This week was the last week of Session 1 for our K-6 campers and it culminated with a Camp Show and Color War. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our Session 1 families who won’t be returning for Session 2, for sharing their campers with us this summer. We hope they had a blast! Below is a overview of their final week, and a peak at the Trailbreakers adventures.

Specials

Sports and Games

Welcoming our campers to Color War week, the Pioneers began with the rain-day game trashcan toss and collected points playing protect the pin! Ramblers followed close by protecting their own hula hoop castles, then switching between dodgeball and capture the flag. Pathfinders joined the fun with their own dodgeball tournament and a few games of classic soccer and handball!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Music and Drama

Music and Drama was jampacked this week with practicing for the Camp Show (which was fantastic!!) After rehearsing on Monday and Tuesday, all the groups performed their dances for the whole camp on Wednesday. See below for details on the show! On Thursday, the Pioneers had a freeze dance competition for Color War with a fun bubble surprise. The Ramblers played Guess What and Name that Song in color war teams—the scores were really close! The Pathfinders had an INTENSE dance battle where everyone busted a move. They also played Name that Song and the competition was fierce. Thank you everyone for bringing your all to Music and Drama this session—so excited to see what happens next time!!

• 

• 

• 

• 

Arts and Crafts

What a colorful week it was in Arts and Crafts! All of the groups created necklaces for their color war team. The Pioneers and Ramblers also made paintings using tissue paper. The Pathfinders finished out the week making  coasters using a tile and sharpies, and the Pioneers used sticks as a paint brush to create color war pictures! 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Archery

This week in archery we were RED-y to try all on our own! We competed in our colors to see which team would come out vict-ORANGE-ious. Campers archery skills were the best during this week 3 and they aimed to win Color War. When we had some bad weather we BLUE up some balloons and had a blast playing keep-up!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Story Time

In Story, we created Mad-Libs! The older campers were GREEN with envy with how funny our stories were! We also read “Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave” before the camp show to inspire confidence and help Pioneers feel brave as they take the stage to perform.

S.T.E.M.

Color war week started with a bang as the Pathfinders started designing mini golf courses! The Ramblers started their week with making kinetic sand, and then did a bunch of small STEM-focused challenges for Color War such as making the longest chain and marshmallow challenges. The Pioneers went on a nature hunt (and saw a frog!) and made chalk paint to decorate the sidewalks in their team colors.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Tumbling

We were all excited to see what Ms. Jennifer had up her sleeves for Color War week and of course she did not disappoint. Campers used a springboard to jump and climb mats that were taller than even their counselors! Getting to the top may have seemed difficult, but all campers who wanted to could reach the top with a little help. They even practiced doing tricks on the balance beam, like cartwheels and split jumps. Ask your camper about their favorite tumbling activities from this week!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Swim

After a day of land lessons due to weather on Monday morning, campers were excited to head back to Codman Pool the rest of the week. As it warmed up throughout the week, more and more campers jumped and splashed in the pool to cool down and have fun. It’s great to see the swimming progress campers have made throughout the three-week session!

Epic Adventures

Epic Adventures this week was all about earning those all important points for Color War! In the beginning of the week, competition was fierce as we competed in Slip and Slide riddles! Campers were given a riddle to figure out the answer to. They then had to slip n’ slide their way down to a pool of letters and, one letter at a time, bring back what they needed to spell out the answer. The riddles got tricky but campers worked together and thought through their ideas with persistence! Later in the week, some campers got to take a break from Color War competitions and play a camp favorite – Fizz Fiasco. Counselors wore necklaces of Alka-Seltzer tablets and campers used water blasters to get them to dissolve. 

On Friday, all campers got a chance to have some inflatable fun! We brought in a roller racer course where campers scooted around an inflatable race course on mini-scooters. Some campers really took to them and were able to fly around the track. We also had a 75 foot inflatable obstacle course that campers could race a friend through –  jumping over and dodging around different obstacles they finished with a giant slide and then run back and do it again and again! We also treated campers to a snow-cone – a perfect icy treat on a hot, hot day!

