Dear readers,
lately, I haven't been very active online, but that's for a good reason!
I'm back to something really energy-demanding, that is, working with children at the summer camp.
That's something very tiring, as you might have guessed - my absence from social media and a lower productiveness may witness that. But it is also very rewarding!
As a huge fan of fostering optimism and positiveness, I want to share you some highlights of our work with kids.
First of all, for many of us, spending time with children is extremely beneficial: it makes us feel happier, light-hearted and awakens that spontaneous side of us that is often hidden under a lot of responsibilities, schemes and prejudices.
Feed the enthusiastic child inside of you!
Another positive consequence which happens very frequently to people is that, during the moments they play with children, they tend to forget about many unnecessary things - like what they should buy at the grocery store or where they should go for the weekend - and also about more existential questions (for example, if the books are always better than their movie adaptations; whether Paul McCartney is actually himself or that old, rocking man is just a very lucky sosia; and several other things like these...)
It's been almost one month since we started the activities with children - what have we done so far?
The first week was dedicated to ice-breaking activities - but most of the times, kids didn't really need it, they really love to socialize and play together. During the following weeks, the group was getting bigger, and it was a pleasure to welcome the newcomers.
Here's a short of list of the main activities we've done so far:
Improve their manual skills (and patience too!) with origami.
Let me share a nice story with you about that. The first day of our camp, we showed the kids how to make simple origami, among them, we crafted the shape of a heart. At the end of the week, while all the boys were busy playing football, I gave some paper to the girls, to draw something.
One of them asked me a red paper to make a heart-shaped origami. She said she liked that activity so much that she crafted eleven hearts at home. I was very happy to hear that and to see that with such a simple acitivity we made her day!
Drawing and colouring.
Sometimes, a less dynamic activity is needed to let children have a rest (yes, they also lose their energies when running around!) and socialize.
Back in the days, we all loved drawing and colouring figures of superheroes, princesses, manga, comics; they brought us to an imaginary world in which a lot of colourful adventures were possible.
Painting.
Not all of the children have artistic skills, that's for sure. But most of them have a vivid imagination and we try to make them improve it by letting them paint, either on paper, rocks, or on the ground, using coloured chalk.
We managed to draw two beautiful flipcharts for one of the children's birthday. It was a very cool way to spend a rainy and lazy day.
Sport activities.
One of the best way of make the children socialize is through sport. Although it involves competion, it is a healthy kind of competition, in which the two (or more) teams learn that to achieve a positive result they have to cooperate and help each other, instead of focusing on individualism.
Workshops.
So far, we've talked about computers, recycling, and foreign countries. During the second activity, the children got really enthusiastic and spent more than one hour writing down all the possible second uses of plastic bottles, flower pots, alluminium cans and toilet paper rolls.
They have a very vivid fantasy and suggested many ideas we didn't think about of - like a napkin holder made out of toilet paper rolls!
Group games.
That's the part they love the most! There are many games that can be played with a ball, or even without a ball, like the lion and antylopes game, or the evergreen hide and seek.
Relaxing and chatting around.
Most of the kids already knew each other, while others didn't. It is important to give them a break from the activities to simply relax, talk, and socialize.
Well, there are a lot of many other things I could share on this topic, but what I want to point out is that, we can learn from the children as much as they can learn from us. Just be open, enthusiastic, and receptive.
And don't forget that everything that we do in life, is a huge opportunity to improve our skills and gain new abilities we didn't even think that we have and, most important, to know more about ourselves. Soooo... wake up that little, curious child inside of you and have fun!
I hope that you find the article useful - if you did, don't forget to share it with your friends - and that I got you a little bit more curious about working with children and exploring our spontaneous and enthusiastic side.
Cheers,
Claudia