Week 9 of summer camp was a collaboration sensation with our “teamwork” theme, and week 10 was out of this world as we weaved an outer space theme into our language, social, emotional, and sensory-motor activities. 

Here’s a peek at what we’ve been up to: 

Morning Circle Time

Campers continue to make progress using Zones of Regulation® and Social Thinking™ visual supports and vocabulary to strengthen emotional regulation and social communication skills. “Social Wonder” questions included How are you feeling today? What are you thinking about? What is your favorite planet? and Do you like astronauts?  

Our circle time lessons included “Group Plan,” “Thinking with your eyes,” and “Whole Body Listening.”

Crafts

Campers practiced following directions, sequencing, collaborating, and using fine motor skills while making daily crafts out of recycled materials. Our teamwork-themed crafts included lots of collaborative artwork, including beautiful mural paintings. Space-themed crafts included paper-towel roll telescopes, galaxy sensory bottles, and a collaborative outer space mural made out of cardboard and newsprint planets.

 

Yoga

Yoga songs, poses, and guided relaxations continue to help campers increase body awareness and learn how to calm their minds and bodies. During teamwork week, campers worked together to decide which yoga poses and songs to do during the sessions. Outer space yoga included using their imaginations to “float through outer space” during the visualization and relaxation exercise. 

Movement

Daily movement activities, led by our occupational therapists, help campers practice motor planning, sequencing, spatial awareness, strengthening core muscles, and teamwork. Campers worked as a team to complete a “color hunt,” finding everything in the room that matched a specified color. As they worked towards their team goal, they moved their bodies over our huge crash mat, on top of and through our big tunnel, and over our stepping stones. During outer space week, our little astronauts worked in teams to navigate a space-themed obstacle course, rode on a “rocket ship” (swing), and played outer space freeze dance.  

Sensory

Sensory activities are a chance for campers to explore different sounds and textures, improve fine motor skills, share materials and space, work together, and follow through with clean up. Activities included working together to find hidden objects piles of sand and colored rice, and exploring kinetic “space” sand, “oobleck” (cornstarch and water), and glitter galaxy slime.

 

Interactive Listening

Interactive listening activities help campers understand and follow directions of increasing complexity, attend to auditory stimuli in background noise, use whole body listening, and wait their turn. Listening activities for teamwork week including collaborating to decide which book to read, answering simple listening comprehension questions, and playing a variety of movement-based listening games. During outer space week, we did activities related to the book “Pete The Cat – Out of this World,” and played a listening game using our marble (“planet”) run. Campers also  completed Hearbuilders programs on the iPad.  

Music

Campers love music sessions with Ms. Julia! During teamwork week, campers negotiated and compromised to decide as a group which songs to sing. Campers agreed during outer space week that their favorite song was “5-4-3-2-1 Blast Off – Another Rocket Ship Run!”  

Science Friday

Science is an exciting way to practice making predictions, following directions, describing attributes, and practicing self-control. Our teamwork themed science project was working together to make an allergy-friendly pizza snack. All campers did a wonderful job following directions, sharing ingredients, and taking turns to make sure each pizza turned out just right! During outer space week, we enjoyed two different science projects: Making “Glitter Galaxy Slime” and “Outer Space Oobleck”.  

Collaborative Games

Free play is an opportunity for campers to practice social communication skills while playing alongside and with their peers. Therapists offer help when needed, encouraging campers to use expressive language, share, combine ideas, and work together to set up and clean up. 

We can’t believe there’s just one week of summer camp left!