Session 3 Day 1

There will be a link to a Dropbox folder with pictures of the day's events at the bottom of this blog post. 本篇部落格文章底部會附上 Dropbox 資料夾連結，您可以在裡面查看當天活動的照片。

We started our first day at camp by getting all the kids into their tents and helping them unpack. It is the first time away from home for many of the kids, so it takes a little while to get everyone settled in.

From there, we moved on to some icebreaker and name games to help the kids get to know one another. This is also an important time for the counselors to get acquainted and bond with their campers.

Before lunch, we moved into the dining hall, where we had a quick orientation. It is very important to us that campers are safe and respectful toward one another. Therefore, we go over the behavior expectations and have everyone sign a behavior contract. You can read the contract and see photos of each tent group with their signed contract in the photos folder.

Our day is divided into 90-minute activity periods. The color teams rotate through the activities as the week goes along. For example, while the Red Team has archery, the Blue Team might be climbing on the climbing wall, and the Green Team might be river tracing. At the end of the 90 minutes, everyone switches.

We have four activity periods during the day and one in the evening. For the youth campers, the final activity period of the afternoon is spent doing a camp-wide activity. The teens have separate activities for most of the week.

Today, we spent the second morning activity period playing icebreaker games, so the campers had the following activities in the afternoon.

The Red Team had their sports period. They played Pillow Polo, using large, soft sticks to hit a foam ball into a goal. We try to play games that the kids will not have played elsewhere.

The Blue Team had Giant Swing, which is one of the highlights of camp. You can find more information about this and our other activities here: https://www.camptaiwan.com.tw/activities

The Orange Team spent their first period exploring the camp’s ecosystem during Ecology. There are lots of places for kids to catch insects, aquatic animals, and lizards.

The Green Team went river tracing. There is a small river that flows through camp. The campers put on all the protective gear and followed the stream for several hundred meters. There are pools along the way where they can play a variety of games.

For the wide game, the campers played a series of relay games. Unfortunately, the activity was interrupted by a brief rainstorm, but we were able to move under cover and continue the games.

The teens, who make up the Gray Team, spent the afternoon in climbing and archery sessions. There are a lot of teens this week, so they are divided into two groups. However, we treat them as one team, and their pictures will be together in a single folder.

This evening, we will have our opening campfire. This is always a lot of fun for both the campers and the counselors. The counselors will put on a skit, and they have some songs and games planned. We will end the evening by roasting marshmallows for s’mores.

There is a link to the Dropbox folder with pictures from the day below. If you are not sure which team your child is on, start with the tent pictures folder. When you find your child, note the color of the lanyard on their name tag—that is their team. Most of the pictures will be in that team’s folder or in the whole-camp activity folder.

That is all for today. Have a good evening. We have a big day tomorrow.

Dropbox link