What a wonderful first week we had together at Lincoln Summer Camp! The week began with lots of new and familiar faces gathering and getting to know one another. We brought back camp traditions like our Lincoln Live talent show, field trips, and of course all of the camp activities that make our days great! Here’s what we were up to during our first week together.

Specials

Music & Drama

Sports & Games

This week, campers started off the summer with Under the Sea themed games and activities! With games such as Fishy Fishy Cross my Ocean, Ship to Shore, Lost at Sea, Blob Tag, and Deep Sea Relay, every age group enjoyed playing the themed games. Ask your camper about their favorite game we played this week! Can’t wait for week 2 for “Camp goes Wild” games and activities!

S.T.E.M

This week, all campers got to take on a giant challenge of creating the strongest marshmallow toothpick tower. The challenge asked campers to build the tallest tower out of only toothpicks and marshmallows that could withstand the highest wind power. That tower was tested to see if it could stay standing through all 3 settings on a fan then a leaf blower! Campers came up with very creative structural designs!

Arts & Crafts

Campers dove under the sea in Arts and Crafts this week! The Pioneers created fish puppets using their handprints. They also made realistic bubble backgrounds using oil pastels. The Ramblers and Pathfinders picked an under the sea animal and used a type of line work called “Zentangle” to fill in their animal. Ramblers C also used oil pastels and watercolors to make an under the sea scene.

Archery

Our Ramblers spent this week learning the basics of archery, safe shooting and target practice. We played 1 – 2 – 3 Under the Sea with easy to count, colorful marks on the targets. 

Our Pathfinders spent this week going over the basics of archery, target practice and safe shooting. Campers chose between recurve and compound bows and sharpened their shooting skills!

Story

This week our Pioneers learned more about the joys of sharing while reading The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. We also read We’re Going on a Treasure Hunt by Kelly DiPucchio and went on a real life treasure hunt afterwards! All of our little buccaneers got to keep some of the “loot”. We then explored the wetlands, looked for aquatic life along the way and read What Are Your Words by Katherine Locke to learn more about what pronouns are. Finally, we designed sand art necklaces to take home!

Swim

Campers splashed into their first Red Cross swim lessons at the Codman Pool! Between swim lessons and free swim, we got to spend lots of time jumping in, learning strokes, splashing around, and getting comfortable with being at the pool. Check out some of the pool fun we had!

Epic Adventures

During Epic Adventures this week we got wet and wild! On Tuesday, we slid and slipped down a giant water slide. Campers loved seeing how fast and how far they could slide down the hill. Wednesday was inflatables day! We had a giant slide, an obstacle course, and a bounce house with a built-in basketball hoop and slide for all of the campers to enjoy. There was bouncing, racing, sliding, laughing and so much fun filling the campus. On Thursday, some of the Pathfinders got a chance to have a water blaster battle! Campers and counselors chased and sprayed each other until it was pretty clear that everyone was soaked! Looking forward to another amazing week at Epic!

Lincoln Live

After a two-year hiatus, we were back in the Lincoln School Auditorium, ready to hit the stage and show off what we can do! Campers from our youngest pioneers to our most seasoned pathfinders signed up to perform their talents for the rest of camp. We had dancers, singers, and even a magician! Some campers chose to reimagine Baby Shark – a favorite camp cheer, while another showed off some awesome karate moves. Counselors also performed a special flash mob just for campers! Campers the got to learn our official camp dance, the Interlude! We are looking forward to all of the other amazing acts that will cross the stage this summer!

Costume Contest

It was an under the sea party Wednesday as campers came dressed in their oceanic best! We had so many amazing costumes it was hard to determine who should be finalists for our dress up contests. There were mermaids and starfish, seaweed and submarines, narwhals and even the ocean itself in our midst! It all came down to Andrey the surfer dude and Isla the jellyfish. It was a VERY close contest with Isla’s jellyfish just beating out the surfer dude. We loved all the creativity on display and cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with for animal dress up day on Wednesday.

Trips for K-5

Pioneers at One Stop Fun

This week the Pioneers went to One Stop Fun! They first went to the pool where they played under a waterfall and on a playground before lunch. After lunch each group took a turn into two fun-filled gyms. One had tubes and tunnels each pioneer had fun climbing and crawling through. The other had different gymnastics equipment including the Pioneer favorite foam pit and trampolines. Everyone had lots of fun and are looking forward to the next field trip!

Ramblers at Legoland

This week, the Ramblers made their way to Legoland at Assembly Row.  There, campers got to experience all the wonders that Legos have to offer!  They went on a ride to fly with Merlin’s apprentice and venture through a kingdom quest blaster battle. A majority of the Ramblers headed to the 4-D theater to view a fun pop out adventure. Then they chased each other in games through the giant play structure. On top of all that fun, they got to play with thousands of Legos!  Campers were also amazed by the replica of Boston in Legos and the new Dot lego collection.  A relaxing lunch in the park capped off a fun-filled day.  It is clear why Legoland remains a favorite at Lincoln Summer Camp!

