News

Join us today at 5:00 pm EST on Zoom for Disney trivia, created by current campers Ruthie and Francesca and their mom, alumna Lindsay! You will need a device, in addition to the one you are using for Zoom, that accesses the internet to play our Kahoot trivia game. 

Housekeeping note: Please share a screen with others in your household. In order for everyone to hear the hosts, please keep your microphone muted, unless directed otherwise. To help keep our Zoom call secure, please make your Zoom username recognizable to Kristy so that you can access the call. Thank you for helping us keep our online connections safe! If you are unable to join, we may have reached the maximum participants allowed. Thank you for your understanding, and we will do more in the future!

We hope you’ll join us!

Hi everyone, Kristy here! When I was younger one of my favorite things to do was to build forts with my brothers. Our best fort was called “Potto” and it was in the woods near our house. We’d go there on weekends and play a lot of make-believe games, “spy” on the neighbors, and hang out in nature. It was the best. I also made forts at Camp. When I was in the Lodge I used to play on the back path that goes from the Lodge to the bottom of Owaissa Lawn, and I made an outdoor fort there. To this day I’m still reminded of my fort whenever I walk that path. A few summers ago the Lodgers reclaimed Lodge Campfire Site and made an epic fort down by the lake. For today’s activity I suggest that you build a fort at home! I have already built one at my house, and I’m so happy I did.

Materials Required: Your materials depend on where you want your fort. If you’re building an indoor fort then you’ll mostly need blankets, pillows, sheets, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, etc. If it’s an outdoor fort then you’ll need things like cardboard, string, and pieces of nature that aren’t alive (like sticks, rocks, and even bigger branches). Remember – Love of the Natural World means no destroying nature for your fort.

How to Build a Fort: This ‘how-to’ is really for the grown-ups because kids just instinctively know how to build forts, but for those of you who may have forgotten, I’ll help you out. Forts can have different purposes. For my fort I was aiming for a cozy getaway where I can read Harry Potter in a little magical nook. My childhood fort with my brothers was more of an active space, so that one was geared more toward spying, sneaking, and scheming for the day’s adventure. 

Step 1: Decide your fort’s purpose and whether it will be inside or outside. Is it a retreat for ninjas? Is it a hideaway for marauding pirates? Is a clubhouse for exhausted adventurers? Is it a secret spot for reading and coloring? Or is it all of those things? 

Step 2: Build your fort. If you can, pick a place where the fort can stay up for a while because it’s really fun to return to your fort. There should be a clear inside and a clear outside of your fort, so use your sheets, pillows, blankets, (or string, sticks, branches, and rocks) to create a barrier around your fort. The inside can have different rooms or corners for different purposes, and the outside can have lookouts and different entries into the fort… because you might need a quick getaway through a back door! Your fort will evolve over time as you play in it more, so you will likely build upon what you create today.

Step 3: Name your fort. My fort is called “KJ’s Fort” (because my family calls me KJ). As I mentioned above, my outdoor fort with my brothers was called “Potto.” You’ll know what feels right.

Step 4: Agree upon rules for your fort and post them outside so anyone entering knows the rules. For example, KJ’s Fort has 3 simple rules: 1) No cellphones allowed 2) Happy thoughts only 3) Password required for entry.

Step 5: Enjoy playing or hanging out in your fort! I’ve been visiting mine nightly for reading. It makes me very happy.

*Counselor Hack: To avoid the password becoming a tool for exclusivity, make the password announcement interactive and fun. Do the fort-builders post the password somewhere new each day and you have to find it to gain entry? Is it a themed password that rotates daily (Harry Potter theme, Camp theme, Animal theme, etc.)? Or maybe it’s a riddle that gets posted outside of the fort? Are the children in charge of the password or are the adults?

For inspiration and because I’m proud of it, here are some photos of KJ’s Fort:

Share your fort photos with us on Facebook or Instagram!

 

For a generation of campers and staff, Scott’s coffee cake was hands-down the best breakfast at Wawenock. Lucky for the next generation, Scott passed his recipe onto his successor in the camp kitchen, Aaron, who has been making it for the current camp family ever since! Aaron has his own special and well-loved recipes (hello buttermilk brownies!) but today alumna Faith, and her daughter (current staff member and former camper) Lauren will be walking us through How to Bake Scott’s Coffee Cake! Thank you, Lauren and Faith!

Check out their tutorial below:

 

Ingredients for Cake:
½ lb butter
1 lb sour cream
3 eggs
Vanilla to taste
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of flour
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Ingredients for Topping:
¼ lb butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups of flour
2 tbsp vanilla
Cinnamon to taste

Directions for Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar together. Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a greased pan.
Directions For Topping: Mix all topping ingredients, except for flour, then add the flour last. Crumble on top of cake. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-50 minutes.

Yum!

For today’s 2:30 Activity, join us on Zoom at 2:30pm EST for Harry Potter Trivia, hosted by staff member Chelsea F. Feel free to visit Madame Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions in Diagon Alley before the call to don your wizard’s robes or other magical attire. 

