Boys Day Camp Re-cap

We held our Boy's Day Camp July 6-9 with 5 boys joining us for the week. It was hot outside, but we enjoyed lots of water activities to keep cool and the boys had a great time.

We started off each day a short devotion, prayer, and check-in to go over the day before getting into our activities.

We spent some time in nurture group each afternoon as well. Nurture group is a TBRI principle and a time to check-in, care for each other, and review some good regulation skills. We learned about the "Engine Plate" - a tool for kids to identify they current state of emotion/regulation. This was the foundation for our daily nurture group. We also learned about self-control, how to identify our current state of regulation, and tools to help us regulate and stay regulated. We also focused on communication and how we can effectively and respectfully request help to regulate. It was amazing to see the kids buy-in to this time and identify their "color" on the engine wheel by the end of the week.

We spent time playing lots of games throughout the week - gaga ball, giant jenga, checkers, and connect 4. We also had a fun activity/riddle each day where the kids had to unlock their popscicles. It was fun to watch them work together for the sweet reward! We also usually got some pool time each day to cool off.

We closed out each day with highs and lows, where we went around the group and each person shared a high for the day and a low for the day. We would also recap the day and discuss the plan for the next day during this time. Oddly enough, the highs were usually the water activities.

On Monday, we spent a few hours at the Aqua Park on Johns Island. This is a floating course and a separate ropes course on a lake in Johns Island. It was a lot of fun and a great activity for a hot day! This was definitely a highlight for the day and the week!

Tuesday was our boat day. We got to spend a few hours on the Bohicket River with Captain Jay from Cornerstone Charter. This is our fourth year partnering with Cornerstone Charter and it a blessing! The kids got to swim in the river and do some tubing. Tubing was one of the favorite activities for the week. Thank you, Captain Jay for another great day on the water! This is always a highlight for the kids.

Wednesday, we were blessed with the opportunity to visit our friend Chris at Hostetler Custom Cabinetry. This is the second year partnering with Chris to get the kids in the shop to see how cabinets are made and to take part in some small building projects, this year it was a catapult. Chris cut out pieces for the kids to each build a catapult and we had a compeition to see whose catapult could launch an object the farthest distance. The kids loved it! Thank you, Chris for opening your shop to us. It is always a great time and great learning experience!

We wrapped up camp on Thursday with pool time, games, and an epic scavenger hunt that Heather created. She is getting really good at creating scavenger hunts! She had us searching all over the property for clues, culminating with some adventures and teamwork on the hill. Our reward was the key to unlock the cooler of popscicles which was much needed after the scavenger hunt!

We closed camp Thursday afternoon with families, sharing a slide show of the week's activities, a summary of all of our activities and what we learned in Nurture Group, and then our final highs and lows for the week.

We had a great week and loved spending it with these boys. We are excited to our upcoming fall camps to close out this camp year!