It’s not often that families get to see firsthand what a typical day looks like for our campers; but that changes for Family Day! Families arrived at our Park Slope location ready to meet our staff, participate in activities, and show campers that you don’t have to be a kid to have fun! Our amazing Lead Supervisor Zora couldn’t have been more excited to kick off this Family Day with some group cheers and “round robin” activities. Throughout the day, campers and their families participated in martial arts, singing, camp games, and even break-dancing before ending the day with a raffle! It was a great opportunity to come out and spend quality time with the people we love, and we would like to sincerely thank everyone that took the time to make it a great day.
The Olympic event has been a strong and ancient tradition in Park Slope Day Camp; with our largest Leadership Experience class ever, this year is even more successful than we could have imagined! All week, campers participated in friendly competition between our five sites while wearing their site colors and singing original cheers. Our usual sea of yellow shirts at the park was changed to a beautiful array of blue, red, white, green, and orange. Seeing everyone enjoy the events together and congratulate each other on a job well done set a perfect example of what camp spirit is all about.
“It doesn’t last forever; don’t be afraid to ask for help when needed and try to have fun.”
- B.B., Leadership Experience
A week-long event with everyone in PSDC–including for the first time ever our Sports Academy and Circus Camp–would be impossible without a lot of planning and prep work; this is where Leadership comes in. Even though Leadership starts on Week 2 of camp, they manage to put together a huge event that mirrors the major planning our Lead Supervisors put into their special events.
But Leadership doesn’t just plan Olympics–they get to enjoy the fun as well! N.J. says,
“I learned that you don’t need to worry about the kids having fun because if you are having fun, then they will too.”
It seems this year’s Leadership class is off to a great start; we can’t wait to hear about all their new experiences this summer!
Move Over, Stephen Sondheim! Cirque d’Eté has a new Artistic Director with the same AMAZING imagination!
Cirque d’Eté, commonly known as Circus Camp, led by
8-year camp veteran Daniel Dixon, wrapped up their first show last Friday. All through Carroll Gardens you could hear the Sound of Music playing. It was a Wicked awesome show that centered on the main theme of “Broadway!” It was clear to see that our campers didn’t need to Rent any talent from anywhere as their performance left parents saying “Mamma Mia!” With our second session of Cirque underway, we can expect big things from our future stars and it’s clear to see Daniel is a Wiz at what he does!
Week 1 of Summer 2018
is in the books, and Week 2 is well underway! Our summer started with trips to
5 Wits, Luna Park, Liberty Science Center and a bunch of Special Events that
had our campers dressed-up and looking amazing.
For those not aware,
this is the Summer of SPIRIT—and for good reason! Nothing creates a better sense
of spirit and community than its members coming together and embracing one
another and the things that make us unique. Throughout our amazing 27 years in the
Brooklyn community, we have seen so many campers, counselors, and families walk
through our gates at 8:00 am sharp. They may start as strangers, but everyone
leaves at the end of the summer as part of a new Park Slope Day Camp family. As
soon as our campers enter the door, they are greeted with the familiarity of an
old friend; through cheering, comradery and team-building, you can’t help but
feel the camp spirit!
Park Slope Day Camp
is not just a place to spend eight hours a day—more if you’re Extra Fun; it’s
our goal to make sure that at the end of the day, our campers go home feeling
part of a community made great by the individuality of each and every one of
us. The smiles at the end of the day make all the preparation, dedication, and perspiration of our biggest summer yet
worth it!
Here’s to the
beginning of a summer full of joy, love, and of course, SPIRIT.
We’ve had a long week in the office prepping for summer: ordering supplies, booking trips, planning activities. General camp readiness stuff.
And yet, we still wake up, gather up the crayons, coloring books, laptops and banners and make our way to our Park Slope site for another Open House.
The question is why.
In this digital age, we could simply tweet about how camp creates advantages for school, career and life readiness. We could post videos of Theme Days on YouTube or Instagram shots of how camp activities turn into experiences. We can blog on our Tumblr…
So why, when we have the world at our fingertips, do we insist on taking more time out of our busy lives to talk about camp for a couple of hours.
Because real connections happen face-to-face. That’s why we still host Open Houses – they are our way of saying that, in a world full of technology, camp exists on the ground, not in a cloud. And that human interaction is an essential part of the definition of camp.
You can scroll through the “Meet Our Team” page on our website over and over again but it will never replace actuallymeeting our team. You can read our FAQs but if a question isn’t answered you can ask our camp director directly. We can tell you that we have spirit but you can experience it at an open house.
Yes, we will still post on Facebook. Yes, we will continue to blog. But most importantly, we will continue to do Open Houses.
Campression: the feeling of depression caused by a lack of
summer camp, felt most in the dead of winter when it feels like camp will never
come back. Campression is a real issue
many campers and camp staffers face, because let’s be real, there is no better
time of the year than summer time at camp.
