Love ‘Em & Lead ‘Em | Tales from Veteran’s Day Play in a Day Camp
I'll Lead The Way...Follow Me!
The mood was calm and excited. One of these special Play in a Day Camps where each and every 4 year old makes it all the way through the long day and no one says “I don’t wanna do the play.” Perhaps it was because we had a great mix of new and returning campers. Perhaps it was because the camp was lead by the Glitter & Razz Dream Team of Cassie Powell, Martin Brecht, and Cinda Russell. Perhaps because it was a rare mid-week camp and kids are just more mellow on Wednesdays (whatever happened to Veteran’s Day being observed on a Monday, by the way?).
Or perhaps, it was a theme…Love ‘Em & Lead ‘Em is all about leadership. What does leadership look like and feel like from the perspective of young children under 10 years old? Well, from what I have observed, it looks a lot like learning the importance of following directions. I think the roots of more complex and sophisticated leadership (Obama-style) start with young children learning how to control their own behavior when someone asks them to do something that they don’t particularly want to do. And, on the flip side, learning how to use words and actions in a positive way to get others to do things with and for you.
Yesterday, there was a lot of focus on leading and following in creative movement through eye-contact; following the movements of the teacher and trying to match her as best as possible; cleaning up and helping others clean up; and older kids setting positive examples for the younger kids.
We will continue to refine this theme because I believe there is a lot more there. We’ve done this theme 3 times now and I continue to learn more about teaching leadership to young children. Please let me know if you have any suggestions!
Here are a few more images from camp…
The 'English Dragon" who's looking for a party
I wasn't kidding when I said we did a lot of cleaning up!
Railey, age 9 is one of our Glitter & Razz All-Stars and was our oldest boy of the day. This reluctant leader finally managed to assume his role and wound up actually enjoying it by the time he sat down for mouse facepaint with Martin.
Some of our younger girls are trying to figure out "what's next?" as Cinda takes them through the schedule of the day.
