If we could sum up the entire third week of Elmwood Outdoors in one word, it would be play. At Elmwood, we believe play is the work of children. In order to fully immerse in play, children need other children to imagine, explore, and create with. Sadly, the pandemic forced children to spend a lot of time alone and on screens.
Elmwood Outdoors has been the perfect antidote to the past few months, and children have been able to play all day, everyday! Although the way we play now is a little different than it was before, our objective remains the same: to spark curiosity, inspire learning through playful exploration, and foster social connections.
Due to safety, there are some activities that we removed from our program this summer. We also needed to add time between activities to clean and sanitize equipment. We have a brand new activity during these transitions called Go Time where kids can play with their friends. We play a range of games where kids learn cooperation and communication. Go Time is becoming one of the favorite activities of our campers this summer!
The other big way we played this week is through Scout Games for our first and second graders. Each group became a team and competed for two days against other teams in activities such as Soccer Shootout, Giants, Wizards & Trolls, Trivia, a Swim Meet and Relay Races. At the end of each activity, groups had the opportunity to earn two scores: one for winning and one for sportsmanship. The Scout Games is a great example of campers learning how to play competitively while still being kind to their own teammates and members of other teams.
Please ask your children how they played at Elmwood this week. Ask about Elmville, Skypark, Climb, and Go Time. Please share their stories with us.
We look forward to two more weeks of playing together, outside.
For now, have a wonderful weekend.