We woke up to a beautiful, sunny day here at Camp Taiwan. After breakfast, we got started right away on our daily activities. We have four regular 90-minute activity periods each day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon.
The color teams had the following schedule today:
Red team: Crafts, River Tracing, Ecology, and Tent Time
Orange team: Sports, crafts, River Tracing, and Tent Time
Green team: Giant Swing, sports, crafts, and Tent Time
Pink team: River Tracing, ecology, Giant Swing, and Tent Time
Light Blue team: Ecology, Giant Swing, Sports, and Tent Time
Purple team (Teens): Archery, Zipline, Giant Ladder, and table-top games
A few of these activities may need some explanation.
Our craft for this period is a silk-screen activity. Campers paint a design on a silk screen with waterproof paint, leaving the parts that they want colored unpainted. They then put the screen on a piece of paper or cloth, and spread acrylic paint on the screen. When the screen is removed, the print remains. The screen can be reused multiple times.
The ecology activity for this session is something of a treasure hunt. Campers have a list of missions that they need to complete, such as finding a certain kind of flower, leaf, or insect. It is a lot of fun.
For sports, we are playing kickball. This is a staple of every North American schoolyard, but is not common in Taiwan. It follows the basic rules of baseball, but the players kick a large rubber ball instead of hitting a baseball.
Our Giant Swing is one of our most popular activities. Campers wear a body harness and are suspended from a cable. They are then pulled into the air by their teammates. When they are as high as they dare to go (they can choose how high is high enough), they pull a release and swing back and forth.
The Giant Ladder is another of our high-rope elements that requires a bit of any explanation. It is horizontal "logs" suspended from cables. Campers have to climb from one to the next. This activity is only available for the teen campers, as it requires a bit of strength and height. However, what it requires more than anything is teamwork. Two climbers climb at the same time and they have to work together to make it to the top. This is a good communication activity, and it allows teens to develop skills in working together and strategizing.
Finally, we come to Tent Time. This is a period when counselors can talk to their campers about the activities they like and do something in small tent groups. The smaller groups allow the campers to get to know each other better. Some of the activities ranged from a capture the flag game with water guns with two of the boys tents to fingernail painting for one of the girls' tents.
The campers are showering and preparing for dinner now. We will play a night game tonight, weather permitting. (Speaking of weather, it didn't rain here at all today.) Have a good night, and enjoy the pictures at this link.