Hop on at 2:30 for a beginner’s version and join at 3:00 if you’re up for a challenge! You will need a device, in addition to the one you are using for zoom, that accesses the internet to play our Kahoot trivia game.

*Some housekeeping notes:
Please share a Zoom screen with others in your household. Kids can still play independently by logging into Kahoot on separate devices.
In order for everyone to hear the hosts, please keep your microphone muted, unless directed otherwise. To help keep our Zoom call secure, you will first be placed in a waiting room, so please make your Zoom username recognizable to Kristy and she will allow you to access the call. Thank you for helping us keep our online connections safe! If you are unable to join, we may have reached the maximum participants allowed. Thank you for your understanding, and we will do more in the future!

Today’s activity is Cooking with Catriona! Though the whole camp family doesn’t get to cook with Catriona (because of space limitations), Wonder Weekers are often invited to bake cookies for their big sisters and middler buddies! Today we get to recreate the experience by joining Catriona in her kitchen to make her famous homemade granola! Yum!

 

Ingredients

• 7 Cups Old Fashioned Oats
• 1 Cup Sliced Almonds
• 1 Cup Roasted Sesame Seeds
• 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
• 1 Cup Pumpkin Seeds
• ½ Cup Flaxseed Meal
• ½ Cup Vegetable/Canola Oil
• ¾-1 Cup Maple Syrup
• 1 tbsp Vanilla
• ¼ tsp salt
• Coconut (optional)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 250° and prepare two baking sheets with pan spray or vegetable oil
• Combine dry ingredients
• Whisk wet ingredients together
• Add wet to dry ingredients and combine thoroughly
• Pour granola on prepared baking sheets
• Bake for 90 minutes at 250°. 
• Remove from oven and leave out to cool. Break up larger granola chunks.

A new week calls for a new schedule! Why not take this opportunity to institute Rest Hour into your new routine at home? If your child has already been to camp, they will understand the concept, and if they haven’t then keep reading because we will explain it! The good news about Rest Hour is that YOU get a break too! Rest Hour at Camp is after lunch, from 1:30 – 2:30pm and its purpose is to give campers space and time to quiet both their bodies and their minds. The agreement between campers and counselors at Rest Hour is that everyone is quiet and still for the hour. It’s a chance to recharge and do something independently, during what can otherwise be a busy day at camp. 

Materials Required: What is already in your child’s room and your house

How to Conduct Rest Hour At Home: 

Step 1: Make an agreement with your child about Rest Hour, they need to be on board with it! Get their input about when it might be and be flexible with the timing – does it make sense to do it after lunch? Maybe it’s better before dinner? Are there other rules like no screens? Our age groups have different guidelines for Rest Hour, and you will need to adjust at home based on the age of your children, but here’s how it breaks down at Camp, with a few ideas of how you could modify it for your house: 

• Lodgers (8-9 year olds) are to be on their own beds, with no talking. That could be the same at home, but keep the door to their bedroom open
• Middlers (10-11 year olds) are to be in their cabins on their own beds, or outside on The Hill, playing a quiet game independently. At home, that could mean they are in their room or outside, but doing something on their own. Wherever they choose to be, they stay there for the hour.
• Subseniors (11-13 year olds) are allowed to be in their own cabins or outside on The Hill doing something independently or with a small group of friends quietly. At home, they could choose which room they will be in or go outside. Maybe they are allowed to call a friend during this time.
• Seniors (14-16 year olds) can be in their own cabins, outside on the Beach, or on the stone pier. They can be with a small group of friends. Like Subseniors, at home they could choose which space to occupy for Rest Hour, and can choose whether it’s on their own or with another friend, virtually.

Step 2: Give a 5-10 minute warning before Rest Hour begins. This is when they can go to the bathroom and gather whatever activity supplies they will need for the hour (more on this below).

Step 3: Rest Hour begins! We blow a bugle for this at Camp, but at home, you could indicate the start of Rest Hour with a bell, or play a sound from your phone. Once they are settled in their chosen space tell them, “I’ll be in my room/office/kitchen/living room if you need me, but you shouldn’t get up unless there’s an emergency.” Ideas for what to do during Rest Hour include: reading, doing a puzzle, playing sudoku games, doing a crossword or wordsearch, coloring in a coloring book, drawing, writing in their journal, listening to a podcast (Story Pirates is a great one!), knitting or doing a simple craft, making a friendship bracelet (use this tutorial!), and/or writing a letter to a friend. 

Step 4: At Camp staff members check in on campers more than once throughout the hour, but at home a single check-in should be enough to make sure everything is going alright.

Step 5: Rest Hour Ends! Ring the bell or play the same sound from your phone to indicate the hour is up, and move on with your day!

*Counselor Hack: Younger children will need ideas about what to do, so brainstorm with them ahead of time and make a plan for Rest Hour with them. Do you have two adults at home? Take turns being “on duty” during Rest Hour and if you aren’t “on duty” you can have the hour to yourself!