LSC Mystery #3

The mystery this week was a big one – someone had hidden our Color War Cup! Campers knew it was a rainbow ranger who didn’t want just one team to win! They gathered clues from specialists to investigate how to get the cup back in time to announce a new color war winner on Friday. By the end of the week, Andrew, our Sports and Games Specialist, was discovered to be the one hiding the cup from us! He came in at the final hour and returned it, just in time for us to crown the Color War Champions!

• 

• 

Camp Wide Events

Camp Show

We had our first annual camp show of the summer! All campers headed to the House of Blue to show off the performances they’ve been rehearsing all week. We had a blast yelling out camp cheers between performances and even got the life guards to join in! Our show started with Pioneers showing off their moves to Shakira’s “Try Everything” from Zootopia and “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey. Ramblers came in strong with rock out performances to “Eye of the Tiger,” “Don’t Stop the Party”, and “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger.” Pathfinders got their groove on (and showed off some gymnastics moves) to the Cha-cha slide and a Hamilton rendition of “The Room Where it Happens.” 

We can’t wait to see what performances groups come up with for the next camp show! Huge shout out to our Music & Drama specialist Elana for helping everyone rehearse and perform!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Color War

Throughout the week, campers got the chance to cheer on their counselors who competed for Color War points each opening council this week. On Tuesday, counselors competed in the classic Human Knot where they jumbled up their arms and needed to untwist themselves. In one of the quickest human knot competitions we have ever seen, red took first place. They also competed in the less widely known but camp-classic Electric Hands, where all participants had to use just their two hands to lift the rest of their bodies off the ground. While this one was a little trickier, good communication and a great team plan led the red team to success again! On Wednesday, the Rainbow Rangers brought out some unicorn horns and rings for a ring toss. One counselor per team was the unicorn, and the others tossed rings to try and score 8. While more challenging than anyone thought at first, blue persevered to take first place. On Thursday, we turned to a trivia game called Wits and Wagers. The counselors had to estimate to give their best answer to questions like: how long is the equator? When was the first cell phone invented? And how hot does a toaster need to get to make a piece of bread toast? Trivia was a close competition, but in the end green and red tied for the win! Finally on Friday we turned to our Knockout Competition, an LSC favorite. Campers cheered on their color team counselors as they tried to make each basketball shot they took. When it was down to the wire, it looked like red would be victorious, with 3 of their counselors still in against just one orange team counselor. But against the odds, Kyle, from the orange team, held off the competition and came out as our champion! 

With the counselor competitions out of the way and with earned points from specials throughout the week, campers were ready to turn to a day of color war competitions on Friday. Campers rotated through stations to compete in some camp classics. Pioneers and Ramblers searched through the wood chips of the playground to find as many golden coins as they could in our seek and find competition. Pathfinders played a few rounds of Castleball and Dodgeball on the Sports Court. Up on the field all groups competed in some awesome relay races. Campers dashed back and forth to fill their team’s buckets of water using sponges and broken cups. They also maneuvered their bodies through a hula hoop around their team circle as well as showed off their coordination during an over/under relay. 

After a refreshing dip in the pool for free swim, we were ready for the Color War conclusion – the all important Cheer Off Competition and Tug-of-War. Campers came with spirit and enthusiasm to the field, ready to prove that their team deserved to win. During the cheer competitions, teams gave it their all. We heard takes on favorite camp cheers like Little Red Wagon, The Moose Song, and our Birthday song. We also heard original cheers and, for the first time ever, had campers lead at least one cheer for each team. The Rainbow Rangers were blown away by the creativity and power that came from each team and had to make the very difficult decision of crowning a winner. After much debate, the blue team, with their awesome moves, pushed them to the top. In tug-of-war, campers dug deep and pulled with all their might to help their team. 

Throughout the week the color war competition was tight, with the lead bouncing from team to team and the difference between first place and fourth place never being more than 20 points. On Friday, one team started breaking away from the pack and didn’t look back. For the first time since 2015, the Blue team was crowned champions of Color War!