Pathfinders A on the Schooner Lannon

Pathfinders A traveled up to Gloucester Harbor and clambered aboard the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon. After leaving the dock, campers helped raise the sails to get us moving. Our campers showed off some big muscles raising the three huge sails. Once we were in open water, the campers worked in small groups to learn more about sailing. At one station they learned how to tie different sailor’s knots on lengths of string. Another station gave campers a chance to steer the boat under the watchful eye of the captain and use binoculars to explore the surrounding area – we were even able to see the city of Boston on our journey! This was a camper favorite. The last station was all about navigation. Campers used maps to identify where we were and where we had been. They learned how to use the sails to steer the ship and how to make “pirate handcuffs” using a rope. We picnicked on the deck before head back to the dock. It was a great day on the ocean!

Pathfinders B on the Schooner Fame

The Pathfinders enjoyed a beautiful day at Sea! They learned how to use compasses, how to steer the ship, and how to tie sailors knots. At the end of our trip, we had a knot tying contest! After the boat, the campers enjoyed a lunch by the water and played games in a field until we were ready to go home!

Trailbreakers

Tuesday-First Day of Camp!

The Trailblazers and Trailbreakers kicked off their week with a day on campus where they learned all about how camp works from our trip buddy system to our famous Ice Cream League. Then they got right to work creating a playlist for their bus rides with the help of our Music and Drama specialist Elena. They even played a fun game of Encore to help them come up with more songs. Then it was up to Sports and Games for a game of dodgeball. From there they headed STEM to compete in a Marshmallow Challenge. Who could create the tallest structure that would not blow over when blasted with a leaf blower? The teams took advantage of Marshmallow’s sticky properties to create structures that would stay put. They might now have been pretty but they held up in some mighty high winds! Next was lunch and then Epic Adventures where they raced down the hill on our giant slip and slide. After all that fun it was time for some down time at the pool before ending the day with Gymnastics! 

Wednesday-First Field Trip at Launch

On our first trip of season campers headed to the brand new Launch Trampoline Park in Woburn. They began the day with 2 hours of jump time where they bounced, flipped, battled, slam dunked, and even played dodgeball, all on trampolines. After lunch it was time for Laser Tag for all important Ice Cream League Points. Congratulations to Darragh and for winning their rounds! Then it was time to hit the arcade and campers quickly racked up tons of tickets. Toward the end of the trip campers had to manage when they needed to go to cash in their tickets and still leave enough time to meet their designated check in time with staff. This proved tricky and led to some great conversations about time management in the group. 

Thursday at Water Wiz

On Thursday the Trailblazers and Trailbreakers headed out for a day of fun in the sun at Water Wiz. In addition to getting to ride the attractions in inner tubes, slide down the slides, and splash around in the wave pool, this was also the first opportunity to test the buddy system. The buddy system gives campers a chance to take on personal responsibility for getting back to check in with staff and to practice how to navigate and manage their time in a park where they do not have an electronic device. Many times they have to make compromises with their partners about activities to participate in and how to balance getting everyone what they want to do in a limited time. Blazers and Breakers did a spectacular job of managing themselves, and reached out to staff for support when needed. Another step in growing their personal responsibility. And everyone was on time for check ins and truly enjoyed themselves! 

Friday at Treetop Adventures

For our final trip of the week the Blazers and Breakers headed south to Tree Top Adventures in Canton. At Tree Top they pushed their limits, faced fears, tried new challenges, and got a workout, navigating the 10 different trails at Tree Top. Be sure to ask your camper which ones they completed! Campers were also challenged to figure out who to buddy with based on not just their friendships but also their comfort level with the increasingly difficult trails, and again this led to very mature conversations and decision making that supported everyone in the group doing what they felt comfortable with. And big thank you to the staff who took our younger campers on the blue and black diamond courses so they could continue to challenge themselves! 

Bus Rides and Ice Cream League

Each session of camp we hold an Ice Cream League competition where campers are broken up into 4 teams and compete for points in a series of challenges in order to win, you guessed it, ICE CREAM. Each team gets to choose their own ice cream flavor name and this session we have Americone Dream, Vanilla, Maple Cookies n Cream, and French Vanilla facing off. On our bus rides this week we played Family Feud, Name That Tune, Name That Movie, That’s It, Brain Quest Trivia, and a camper favorite, Wits and Wagers where campers must use their estimation skills to answer, for example, how many Rhode Islands would fit inside Alaska (it’s about 432 in case you were wondering). See the paddles in the pictures below and be sure to ask your camper about it! So far Americone Dream has come out strong and is in the lead heading into week 2, but it is still anyone’s game with another exciting week of competition coming up! 

See You Next Week

We are looking forward to a wild second week with our campers after the weekend to finish session 1 strong! Be on the lookout for a reminder email on Sunday for the week ahead.