Blunder at the Big Top- Circus Week Rolls in to Camp Summer Fun

This week has been cooky and crazy. It started with Crazy Hat Day on Monday...

Congratulations to our Crazy Hat Champion Dylan from the 007's.

The craziness continued at the All Camp Meeting Monday when campers stepped up to try out some Carnival games. Campers were competing to win a super special prize. A Ninja Turtle, Stuffed Animal, Backpack.

However, just as we reached our final two contestants, a pair of gloved hands popped up from behind the curtains and stole the backpack. Now in order for our winner Aneliese from the Ninjas to get her prize campers must solve the mystery of who stole it!

The circus fun continued on Wednesday, when a carnival popped up at camp. 

The day started with a performance from acrobat Li Liu. She wowed the crowd, balancing and contorting in all sort of ways. 

The day continued with a carnival games, and blow up obstacle courses. 

We even had a popcorn treat and face painting. 

Tomorrow we will close out our week by hopefully solving our mystery before singer, songwriter Lou DelBianco takes the stage. 

REMINDERS

• This week we will Tie-Dye T-Shirts. If you haven't already done so please send in a shirt in a Ziplock bag with your camper's name and group number on it. Thanks!

• The Camp Show is next Tuesday, August 5th at the Mount Pleasant Community Center. The show will start at 10:00am and will last an hour to an hour and a half. All families are welcome to join us. 
• If you wish to pick up your camper after the show please send in a note. There will be a dismissal station located in the hallway after the show where you may sign your camper out. 
• On Wednesday we have a Carnival at camp - half day campers are welcome to stay full day. Please send in a note to let us know if your camper is staying for the fun. 

Crazy Hat Day

Monday,  July 28th we will kick off Circus Week at Camp Summer Fun with...

We can't wait to see all the cooky, crazy hats campers and counselors dream up! 

Lost and Found

Our lost and found at camp isn't that big this year, as we have been making every effort to return items with names directly to campers. However if you see anything in the picture below that looks familiar let us know and we will get it back to you. Thanks!

Click on the picture to make it larger

Mission 3 - Case Closed on the Movie Mixup

This morning at All Camp Meeting all 12 groups correctly identified Jill, the Science Specialist,  as the villain who tampered with Joe's computer and played the funny movie of Matt the Music Specialist. 

We had a great Hollywood week here at camp. Here is what the campers were up to in their specials. 

Game Room: In game room campers got to be contestants on a game show, Camp Dare. Teams competed in a test of their trivia knowledge answering questions about camp, movies, t.v. shows, science, and of course things that are blue. If campers could not answer a question they could dare the other team to answer or take a Physical Challenge to try to get the points!

Sports: This week campers got to play a host of games in sports. Sports Specialist Mike taught campers how to play hand ball and Sports Specialist Claire played Rock Paper Scissors tagging game. Campers also practiced relay races in advance of our upcoming Color Competition. 

Art: In art this week campers got to make some things to make them look like stars. Campers crafted necklaces and bracelets that had them red carpet ready. Then campers prepared to act making paper bag puppets. 

Science: This week in science campers got to make tasty dirt cups, complete with gummy worms and then got to make elephant toothpaste to brush their teeth. Check out the experiment below!

Music: This week campers played movie theme mixup by trying to put the different parts of movie theme songs in the correct order. Then some groups went caroling and practiced their camp dances. 

Story Time: This week many campers started the week with a "Substitute" story teacher as Gina our story specialist was sick. They heard some great stories. 

When Gina came back she began writing stories with each group. Every camper got to add one line to the story. Check out the story from the 007's. 

Once there was a pirate named A'hoy.

Every day he sailed the 7 seas in his big ship.

His best pal was a princess piggy named Porky. 

One day A'hoy and Porky were traveling to Atlantis. 

On the way they met a friendly Shark. They invited him on the ship.

But the ship started to sink. And it sunk all the way to the ground. 

But the Shark said, "Hop on my back, I can take you to Atlantis!" 

On the way, they met a mermaid named Barbie. She was crying. 

A'hoy, Porky and the Shark asked "what's wrong?"

