It’s hard to believe how fast this summer has gone by! It is the last week of the Young Master’s summer camp, and I am going to miss the infectious energy of the young campers, especially the sound of them all laughing and talking as they work together on their projects. This week has seen the return of many campers from previous weeks, and it is so sweet to see how the returning campers get so excited to see their friends from other camp weeks.

This week’s theme was RecyclArt, so every project was inspired by the central idea of reusing materials for our art. One of the projects the campers did this week was decorating water bottles to look like bugs or other animals using paint, string, and pipe cleaners. Another one of the projects was making “paint brush people,” sculpting features from clay and adding details with paint and buttons. Far and away the camper’s favorite project this week was making glove monsters. Each camper was given a winter glove, and they decorated the gloves with googly eyes and felt and fabric paint to fashion their unique little monsters.

Tina, the new educational coordinator, has implemented several new practices for the camp that have had a positive impact on the running of the camp. She wanted all of the campers to be able to collectively work on a big project throughout the week that they can show their parents at the art show and then use the project as decoration for the educational spaces of the museum. Last week the campers each decorated little squares of paper with outer space-related images, and this week, the collaborative nature of the project remains. Repurposing a dry-erase board with blue and silver spray paint, Judi had the idea to have the campers each draw a design for a fish, then transferred one of the designs to the large board, and now the campers are all working together to decorate the fish with repurposed beads, foam shapes, and bottle caps. It has been so fun watching them work together selecting the perfect materials for the decoration, and helping each other use the hot glue guns to attach the chosen items to the board. The campers loved showing their families the collaborative project during the art show, and the piece now serves as decoration for the museum’s educational space!

The art show at the end of the week remains my favorite part of kids’ camp. I love watching the campers excitedly show their families and friends the products of their hard work. I am so thankful for all that I have learned throughout this camp and am excited for all that is planned next week, but sad that the fellowship is coming to a close.