Summer camp brings together two vital elements of childhood: learning and play! Though these are themes all year round, Camp Gardner supports the school year’s academic lessons with a more relaxed summer camp environment. We carefully choose activities for our 10-week program to explore new skills and expose little ones to the S.T.E.A.M. concepts (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) they’ll need for preschool, kindergarten, and beyond.
In 2022, our campers enjoyed so many exciting activities every single day of the week. This year’s theme was all about a blast from the past, celebrating the decades from 1970-2000. Here is a recap of what our students loved about Young, Wild, and Free at Camp Gardner this summer:
Decade-Based Dress-Up Days
Everyone—students, teachers, staff, and parents—eagerly awaits our theme days. Students loved dressing up in different outfits to match different decades. We saw bell bottoms for the ‘70s, scrunchies for the ‘80s, and slap bracelets for the ‘90s. It definitely looked like our students borrowed a few items from their parents and grandparents. As you can imagine, our students had a blast planning their outfits and seeing their friends’ unique outfits. Our teachers and staff got in on the fun with this retro party with outfits of their own, too! Everyone went all out with themed decorations, stories, and activities.
Engaging Activities
Every element of our Camp Gardner curriculum is connected. No matter what we’re learning, we connect our theme days, snacks, stories, visitors, and S.T.E.A.M. activities. These activities help students put the lessons they’ve learned into practice, immersing them in an environment where they can use all of their senses to understand the world around them.
This year, we enjoyed activities like making boats out of pool noodles, learning about waves, and mixing up ocean slime. To teach us about brushing our teeth, we brushed eggs to see the effects! To celebrate the decades, we played with retro toys like silly putty and slinkys. At some of the schools, they even made a time capsule at the beginning of camp to open up and enjoy on the very last day.
Inspiring Art Projects
Our students love exploring art and their creative side during art activities. We use paint, glue, paper, sand, household items, and more to create masterpieces that explore students’ imaginations, allow them to express themselves, and exercise their fine motor skills. Students are excited to take home their art projects and show everyone what they worked so hard on.
We painted pet rocks for our kindness garden, created suncatchers out of old CD-ROMS, tie-dyed a shirt, and even made our own lava lamps! Every decade was featured during our creative art time.
Energy-Burning Playtime
Getting those little bodies moving is important to burn energy and create healthy habits. We run, jump, and play while working on our gross motor skills and finding new games to play. We get outside and soak up the vitamin D and students love our water days.
To match our theme this year, we danced to boy bands from the ‘90s, learned the dance moves to Y.M.C.A., and even listened to music on a real record player. Garden Yoga at some of our schools was a lovely addition to our camp this year. And, of course, students jumped in bounce houses, enjoyed sporty playtime and rode bikes, trikes and little cars!
Yummy Snacks
No camp would be complete without summer snacks. We focus on nutritious, colorful, and tasty snacks that students love. Often, snacks are part of our learning curriculum—whether it’s eating snacks that connect to our story time, assembling snacks together, or using our snacks as a learning tool for counting, colors, and more. For this year’s theme, students ate Scooby Doo snacks, and made a beautiful ‘70s fruit rainbow to eat. Students enjoyed ‘90s bagel bites, ‘60s hippie toast and flower cookies, “dirt and worms” cups, popsicles, milkshakes, and the Kona ice truck. Our bellies were full and our hearts were grooving!
Imaginative Storytime and Special Appearances
Storytime transports our young students to new lands, teaching valuable lessons and sparking their imaginations. Our teachers choose stories that relate to the lessons we learned that day as well as the theme of this year’s camp. Listening to a story helps to give little ones more context about what they’ve learned, helping them to grasp the concept even further and allowing them to apply those concepts. Our storytime featured our favorite children’s books from every decade, from The Cat in the Hat (1960s) to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1980s).
Some of our favorite Camp Gardner days are when community visitors stop by to teach us something new! From firefighters and princesses to animal experts and magicians, our students were able to expand their view of the local community and meet new heroes and friends. We’re so thankful for all those who visited our schools to share their knowledge.
Enroll Your Child In Camp Gardner For Spectacular Summer Fun
Young learners love The Gardner School for discovering new skills, meeting friends, and having fun. Our summer program is designed to expand your child’s knowledge while they’re having a blast with their peers. Learn more about Camp Gardner or contact us to enroll your child at The Gardner School.