Las Galeras Camp: Día 2

Well, we must be doing something right. Forty five campers today. OMG. And to boot, when we arrived a few minutes before nine there were already three or four waiting for us. Here are some hilights/challenges:

* While the younger group decorated paddleball games for their art project we did origami with the older kids. I had Sarah show the kids how to do it while Frandy explained. All went well with the first piece - a dog - and then one of the campers saw the instructions for a crane and asked if we could do that one. I said yes! Not the easiest piece to do for a practiced paper folder, it would be quite a challenge for the novice campers - especially given that Sarah wastryaing to follow the directions and Frandy was translating to Spanish. I jumped in at some point, but my memory of the crane construction wasn’t too vivid. Eventually we sought out help from the other room, enlisting Tanya’s help. I mean she did build like 100 cranes for the Washington peace crane project a few years back after all. But that was awhile ago and she was rusty as well. Finally, Camila came to the rescue and after an hour or so we had ten functioning cranes in the group. The campers really needed recreo at that point.

* For the day’s STEM challenge we gave the campers one piece of paper and tasked them with constructing a container that would hold as much water as possible. Luli smartly had her group work individually and the kids had a blast. I, in my continued belief that the campers know how to collaborate, had my kids work in groups of three. They still had fun but the room was a bit charged with heated design thinking discussions.

* Roberto, our host at Casa Dorado, came along with us today. We talked about community leaders for a bit and then he spoke to the older group about Las Galeras and their responsibility to help take care of it. He then stuck around for the rest of the morning and was hugely helpful. Gracias Roberto por todo tu hospadilidad.