She replied, "I want to go to Atlantis but I don't have a ride?" 

They invited her to come along but it became to heavy for Shark. 

Shark invited his other shark friends to help bring them to Atlantis. 

Along the way A'hoy invited the sharks to the party in Atlantis. 

When they finally arrived, A'hoy, Porky, Barbie and the Sharks partied all night long. 

THE END 

Dance: This week campers really started to get down, practicing their dances for the camp show. The camp show will be held on Tuesday, August 5th at 10:00am at the Mount Pleasant Community center. All families are welcome to join us! We can't wait to see you all there.

Today we had a visit from Seth the Magician. He made us all laugh and played a few tricks during his show show. 

LEGO Movie - Everything Was Awesome

We had a great field trip to the movies yesterday. The campers enjoyed seeing the Lego Movie with all of their friends in a private theater. When we came back to camp we kept going with the movie theme as campers competed in a movie trivia contest. Congratulations to The Ninjas, The Spy Kids, and The Undercover Campers for their big wins yesterday. Each group earned points for their Color War team. 

We hope your camper had a great time! Tomorrow Hollywood Week continues with a visit from Seth the Magician. We are looking forward to a great show!

A Note About Early Pick Up

Did you know that we have scheduled activities at camp right up until 2:50pm? However, this year by 2:40pm our parking lot has been full, meaning we have to end our program earlier and earlier to avoid traffic jams. Recently our lot has been filled by 2:30pm, again forcing us to cut your campers' experience short. Additionally, there has been an influx of parents picking campers up between 2:00pm and then end of the day. This is an extremely inconvenient time to pick up campers as we are preparing for the typical dismissal at this time. Staff all have assigned roles as we clean the camp site, ready our traffic lanes, and settle and organize our campers. So we are asking that if you need to pick up your camper early that you do so before 2:00pm. This will have you in and out before the afternoon pickup procedures begin and will allow staff to promptly help you locate your camper and sign him or her out. If you arrive after 2:00pm we will ask you to wait until our afternoon pick up begins. Our goal each and every day at Camp Summer Fun is to provide a safe and fun experience for all campers. The system we have in place for dismissal is one way we ensure your little ones are being cared for. We are asking for your help in supporting this effort by allowing us to prepare for and execute an organized dismissal everyday. 

Thank you so much for your support,
Joe and Ryan 

REMINDER- Trip Tomorrow

Tomorrow we will go to the movies - Please remember to send your camper in wearing his or her camp shirt. Campers should also bring a snack and lunch like usual. More information about the trip can be found here. 

Tie Dye Starts Next Week

Next week Art Specialist Isabella will be Tie Dying T-Shirts with your campers in preparation for the Camp Color War which takes place during week 6. If you would like your camper to make one please send in a white T-Shirt in a Zip Lock bag with his or her name and group number on it. You can also write their name on the tag or collar. 

We will send the shirt home when it is done. 

Mission 3 - Trouble on Set

Today another mystery hit Camp Summer Fun. During our All Camp Meeting, after doing our Minion cheer, campers sat down to watch a special movie to kick off Hollywood Week. Campers were enjoying Ormie the Pig when all of a sudden...


Ormie from Ormie Pig on Vimeo.

The movie cut out and a video of Music Specialist Matt, dancing around his room to the hit song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" came on the screen. Matt was not happy when he came back into the room. He threw his water (which landed on EMT Bobby) and tried to block the screen. Joe and Ryan tried frantically to turn off the computer the video was coming from, but it was no use, this week's villain had sabotaged it. Campers will embark on another fact finding mission gathering the clues to see if they can figure out who embarrassed Matt. 

Hollywood Week also kicked off with an AMAZING dress up day! Check out some of the awesome looks below. 

Congrats to our winner "Michael Jackson" - Deacon of the Invisible Kids  

Hollywood Dress Up Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is Celebrity Dress Up Day at Camp Summer Fun. Campers and staff will be dressed as famous actors, athletes, and movie characters. We hope your camper joins us in the fun!

A Trip to the Movies

This week on Wednesday, July 23rd we will be going to see the LEGO Movie. 