We love cheering on our counselors in Knockout!

Trailbreakers

Monday

Monday kicked off Session 2 as we welcomed back campers from Session 1 and had familiar faces from summers past join our group. The weather threw us a curveball on Monday cancelling our planned trip to Codman Farm for Community service. We hope the weather cooperates this coming Monday. However we did not let the rain stop our fun, our three new Ice Cream League teams the Sour Patch, French Vanilla, and Caffee were set for a day of competition. We began with a Ping Pong Tournament, before heading into the classic game show Double Dare. In the game if teams did not know the answer they could dare the other team to answer them or compete in a physical challenge. Team Cafee successfully answered the most questions and completed to the most challenges to win first place! As the rain lightened up we were able to head outside for knockout, and then sponge and ping pong ball relays. Finally we ended the day with a Water Pong Tournament.

Tuesday

On Tuesday the Trailbreakers headed to an LSC favorite – Urban Air Adventure Park. There they jumped on trampolines, battles on the balance beams, completed ninja warrior courses, and climbed rock walls. The most adventurous campers took rides on the indoor Skyrider which sent them flying across the ceiling of the park. They also enjoyed a delicious pizza lunch before heading back to camp to finish their Water Pong Tournament. 

Wednesday

On Wednesday Trailbreakers were supposed to head to Breezy’s Waterslide for a day of fun by the lake. However all the rain we have been getting has left Breezy’s underwater, and forced us to change plans. Instead we headed to Paradise Mini Golf for a day of Ice Cream League Competition on the mini-links. There were strong performances from all 3 teams, and a remarkable 3 free games of golf were won on the famous 18th hole skeeball shot! When we returned to camp we headed over to our tennis courts for a King of the Court competition. Congrats to Charlie on the his win for team French Vanilla!

Thursday

On Thursday the Trailbreakers embarked on what has become a right of passage for our oldest campers, the hike up Mt. Monadnock. At 3,166ft the 2 mile trail to the top is steep, rocky terrain that tests even the most veteran hikers. Our campers did an amazing job supporting each other on this extraordinary journey, pushing each other to keep going, and recognizing when they needed breaks. Some campers summited and others, short on time, made it just below the summit. All campers can be proud of their accomplishments, and for those who did not summit there is always next year!

Friday

On Friday we headed to La Vida Adventure Park for a day of teambuilding and challenges. They began by Saving Larry the Chicken from a black hole by stepping on a series of 19 stars in order, and thanks to the leadership of Owen, formed an organized plan for how to make this task happen in just 25 seconds! Next they had to Cross the Lava Pit to get to Larry’s house for a thank you dinner, and the challenge was tough. They had to figure out how to retrieve a rope, swing across the pit, and safely land all together on a platform on the other side. Communication was more challenging during this task, but eventually they regrouped and created a magnificent shoe rope, and Charlie showed off his cowboy skills lassoing the rope so they could cross the pit. After those challenges they were ready to hit the air, where capers served as each other’s belay teams as they hit the high ropes challenge elements at La Vida. Each one of them set and achieved personal goals before each climb with many campers going higher and trying things they never had before. Pasha climbed higher, John did an element backwards, Dany did push ups and jumps, and Clarissa did karate kicks. La Vida had professional photographers on hand to capture all this excitement and those photos will be posted when they come in! 

Ice Cream League

It was a great week of Ice Cream League competitions with rousing rounds of Name That Tune featuring music from today, the 2010’s, and 1980’s, awesome estimates during Wits and Wagers, grumbling tummies during our new game Eat It, and guess galore in one of our favorites That’s It! Right now team Sour Patch is in the lead, but Cafee and French Vanilla are right on their tails. We will have to see what happens during week 2 of the competition! 

Until Next Time

We had such a great end to our first K-6 session, lots of hugs and goodbyes to celebrate the good times. We look forward to seeing some of you return for session 2 starting on July 26th and to continuing all the fun with Trailbreakers Session 2 next week.