Magical Moments at Centauri Summer Arts Camp – Part One…

This year, during Staff Training, our focus was on magical moments, and how often, these days, childhood is so closely supervised and involves so many organised activities, the magic of those early years is disappearing, and needs to be cherished and re-ignited. We challenged our counsellors to find ways to incorporate magical moments into their camp activities. All our counsellors were incredibly inspired by this challenge, and at the end of the summer, we asked about some of the specific things they had done with their dorms as a result. Here are a few of their responses, with more to follow in ‘Magical Moments, Part Two, Three and Four’ over the next few weeks.

‘One of my favourite magical moments this summer was a bedtime dorm hour when we had our campers change into pyjamas, then we brought blankets out to Flagpole, and made a dorm nest under the trees. We drank hot chocolate and wrote letters to our future selves as the stars came out in the sky above us.’

‘Magic sometimes takes forethought, and planning. For one dorm hour, we did something I called ‘The Pudding Challenge’. We broke into pairs and fed each other pudding, adding certain challenges along the way such as using no hands, holding the spoon between our knees, wearing a blindfold, etc. It was magical not only because the dorm bonded so much through laughter, silliness and a shared treat, but also because returning campers knew this has become a camp tradition. Everyone felt part of something.’

‘There were so many magical moments! In one session, my girls all liked Zac Efron, so I left a note in the dorm that was supposed to be to them, from him. The note led us all on a scavenger hunt and at the end of the hunt, there was a male staff member dressed as Zac Efron himself! Magical moments like that take planning, but you can inject magic into everything, just in the way you do it. For a spirit supper, I  cut out bits of paper to spell our dorm’s assigned theme, and scattered them in the dorm. The campers had to work the theme out – which got them all excited for what we were going to do.’

More magical moments to follow soon!

Julie
Camp Director
Centauri Summer Arts Camp