WonderHere Friends!
Camps are very quickly approaching! Our space is looking amazing (be on the lookout for pictures this weekend!), many have registered, and all that’s left to be done is for your sweet kiddos to come learn and have fun! For those who have already registered, Monday we will be launching our systems where you can fill out student, emergency contact, and allergy/medical information. We’ll do a separate post on that, as well as individually contact those who’ve already made purchases.
For today’s post, we want to highlight a specific camp: The Game of Life! This camp is designed for rising 3rd-6th graders, June 20-24. This camp week is sure to leave the kids feeling like the next Vanna White or Bob Barker, all the while learning about history and cultures worldwide. Kids will enjoy exploring familiar board games, old-time games their grandparents will get excited about, and games they have never heard of from all around the globe. They will even be given the opportunity to develop and build their very own unique game and share it during the Show and Share Cafe held on Friday 5:00-6:00 PM for parents and friends to show off their newest board game. From Africa’s Mancala (a game even my 2nd graders play during game day with love) to Chinese Checkers (which actually originated from Germany and is not a version of Checkers at all), to more obscure games from Chile “Run, Run, La Guaraca” and more. Travel the world with us, play board games, learn culture and history… all at the same time!
As current public school teachers (who only have one day left!!!), we were particularly inspired this week by a student who decided to use fun and games to take his learning to the next level. As part of their end-of-the-year celebration, Tiffany’s class had a “bring your own board game” day. As the students were unpacking their games, one student proudly began to set up a game never seen before. He gently unrolled the poster paper and dumped out a little baggie of toys and trinkets. When asked where this game came from, he grinned and said, “I made it up last night!”
And this wasn’t just any simple game… no, this game had all sorts of intricate rules and reward paths that would put Monopoly or Life to shame! Soon enough, the rest of the students began abandoning their store bought games to go play this one! He smiled so big while explaining how to play his game, and the students raved at how much fun they had playing it. He was inspired to do something different then all of the rest of the students. Something that required time and thought and the end result was more than I think even he could have hoped. This student, like so many others, has creativity bursting at the seams, but still seemed to struggle with traditional school. He wrestled with book work and wiggled constantly in his chair. This “standards-based” learning environment needed to be a little more “student-based” so that this so sweet student would have had more chances to shine and show off his ingenuity like on Tiffany’s game day!
At the end of the day, this is what WonderHere is all about. Giving kids the chance to be in the driver’s seat of their learning. Letting kids do and create, rather than just absorb knowledge and release it by bubbling in test answers. So, we hope you’ll sign up for our Game of Life Camp! Learning about games + creating games + traditional camp activities = a guaranteed summer blast! 🙂
