “On Top of Spaghetti”.

Tomorrow we will head out to the South Mesa Trailhead, in search of reptile nests and eggs, and to hike and eat lunch.  It should be another great day!

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Sawhill Ponds

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Wednesday was an exciting day as we got the chance to visit Sawhill Ponds in East Boulder, where we were given a tour by four trained Naturalists.  After our morning routine of songs and games, we got together in order to make binoculars for our trip.  We decorated and put together our binoculars which we made out of paper towel tubes, and yarn.  It was a great project which got our campers excited about the day ahead of them.  Once our binoculars were completed we loaded onto the bus and headed out to Sawhill Ponds.

At the ponds we found a beautiful place to eat lunch while we waited for the Naturalists to arrive.  We were surprised to find that we would have four naturalists with us, when we only expected one.  This allowed us to break into two groups with two naturalists per group.  The Naturalists walked us around the ponds, stopping to explain the root systems of trees and the importance of water to the plants, not to mention catching and looking at bugs.  We also learned the importance of keeping our natural habitats clean, and were able to help clean trash out of the ponds.  Our campers seemed to particularly enjoy helping clean up the trash.  We were very lucky to have the Naturalists there, as they engaged the campers very well, and made the day a huge success.

Our time at the ponds was so exciting and fun, that we were late returning to base camp, but even with a small amount of time we were still able to squeeze in a story with our afternoon snack before singing “On Top of Spaghetti” and saying farewell to all of our campers.  Tomorrow is a favorite day of many campers as we will be heading over to the Spruce Pool for a day of swimming.

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All Together in Eldorado Canyon

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

Our second day of the session took us up to Eldorado Canyon to visit the older campers who are there on a daily basis.  After our morning routine of songs and games, we had cabin time to create a group code, our guidelines for staying safe and having fun at camp.  We all put our signatures on our codes to agree to follow the rules each group created.  With all of our important group work finished, we jumped into “Big Foot” our van to start our adventure to Eldorado Canyon.

We arrived in Eldorado Canyon, with the exciting news that we would get a chance to climb on the walls of Eldorado Canyon, a first for the Junior Program at MDC.  After exploring the canyon for a short time, it was our turn to climb.  All of our campers got two attempts at climbing different routes, and were all very successful.  It was a new experience for most although we did have some “experienced” climbers to show us how it was done.  All of our newly experienced climbers really enjoyed their day and overcame any anxiety they had about climbing.  We were also able to eat lunch in Eldorado Canyon before we returned to Base Camp at the September School.

Back at Base Camp we served up snack and sung our afternoon songs before campers were picked up by their parents.  It was an exciting day with our first Junior program climb in Eldorado Canyon.  Tomorrow we will be Leaving for Sawhill Ponds to learn more about the nature of Colorado, and discover the animals that live there.

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Last day of Jr. Session I!

Friday, July 31st, 2009

What an amazing week! The Junior campers ended the session on a high note: enjoying a day of sunshine, games and art projects! The morning started off with campers requesting and singing their favorite morning songs–”Tarzan” and the “The Hippopotamus Song” were two of the biggest hits. After an awesome game of Ship Island we broke into our cabin groups and made some very scaly frog/reptile masks.

After making our masks we sunscreened-up and headed to Boulder Creek for lunch. The best part was after lunch when we got to play in one of our very favorite bug catching sites. It was so cool to see all the different kinds of grasshoppers and crickets we could catch! We released our bugs and then headed back to Base Camp for some story-time and snack. Our final art project was a giant puzzle made up of individual pieces that each camper got to decorate. Check out the pictures of the whole puzzle online!

We spent the last part of our day with some free play inside–reading stories, drawing, and playing with some of our favorite toys o animals from home! We ended the session the way we end everyday–singing “On Top of Spaghetti”, saying goodbye and looking forward to the next time we meet. Thanks for an Amazing Session!!

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