Seizing the Olympic Games as a Valuable Teaching Moment!
This was the 4th year of the Waterloo VBS Summer Camp and we kicked off the camp with a big bang last week! As usual, I packed up all the material that would be needed for the camp in our Mazda 5, 6 boxes and numerous bags in all and my supportive husband drove me to Waterloo, dropped me off and took the bus back to Toronto.
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| VBS Kids Practising Basketball Techiques |
All nine camp leaders were all pumped up after a three day training camp the week before in Toronto. This year’s leaders are Zhenle, Michelle, Hanna, , Eiston, Aaron, Allen, Joe, Yuan and Yunxiang. These young people are from aged 13- 17, all highschool students who never worked or have any part time jobs. They were volunteers at the camp for two weeks, got no pay, but a free home made lunch each day and a lot of experience working with kids.
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| Junior kids Practising Soccer Skills |
When we had our last big planning session on Saturday evening at Zhenle’s house, I suggested that since the Olympics would be held in July, we should use this as our theme for the sports program to introduce and teach the children a different Olympic sport each day. The leaders loved this idea and each jumped at signing up for an Olympic sport to teach.
Voila! We had our sports program all figured out for our campers and an exciting one for our leaders to teach. We divided all the children in the camp into 4 teams :
Canada, USA, Britain and China.
The youngest children, 5- 6 years old, were on the Canadian Team, Canada being the youngest country; USA and Britian, for the 7-9 years old; China for the oldest children from 10 – 12 years old.
The following were the sports which the camp leaders signed up to introduce to campers for the two weeks of camp. Each day, one of the camp leaders researched and taught the kids some rules of a Summer Olympics sport and helped them to practise the skills needed to play that sport.
Kids loved the drills and exercises and had a lot of fun learning about the sports. They looked forward to our Olympics activities each day.
Kids loved the drills and exercises and had a lot of fun learning about the sports. They looked forward to our Olympics activities each day.
Day 1 – Diving
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| Hurdles nset up for our VBS Summer Camp Hurdles were Made from Cardboards - free from supermarkets! |
Day 2 – Basketball
Day 3 – Hurdles
Day 4 – Running Long Jump & Standing Long Jump
Day 5 – Fencing
Day 6 - Soccer
Day 7 - Triathlon
Day 8 - Badminton
Day 9 - Running
Day 10 - Olympic Games Contest!
Day 6 - Soccer
Day 7 - Triathlon
Day 8 - Badminton
Day 9 - Running
Day 10 - Olympic Games Contest!
The children at the camp just loved coming to the camp and their parents could not thank us enough. Everyday I received positive feedback and rave reviews from them.
“ My daughter told me that she is on the Canada Team and she loves the games and sports!” A parent told me.
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| Leaders Demonstrating Technique of Fencing with Foam Swords Note: Fencing with one hand only, keep the other hand behind your back |
My three sons could not stop singing in the car all the way home! They love the church and camp songs they are learning here. And they told me that each one of them is on a team named after a country. They are very happy at your camp!”
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| Children Loved the Running Long Jump ! |
Yes, I could see the happy faces of the children in my mind and this is the reward I get for running the VBS summer camps for the past decade and more.
R.T., Waterloo, Ontario
July, 2012
July, 2012
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