The original 3D computer animated story follows Emmet, an ordinary, rules-following, perfectly average LEGO minifigure who is mistakenly identified as the most extraordinary person and the key to saving the world. He is drafted into a fellowship of strangers on an epic quest to stop an evil tyrant, a journey for which Emmet is hopelessly and hilariously underprepared. 

Our trip will take us to Mohegan Lake Cinema where we have a theater reserved for our use. Campers are welcome to bring a snack with them to enjoy during the movie. This can be the normal snack you send everyday- campers will simply bring their bags with them. Snacks can be purchased at the snack bar, but of course those steep movie theater prices apply. Counselors will assist campers in making appropriate transactions (no extra large popcorns or mega sized sodas) but they are not responsible for any lost bills or coins. At the conclusion of the movie we will head back to camp for a picnic lunch and a trivia contest. 

A Few Reminders: 

• Your Camper should wear his or her camp shirt (we hope to have the new ones in this week for campers who did not get one) 
• We are leaving promptly at 9:30am. Please make sure your camper arrives on time. 
• Half Day Campers are welcome to join us on the trip. There is no need to send a note. 
• Dismissal is at its usual time 2:50pm. 

Mission 2 Mystery Solved - The Rain Stick Returned

It was a terrific Jungle Week at Camp Summer Fun. On Friday 9 out of our 12 groups solved the mystery of the missing rain stick and correctly identified the villain as Sports Specialist Mike B. He returned the rain stick just in time for us to do our Camp Summer Fun Jungle Cheer.  

Here is what campers were up to in their specials this week. 

Science: This week campers made grass cup people that when they are full grown should look like this: 

 They also took a jungle nature walk and collected leaves, sticks and other plants to create plant people. 

Drama/Dance: In Drama/Dance this week campers began picking songs for the Camp Show. Next week they will begin rehearsing their camp dances. To help get them moving this week, Drama/Dance Specialist Daniele held a camp-wide Limbo competition. Each group played Limbo in her room and then the winner from each group faced off in a final round in front of the whole camp at our Friday closing meeting. 

A special congratulations to our Camp Limbo Champion Ted of the Invisible Kids! Check out his winning slide below. 

Game Room: In game room campers played "Monkey Tails". In this game each camper gets a "tail" (a flag football flag) attached to his or her body. Then the Monkey Snatchers come and try to steal all the tails as campers move around inside a safe jungle zone. When the snatchers catch all the tails, new snatchers are chosen, the monkeys get their tails back and the game begins again. Later in the week campers played "Jungle Thieves" where the cops were trying to stop the robbers from taking the food out of the jungle. Here is a clip of a robber successfully snatching some "food".

Music: In music campers got down to the jungle beat learning how to play the tapping and clapping cup game. After learning the beat the challenge was to see how long campers could keep it going as the tempo increased. Check out a clip of them playing below. 

Story Time: This week campers heard Jungle Drums by Graeme Base, among other Jungle tales. 

Then they went outside to play a Jungle themed duck, duck, animal game using the characters from the book. 

Sports: In sports this week Specialists Mike and Claire brought out some old camp favorites. There were dodgeball games, kickball games, steal the bacon and capture the flag. These games never fail to excite! 

Art: In art this week campers made paper chain snakes and painted jungle scenes. We hope these awesome projects made it home to you. 

The week ended with a FANTASTIC Magic Show from Magician David Levitan. He truly amazes (even the adults in the crowd). Ask your camper what his or her favorite trick was. 

Next week it is time to roll out the red carpet at camp because it's HOLLYWOOD WEEK. Monday, July 21st is Hollywood Dress Up Day. Campers can come in dressed as any movie star from their favorite actor to their favorite movie character. Then on Wednesday we will travel to the cinema to see the LEGO Movie. More details about the trip to come, so be sure to check back to the blog. 

Its hard to believe that as of today we are already half way through the camp season. The staff have had a fantastic time getting to know, and working with your campers and it is our sincere hope that your campers are enjoying their time at Camp Summer Fun. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns at any time.

Best,

Joe and Ryan  

Note: All pictures and videos are unlisted and can only be found by exact URL to ensure the privacy of our campers.