Sufficed to say it’s been a little hotter than we’re used to in BC this summer. Rather than let our tempers boil over, we’ve got a few games to beat the summer heat and cool down over the next couple of weeks from Erica Hargreave, the founder of Ahimsa Media (Digital, Interactive, Transmedia Storytelling Company), and Ahimsa Kids (Representing Set Teachers and Child Coordinators in BC). Take it away Erica!
I’ve set these activities up like mini-Olympic Games competitions to add a bit of friendly sport in there.
The first one:
Protective Padding
Because it’s not only the athletes that need to protect their noggins…..
Our Child Coordinators in BC can attest to the importance of this! Photo by Steve Wilhelm
MATERIALS:
Water Balloons (filled up and ready to fire)
Anything in the recycling bin
String (an arms length / balloon)
Tape (a forearms length / balloon)
THE SKINNY:
Here’s the deal kids. Your building a helmet to protect your water balloon from bursting. You can build it in anyway you like as long as you don’t break the rules (I’ll get to those in a minute). Once you’ve built and fastened on your water balloon’s helmet, partner up and take turns tossing your partners water balloon gently in front of their feet. To win, you need to be the last dry kid standing (ie. your balloon has not burst).
THE RULES: (Yes, there are rules, because without them it would be chaos people, chaos I tell yah)
You can only use building materials from the recycling bin.
No, you can’t have more tape or string, if you ruin yours, improvise.
No whipping balloons at people. Immediate disqualification.
About the Author:
Erica Hargreave is a writer, storyteller, teacher and scientist. She’s been having fun doing a few summer camps for the Delta School District, including the Wild World of Science, Outdoor Ed and Hogwart’s Travelling School of Magic. She has two up and coming Hogwart’s Camps, the week’s of August 10 – 15 in North Delta and August 17 – 22 in Ladner.
I was lucky enough to spend my afternoons two weeks ago in beautiful Boundary Bay, Tsawwassen with a great group of young people. We rambled through the forests, fields and beaches on outdoor ed adventures, team building, studying edible and medicinal plants, creating things from plants and learning survival skills. Here are a few of the pics:
One young scientist piled 288 pennies on a bridge built from a single piece of paper at yesterday’s Wild World of Science Camp. Can you beat her in this Bridge Building Challenge?
A Bridge Building Challenge Inspiration For You!
The Rules:
Only one sheet of paper may be used.
The piece of paper must bridge a gap between textbooks or boards.
The bridge must sit on top of the text books or boards.
All pennies must be placed on the bridge, over the gap (not over the textbooks or boards).
Spent a morning earlier this week exploring Boundary Bay in prep for this week’s Outdoor Ed Camp. I can’t wait!!! It’s just so beautiful and absolutely perfect for a week of leadership building, camp cooking, survival skills and tracking. Looking forward to it! Here’s a couple of pics I snapped as I was out and about:
A student eager to learn about social media in the Delta School District
Pretty impressed with the forward thinking of the Delta School District, as as far I am aware they will be one of the first school districts to fully embrace social media this summer, by actually offering students a course in it … making them a social media history maker.
That’s right, the Delta School District is having me teach two mini-courses this summer on ‘Blogging and Storytelling’ and I’m pretty gosh, darn excited about it. I love Interactive Storytelling (which is a part of what using social media tools to tell story is), I love to share knowledge (especially that which excites me) and I love working with young people and seeing them get excited about learning.
If our youth are going to blog, tweet or fire up flickr photos – on the new information highways – then might it be wise to teach them to do it in both a socially responsible and personally safe fashion? Join media arts specialist and Delta teacher Erica Hargreave as she helps students create their stories and characters online in a safe and responsible manner. This week of storytelling explores the use of social media tools which are becoming more and more a part of their lives. And of course … don’t forget your digital camera!
Fee: $70
ID 8153 July 6 -10 9:00 – 11:00 am Seaquam Secondary
ID 8154 July 13 – 17 1:00 – 3:00 pm Delta Secondary
Nervous about your child learning how to use social media? Well, I hate to say it, but it is just like sex. You can hide it from them, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to experiment on their own. By showing young people the cool things they can do with social media and storytelling, we can encourage them to be safe, show them how to be safe and how to use the tools responsibly. I also might add, that it is the knowledge of how to use these tools safely and responsibly that a lot of businesses are looking to young people for guidance, opening those that know how to do this to a lot of opportunity.
Hope to see you and your young storytellers this summer!