Symptoms of campression include but are not limited to wearing shorts
when it is snowing, singing boom chicka boom on the subway with no one
responding, and constantly telling people stories about summer camp. It is okay though because we have 5 tips on
how to beat campression.
1. Using
old camp shirts as pajamas. Always
having a piece of camp on your person is very comforting.
2. Teaching
your non-camp friends your favorite camp songs. Sometimes you just want to bust
out a good Bo Didley Bop or Bazooka Bubble Gum but you only camp friends know
the songs. If you teach your other
friends now everyone can share in the fun and you don’t have to wait for summer
camp to sing!
3. Camp
themed birthday parties. Batman is cool and we are sure you’d love a great
Disney themed party, but are those things really better than camp? Why not have a cold weather bar-b-q with
lemonade and ice pops. Why not invite
your camp friends while you’re at it?
4. Scrapbooks. Making a scrap book with pictures, friendship
bracelets, favorite camp song lyrics, and great inside jokes is a great way to
remember the summer. You can always go
back and look what makes camp special to you.
5. Patience. We know this is not the best piece of advice
and patience is easier said than done but remember camp is not just a place but
a feeling, camp is always with you.
We hope our tips will help with your campression. No says it will be easy to get over but in a
few short months we’ll all be back at the greatest place on earth, camp.
Themes are an important part of the Park Slope Day Camp experience;
this summer’s theme is teamwork. Teamwork
plays an essential role in making camp work.
It takes teamwork to do large tasks like taking 250 campers to an
amusement park and it takes teamwork to do small tasks like complete an arts
and crafts project. Over the course of
the summer our Leadership Experience campers have completed various exercises
to determine why teamwork is important. The
exercises have included things like figuring how to get toothpaste back in its
bottle and how to get a car tire over a standing log, as depicted in the above
picture. In each exercise one person
could not do alone, the campers had to work together to find a solution. Check out some thoughts about teamwork from
our campers:
“Teamwork to me is when a group of people work together
efficiently and respectfully to accomplish a task. Something that may be
impossible for an individual to succeed in alone may become possible as a team,
two heads are better than one.”
-
McKenzie and Brandon
“Teamwork to me means working together to accomplish a goal.
Teamwork requires a few things such as being nice to the others you’re working
with, helping each other and trying your best.
Teamwork is a great thing.”
-
Nate Angle
“Teamwork is when a group of individuals come together to
accomplish a challenge. Like the activities we did at Club Getaway, each
challenge we learned something new. Listening, patience, respect, communication
and more. With each new challenge, we learned and accomplished all of them.”
Our Leadership
Experience gives rising 9th and 10th graders insight into their leadership styles and helps
them develop their personal strengths, develop their skills, and prepare themselves
to become counselors. The first big opportunity to use the skills
they’ve honed is when they produce “Camp Olympics” for our Junior and Middle Camps,
a very big undertaking! Check out what a few of our leaders thought of their
experience:
“Olympics was a lot
more work than I thought. However, it was really fun. The kids loved the stations me and my friends
ran. Even though some kids didn’t listen it was fine because that was expected.”
TR
“The Olympics were fun
and most of the kids had fun playing our game. The Junior camp listened better and generally
had more fun playing. The Junior Camp
also had better sportsmanship. The Middle Camp also were clumsier and knocked
over more buckets than the Juniors. “
SB
Our Leadership Experience lead supervisor Naser also reacted
to the great job that our campers did with the Olympics:
“The Olympics were a
major success. I am very proud of all of the young leaders who put a lot of
effort and talent into every stage of the Olympics, from the planning to the
execution. This year was extra special as we also helped the Pee Wees and
Circus Camp run their Olympics. The Young Leaders got a very diverse and
important experience working in multiple settings and age groups.”
Pow! Zap! Kaboom! Superhero Circus was a blast under the
Carroll Gardens big top. The superheroes of Circus City defeated those zany
clown villains once and for all - no banana peels to slip on in this town
anymore! The tumbling was thrilling, and the juggling and spinning plates were
the best around. Singing, drumming, feather balancing, cartwheeling - these
campers did it all. Congratulations to the Lion Tamers, Tightrope Walkers, and
Ringmasters who all earned their clown noses! We’ll see you soon under the
bright lights of Hollywood…Hollywood Circus, that is!
From campers to
juice boxes and gaga pits to hula hoops, all camp directors and counselors know
that keeping count is important for a successful and safe season.
To
celebrate our 25th year, check out these 25 stats and get a glimpse
into the Park Slope Day Camp summer!
1 vision for
an enriching summer camp that combines informal learning and fun!
94 boomerangs
to chuck through the air on Australia Day!
For over 25 years, Park Slope Day Camp has been providing Brooklyn families with a safe, nurturing, and unique day camp experience. Located in Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Carroll Gardens and Bay Ridge, Park Slope Day Camp offers a wide variety of...