India Cultural Connection Camp 2016
When : August 8th 2016 to August 12th 2016
Where: Montcalm Secondary School, London, ON. Map
Children between ages of 5 and 12 attendeded the India Cultural Connection camp 2016, from 8th August to 15th August, from 9:00am to 4:00pm at Montcalm Secondary School (see Map), near Highbury and Huron Street. A detailed report on the 2016 camp will be uploaded here shortly. The pictures in the interim will give you sense of the value this camp offer to its campers.
At the India Cultural Connection Camp, character development is an integral part of our planning. Our Day Camp experience expects to cultivate self-esteem and positive values, encourage cooperation, and enable children 5 to 12 years old to experience some of the culture of India. All of our programs are reflective of the core values of RESPECT, and RESPONSIBILITY.
Each staff member is carefully selected for their experience and genuine interest in working with children. Our Day Camp staff team, is made up of youths and adults who know and appreciate the importance of a safe environment, ensuring the right combination of fun and challenge.
ICC Camp activities include Yoga, Sports such as Cricket, Field Hockey and Soccer, Dance, Music, and Crafts. Each year has its own theme carefully chosen to weave into the lives of the campers and absorb the culture of India.
In 2013, our theme of Be the Change encouraged 31 campers to see how they could make the world around them a little bit better. We spoke of big changes and everyday changes. We sang the Gandhi rap! We learned the ancient Indian martial arts of Kalaripayattu, danced dandia, learned magic, did crafts and ate foods from the North, South, East and West India. We changed the drawings of our name into beautiful art!
The theme in 2014 of ‘Mirrors and Reflections‘ were carried through all of our activities, we mirrored each other in yoga, and in the ancient Indian martial art of Kalaripayattu. We did mirror trick drawings and created elephants and tigers. We noticed the beautiful mirror handiwork of Indian designs on textiles and made our own canvas bags with mirror work to take home. Art displays, movies and songs also used mirrors – songs such as Mirror by Justin Timberlake, Man in the Mirror by Michael Jackson, Reflections from the movie Mulan, the movie Mirror, Mirror with Julia Roberts.
We learned that reflection can be outward or inward. Mirrors show us what we look like but we get to know who we really are by reflecting. Our thoughts are mirrored in our actions so, our actions reflect our thoughts.
Cooking was added this year and the campers loved the hands on.
Our theme in 2015 was Water. Why Water. Because Water is Life. We played a game relating to the 5 great rivers in India and realized how lucky we are to have the 5 Great Lakes in Canada. We ate watermelon and played water games. Coincidentally, we had 2 new campers who were named Aarnav or “ocean”
We saw what the future of water could be and how we are innovating to make sure that water is available to everyone in the world. We had a special guest from Trojan Technologies, who showed us how we can transform waste water into usable water. We sent for help with our message in a bottle craft and made rain sticks and paper mache starfish. We danced to Barso re and Ghanan Ghanan. The dance was so well liked, campers were asked to perform it at the Srishti Diwali Dhamaka!