The Day I Refused To Help

The afterschoolers and I went for a walk on the "secret trail" a little while ago. Everyone was climbing on the big mounds of dirt and rock piled in the middle of the soon to be road except for one child. I noticed this child laying on the ground so I quietly walked over and saw that she was digging around a large rock. I was there for a little bit before she looked up at me and said, "I'm going to get this rock out and make the biggest splash ever." I nodded and she went back to work. I saw her taking different rocks and sticks she had lined up to help dig. "These are all my tools to help me get the rock out. There's cutting rocks and digging sticks."                                                              

I smiled and yet again she continued to work away at her task. Every few minutes she would try to push this rock out either by pushing it with her hands or sitting and trying to use her feet. 

To see the effort she was putting in to this was unbelievable. I could see how bad she wanted to get that rock out of the dirt and I wanted nothing more but to help her, but I didn't; I refused. There are two reasons I refused to help.

1. She didn't ask for my help

2. She was working incredibly hard who was I to take away her accomplishment?

 When I said it was time to go I thought she would be upset because she hadn't achieved her goal yet but all she said was "can we come back again?" I promised we would, so a little while later we walked down to the "secret spot" once again. 

Right to the rock she went and everything was just how she left it. Eventually other children came over and started to help. They brought over tools and worked as a team trying to push the rock out.

Once they had more hands the rock eventually broke in half and they all went crazy cheering. In no time at all they finally got the rock out of the dirt and into the water. 

I found myself cheering along with them just as much, and was so excited they were able to get it out. I was happy I didn't interrupt their process and allowed them to achieve their goal all on their own. It's easy being an adult to just step in and help a child do something. It's important to take a step back and think if it's something they should actually be doing for themselves. No, they might not always be able to do it, but it's all part of learning. Children are more than capable to do amazing things as long as they have the opportunity to try for themselves. 

- Leslie Dionne

Thanksgiving

Most people know how much hard work goes into cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. I think after this week the children at Little Munchkins can appreciate the work it takes to make it! 

The toddlers & twos made place mats for their table. We all went on a walk around our yard collecting beautiful things from nature.  

Once we had our leaves and flowers we set them out to dry and began painting our place mats. 

After the mats were dry we applied mac tac to the backs and let the children stick the things they collected from outside. 

The finished product turned out so beautiful and really brought our table together. After dinner you can easily wipe these off and hang them in a window! 

The preschoolers went outside and collected wild flowers to put in vases to decorate the tables. 

The after schoolers made a "Thankful Tree" centerpiece for their table. We collected things from outside, glued them on, and made tags of what we were thankful for and hung them from the branches. 

This turned out amazing! Everyone helped and it turned into quite the conversation piece amongst all the kids and staff!

Now it's time to get cooking...!

The children made rolls, apple crisp, peeled and cut carrots and potatoes, set the table, and even made place cards for themselves. After a week of preparation the children finally got to sit down together and enjoy a beautiful meal together. We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family! 

                                                   Love, 

                                     The Little Munchkins Family   

Wet & Wild | Summer Camp Week 4

 If you think back on your summers as a child you most likely remember playing in or around water. There's no doubt that most children love playing with water, and there's no doubt most children love to be silly. (Did somebody say underwear?) 

I spent Monday morning filling up 100 water balloons. During this long and tedious task I would remind myself how much fun the kids were going to have,  and it would be worth it. We decided to play "Highlanders & Lowlanders" (capture the flag) but with the water balloons. If a player gets hit with a water balloon they are to go straight to jail. If they get tagged they are frozen for 10 seconds only. Blue team and red team had their designated balloons, but the multi colored balloons were in the middle of the playing field and were fair game for anyone. 

After the game was over the kids quickly dispersed leaving colorful broken water balloons EVERYWHERE. I asked where everyone was going because the game was still going. They all looked confused. Then I told them the team to get the most broken water balloons in their bowl wins. 

And off they went...

I'm not sure what game they enjoyed more; the water balloon fight or the pick up. Either way I think it was a victory for all of us! 

If you read this blog often you'll already know I like to give the camp kids a challenge. They always take it very seriously if you call it a challenge. This challenge was to paint a picture with only using your feet! 

Some of the children thought it was the "easiest thing they have ever done" and others got a little frustrated. I was happy that every single camper gave it a shot and they were excited to hang their finished product on our new drying rack. 

Another game we played that was a big hit was the mystery hat game. I printed off a bunch of different wild and whacky actions for the kids to do and others that just said PIE. 

The children sat in a circle and picked a paper out of a hat and had to do the action written on the paper. Some of the actions were : 

Talk like a pirate

Walk around the circle backwards until the next player's turn

Make a crazy face

Do a whacky dance 

etc, etc, etc

The children laughed and were all excited to pick from the hat. Finally after several turns somebody finally picked the pie. "Pie?! What's pie?!" Well I will tell you if you pick the paper with pie you get a pie in the face! 

I asked permission before I put the pie in their face. (homemade whipped cream on a paper plate) After they saw what pie meant they all wanted to pick that paper and by the end of it they were all grabbing plates and smooshing it in their face. 

We also made homemade slushies as a refreshing treat. In the morning the children made jello and I stuck it in the freezer. They weren't sure what we were doing with it until they saw the "Make Your Own Smoothie" station set up. I put out cups, straws, frozen jello, frozen berries, and a lemon lime soda. I was informed of the sugar content from one child, but I told them they only needed a splash. 

The campers could choose from orange, raspberry, cherry, or even a combo of the flavors. They went through the line and created their own slushies. 

And then sat back and enjoyed......... 

Later in the week I brought in a tie dye kit and the campers brought in white t-shirts. It's always exciting to see the finished result! They came out awesome!

We added another addition to our playground this week; pool noodle water wall! By simply attaching dollar store pool noodles with zip ties on the side of our tree house we had a brand new attraction the kids love! 

We also played a hilarious game I stumbled across online. We began playing the way it said online, but decided to turn it into a relay race instead. 

A player from each team has to run with the shower cap and shaving cream on their head, stick as many cheetos on their head as possible, and run back and empty them in the team's container. The team with the most cheetos in their bucket at the end wins. 

We ended the week with a Photo Booth for the campers to enjoy. I put a large variety of dress up clothes out and let the children dress up however they wanted. They got with friends and took silly pictures that I later printed out for them.

I gave the kids their pictures and they made a keepsake picture frame to take home! It was a perfect way to end our week! 

- Leslie Dionne