A new season begins

Hi all,

So a new season of day camps and summer camps is quickly approaching. Wow, how time flies.

I'll be trying to add new posts as things come to me...but I want to hear what you want to hear about. If there is a question you have or a certain post I've done in the past that you loved - let me know!

You can shoot me an email at tori.bissell@gmail.com, or comment on this post.

But otherwise, look forward to ideas and inspiration coming your way.

Check back soon,

And congrats as you head off on another summer of fun!

xoxo

Cheers.

The Ditzy Day Camp Director

Video Post: Christmas Story

Looking for some way to share the Christmas Story?

I found these cute YouTube videos and I really wanted to share them with you. The illustrations are perfect for kids of all ages and they a really great way to share the story quickly.

Often at our day camp we've held Christmas in July or August.

You could share these videos. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z1CbX0kIkM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaeBx6bPlv4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxqCEqf0N0&feature=BFa&list=PL231941786FB4C530&lf=results_main

Creating a Landscape

Another great way to decorate is to create a landscape scene across one of the main focal points. For our beach theme we decided to create an ocean sunset. I will be posting a few more landscape ideas over the next week but here are the steps to creating your own landscape scene.

1. Decide what kind of landscape you'd like to do...preferably related to your theme.

2. Buy the materials you will need to make it. For ours we used different colours of bristol board, spray paint, and tape.

3. Draw out the landscape you would like with pencil on the bristol board you are using.

4. Cut out design

5. Add special touches...for example we added white spray paint to our clouds.

6. Tape to the Wall

7. Step back and take a look at your master piece.

8. Email the Ditzy Day Camp Director with a picture (I'd love to see it... tori.bissell@gmail.com).

So I can't wait to see what you come up with....

The Ditzy Day Camp Director

Riding the Wave of Decorations

So I know I've been posting a lot of decoration tips lately but I figured, I'd just ride the wave and keep giving you as many ideas as possible.

A few weeks ago I posted about this great website Oriental Trading and I wanted to share one of the things we purchased from their site to decorate our building. One of the things we got were these great Design Your Own Surfboards.

I thought it would be a great idea to have all the staff and kids design their own surf board, and then we could post them up on the walls. For $20 I was able to get 48 of them...which in my books is a great price per kid.

So I had all of the counsellors create a surf board with their camp name. They had a blast creating their own.

When we posted them on the wall they looked great! The certainly added to our beach theme and added colour to our white walls.

Later this week, I will post a picture of all the kids surfboards. They were so creative and had a blast making them.

So instead of signing off today as the Ditzy Day Camp Director, I thought I'd use my camp name...

See you later,

Freckles

Lunch Room Decor

Hello DCDs,

Today I thought I'd just post a quick blog on how to decorate your lunch room and some ideas to share with you on how you can do that. Posting friendly reminders and etiquette signs are one way to let the kids know what's expected. Also posting recycling/garbage disposal directions will help you create environmentally friendly campers and help you to have a happy janitor. You can create these signs with the Staff or have the campers make them. So without further a-du here are our lunch room signs.

A happy and full ditzy day camp director.

One Done

Wow, it's hard to believe the first week of camp is done! This week has been crazy busy with so much going on...but it's also been great.

So I thought I'd give you a little peek into the world of Camp Senda from this past week through this post.

Overall the week went great. We had a few hiccups along the way but everything seemed to just work out in the end.

Monday and Tuesday we stayed mostly in the building, getting to know the kids. The kids choose electives and they participated in 4 different ones throughout the week. On Monday the kids decorated surf boards and we put them all over the back wall of our 'Beach' area (the chapel). They looked so good! (Don't worry, I'll post pictures soon.)

On Tuesday we had Christmas in July! We all wore red and green and some wore santa hats. We sang Christmas carols, told the story of Christmas and played Christmas Games. At the end of the day, as the kids were leaving, we gave each child a Christmas card that had been signed by all the leaders - they loved them!

Wednesday we headed off to the Science Centre. Even though we had sorta a chaotic and frustrating start to the day the kids absolutely loved it and had tons of fun!

Thursday was a blast too! We had a rocket show in the park - which the kids thought was great. We shot off two model rockets. Then we had a picnic in the park...the weather was great! After our picnic we went swimming. After slathering all the kids in sunscreen they jumped in the pool for an hour of wet fun. Only the assistant director and myself got sun burnt...but in my books that's better then any of the kiddies.

Friday was the perfect ending to a great day. We played Bear Hunt (a game the kids adore!), had tuck, and watched yogi bear.

All in all, I thought the first week went great!

Hope your first weeks go well, my fellow DCDs.

The Ditzy Day Camp Director, exhausted but ecstatic that the first week rocked.

Another Directory Duty: Movie Screening...Yogi Bear

One thing you learn quickly as a DCD (Day Camp Director) is that the job description is never fully accurate. There will always be new thing you'll need to do. This week I learned that that job description also includes movie screening. But don't fret, this is one of the nice parts of the job.

So last night, a buddy and I grabbed dinner and chunky monkey's (most awesome drink ever, from Second cup) and sat down to preview the first movie of the summer. At our day camp we have show a movie every Friday. This Friday we wanted to see Yogi Bear.

But before we can show the movie to the kids someone has to watch it and go through it to make sure its age appropriate and well just appropriate. And just because it's rated G doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a good one. Sometimes it can inappropriate content, other times its inappropriate for your target age group, and other times it has scary parts for the younger kids. So those are the things to watch for - try to think like a kid. Enjoy the movie but remain critical.

Well I thought, since I was watching movies for my camp I thought I could help you out with the movies I've found that work for day camp. So this weeks post is Yogi Bear. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't preview the movie for your camp still...I'm just trying to give you some ideas of what might work or might not work.

So onto Yogi.

This was a great movie! I will definitely be showing it to the kids at my camp. It was super funny and really cute. It's actually the type of movie that the kids will love and your staff will enjoy too. It was age appropriate and would work for all ages. It might have a little bit of confusing content for kids under 6, but they will still enjoy it and can watch it.

The great thing about this one, is that it didn't have a lot of innuendoes or adult jokes like some kids movies have. Perfect for any camp, especially a Christian or religious one.

I give this movie 5 picnic baskets out of 5 for appropriateness for Day Camp.

Yes, Yogi...I mentioned picnic baskets.

Anywho, curl up on the couch with some popcorn and enjoy this one....

Says, The Ditzy Day Camp Director