Now that you’ve heard about Day Camp week 1, let’s recap week 2! We ran two weeks of day camp at Wainfleet BIC Church in Wainfleet, ON. Read on to hear all about our second week of day camp with our 11-15 year olds!
The theme of our second week was Survivor. I don’t know about you, but Survivor is one of my favourite shows, and it was so cool to see it come to life! Campers got to compete in Survivor themed challenges all week lead by our program directors Aunt Katie and Aunt Ella, and there was even some twists. They were in 4 colour teams (red, blue, green and yellow), and even got the classic Survivor buff headbands. Each day teams got to vote out one other team at the council meeting. The “out” teams could still participate and earn points for another team but they could no longer win. And it wouldn’t be survivor without hidden immunity tokens, which either protected your team from elimination or earned your team points. Who won? Keep reading to find out!
On Monday, campers got to claim their team. One person from each cabin reached in a box with different coloured buffs and the colour they pulled was their team for the week. All campers got a coloured buff to wear with pride for the week to show support to their team! The morning game was getting to know more about your cabin. The afternoon game was a survivor themed challenge course, complete with a survivor puzzle.
In chapel Monday, our speaker for the week, Uncle Wes, shared his “survivor story” on his life before he met Jesus and how Jesus searches for us.
On Tuesday, the campers were challenged to dress to represent their team. The campers rose to the challenge and came dressed fully in their team colours and it was so much fun! Our campers showed off their physical and mental strength today! The morning game was a strength based obstacle course. The afternoon game was capture the flag, which is a camper favourite. They ran and tried to grab the other team’s flag from the opposite side of the field without being caught!
In our chapel today, Uncle Wes shared about how joining a youth group when he was younger was impactful to his faith and the importance of surrounding yourself with people that will support you and pour into your life.
Wednesday was Wet and Wild day again this week! I’m not sure if the younger kids or the older kids enjoyed water day more… but there was many smiles again this week, and not a dry camper left! Alongside our water activities, like the bouncy castle, slip n slide soccer, water balloon slingshots, and the dunk tank, all of our games were water games today!
The morning game was a water balloon merry go round game, where one camper from each team would run around all the campers in a large circle and once they got back to where they started, they would army crawl into the centre and try to smash a water balloon. The first camper to smash the balloon got points for their team. The afternoon game was another survival themed multi step challenge; but this time all water challenges!
In chapel Wednesday, we learned about community and how the whole church community is there to support the youth, even when they feel separated from everyone else.
And just when the teams were starting to dwindle, our program directors, Aunt Katie and Aunt Ella, threw a twist at everyone! In a typical survivor fashion, there was going to be a merge! The two eliminated teams joined the two existing teams, and now there was just the red team and the blue team. Campers and staff alike were fired up again and all ready to compete for the win!
On Thursday, the morning game tested the team’s intelligence. Cabins were given a list of survival related items and had to rank the list from most to least important. Cabins got points for each correct answer in the right spot on the list.
In chapel Thursday, Wes spoke about commitment and his baptism story. He talked about making a commitment to God and inviting him to be a part of your lives.
In the afternoon we had the unique opportunity to learn how to do fencing from a pair of skilled instructors from Brock University. Campers got a full introduction to fencing and its history (did you know fencing was one of the original olympic sports?), and then got a lesson on how to use the foil. After they got a lesson, they got to suit up in full fencing gear and practice combat! It was so fun learning a new skill and the art of fencing! We loved seeing campers learn and try fencing and watch the combat!
On Friday (our last day!), campers started their day with a game of bucket ball. Bucket ball is similar to basketball, except the hoop is a person with their arms in their circle. It looked like tons of fun! In our final chapel session, Wes spoke about how we can speak to others about God once we leave camp, and sharing our experiences. He also took time on Friday to answer all the great questions that were submitted in the Q&A box throughout the week.
To end off our week together, the campers and staff had a very special treat. We played Archery tag! If you’ve never heard of Archery tag, you play as a team and try to shoot the players on the other side with a squishy ended arrow that you shoot out of a bow. We even had huge inflatable barriers to hide behind. It was an amazing way to end our week. The campers even got to watch our staff versus the jr staff and crew play some rounds. And just so you know, the staff won 3 for 3! It was all in good fun and the campers all had a great time.
And at the end of our survivor week, the RED team was our winners! Our programming was awesome this week and all of the campers loved the survivor challenges, all lead and created by Aunt Katie and Ella.
We LOVED all of our time in Wainfleet! Both weeks were filled with non-stop fun, spiritual growth and memory making. It was amazing to see all the campers, new and old in a new way this summer.
A few thank yous:
To WAINFLEET BIC for the use of their building and space and all of their cooperation with our day camp
To PORT COLBORNE BIC for feeding our staff every night
To THE JERICHO HOUSE for housing our staff for two weeks
To our ARCHERY TAG and FENCING instructors
To OUR CREW for making our day camp clean, and giving us tuck and helping where needed
To OUR JR STAFF for taking on cabin leading with so much energy and leadership
To OUR KAHQUAH STAFF for all their hard work to make this day camp happen
And Thank you to YOU for all your support to Camp Kahquah and its ministry and for helping make this day camp happen!
And don’t worry, stay tuned here for FAMILY CAMP BLOGS coming soon!
Thanks for reading!
– Emily
Week 2 Day Camp Cabin Photos
