Session II: Awesome Afternoon

This afternoon, I went upstairs to check out what was happening with Martha's Purple Group on the third floor. Turns out, they've been super busy! They were all hard at work on their accordion books. Earlier this session, each camper designed their own character and made a stamp of him/her to use inside of their book. They are making collages with tissue paper and other materials, and have stamped their character numerous times to be cut out and incorporated into their book. You could almost feel the creativity flowing around the room as the kids were working.

(Above & Below) Purple group works on their accordion book collages. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

Next, I got to sit in on a couple of the Afternoon specials here at Summer Spree! We have another musical special this Session, led by the stylings of Jack and Emily. The duo teaches the kids songs and rhymes with messages about unity and oneness with the Earth. The kids learned the words "I am Earth, I am air, I am water, I am fire, I am everything and all is good, so I sing." The Red Group picked right up on these lyrics and learned hand motions to go along with the song.

Red Group learning the symbol for "water"...

and "fire." Get those hands up!

For my last stop of the afternoon, I went down to Andrea's Ceramics Studio and found Sarah's Orange Group working on a new project making ornaments with a sgraffito technique, meaning the color is applied before the clay has dried. Each child got a ball of clay, which they flattened out and then chose a base color to paint on the top of the flat disk. Then, they made designs in their piece by scraping out a drawing with a pointed wooden tool. 

Members of the Orange Group working on their sgraffito ornaments! along with Andrea (far left) and her visiting daughter Sophia (far right, opposite side of table).

Lucy and Hannah, of the Orange Group, hard at work on their ornaments. Look at that concentration!

Can't wait to see everything come together at the art shows on Friday!

Session I: Raining Gardens Intro (featuring Nancy Long!)

Summer Spree is off to a great start this summer! The overall theme of 2013's Spree is "Grow with the Flow," and each session a different visiting artist will be interpreting this theme into a piece of art that each Magic Mornings group will contribute to throughout the session.

The first session's artist is Nancy Long, who is the CAC's go-to gardener and storyteller, and an expert environmentalist. She has been teaching Summer Spree classes here for years, and every year there is not a child who doesn't love getting their hands into some dirt after Nancy inspires them with a story about how they can help their friends (of the human, animal, or plant variety) by learning about our ecosystem.

While also rotating through other "specials" such as ceramics or playground time, each group will spend time in the garden. Nancy is getting the kids started working along the outer edges of the gallery, where the most significant amount of rainfall flows into the gardens. She is teaching the kids about rain gardens, and the importance of using plants and soils to slow down the flow of water across the surface of the ground to prevent excess run-off of topsoil and pollutants.

Nancy Long tells Sarah's Orange Group a story about water flow before digging in the garden.

After a short story from the most engaging and interesting story teller we know, the kids follow Nancy around to the garden where they will be digging a trench along the outer edges to promote the flow and filtration of rainwater down further and further into the soil. The kids have a great time getting their hands a little messy, learning all about the water cycles, and helping out the environment. 

Nancy worked mainly with the younger groups today digging out the pathway for water flow, but as the session continues, the older kids will also get involved planting holly, hydrangea, and more plants natural to the area. Can't wait to see how it moves along!