2021 Summer Camp Season Highlights
/There were days when it felt like the summer would never end, and other days when it just flew by. This year we did more summer camps than ever before, although with smaller groups, thanks to COVID. Never the less, our camps were all full and had waiting lists long enough to double each camp! What an awesome tribute!
I thought it would be great to give our readers a “wee smackerel” of highlights from this summer’s camps.
We started off in June, with a week of Little Heroes Camp. Campers who were 4 to 6 years old enjoyed mornings out on the trails learning about nature’s superheroes and the superpowers of many plants and animals. They received video messages from their favorite superheroes who empowered them to take action and be nature heroes! By planting seed bombs, sampling the creek to evaluate its health, and competing in our super field day, our campers displayed so much heroism that Humphrey (the camp dragon) congratulated them with their very own dragon scales.
We segued next into Amazing Adventures, where our 7- to 11-year-old campers had a new adventure each day. Monday was team building and trail exploration; Tuesday was a visit to Troll Hollow, where we discovered a gryphon had wreaked great havoc and driven the trolls out. In the ruins we found a map case and went in search of the Lost City of the Wood Elves. On Wednesday we formed teams that competed in The Great Nature Race. Thursday found us at the Funderburg Forest Preserve next door, where we played games, hiked the trails and played in the creek. Our final day was Pirate Day - arrrr! A week full of adventures for sure.
Next we had our Little Creators Camp. With nature as our inspiration, our smallest campers spent many hours outdoors creating treasures to take home. We debuted new camp crafts like caterpillar friends, pressed-plant bookmarks, and extra magical wishing bottles. From frolicking through the prairie to stomping through the woods, we covered a lot of miles! Our campers took pride in adorning the dragon cage with their crafts, and Humphrey appreciated it so much that he gave them scales.
June wrapped up with a week of Peek-in-the-Creek, one of Severson Dells’ oldest camp offerings. We were once more with our 7- to 11-year-olds, and nearly every day we were in the creek, catching crayfish, building bridges, or going on pirate raids. PIC weeks always wrap up with a Creek Walk from our Dells to the next span of cliffs downstream.
Just before the 4th of July, we held not one, not two, but FOUR Grandparents Camps - half-day camps specifically designed for grandparents to spend quality time outside with their grandkids. Two sessions were in the creek, building boats and catching crayfish, while the other two were up in the grassland, catching insects and playing games. This is always one of our favorite camps because we love to see an appreciation for nature shared between generations.
As the hot days of July embraced us, we celebrated our own version of the Olympics with our Little Olympians Camp. Our 4- to 6-year-old campers learned about some of nature’s “athletic” champions and tested their own skills at hiking, climbing, jumping, and running. We learned how to be strong like beavers by building forts, fast like dragonflies by insect sweeping, and agile like frogs as we traversed through the creek. Our week finished with a Severson Olympics and a medal ceremony complete with dragon scale prizes.
Forest Fantasy Camp is another camper favorite. Modeled loosely after the world of Harry Potter, Dellwarts Camp of Forest Fantasy welcomes 8- to 12-year-olds to learn herbology, potions (we made a wicked plantain salve for treating cuts, scrapes, bruises and bug bites - it’s great stuff), care of magical creatures, astronomy, and more. Our gryphon hunt had to be cancelled due to a forecast of stormy weather, but we had a great time anyway, battling the Whomping Willow and creating our own Fabulous Beasts and Where to Find Them books.
A classic SDNC camp is Blazing Paddles, which is for our oldest campers (ages 12-16 years) who still love the outdoors. After a day learning basic canoe safety and paddling skills at Rock Cut State Park, we spent the rest of the week paddling different stretches of our regional rivers: the Sugar, the Pecatonica, and the Kishwaukee. Though the rivers were low, spirits were high all week as we played games, conquered teambuilding challenges, told stories, and laughed our ways down the rivers. Even a surprise storm mid-week couldn’t rain on our parade!
As July drew to a close, we were getting in touch with our inner cave persons during Call of the Wild Camp. Our 7- to 11-year-old campers were divided into two clans (Clan of the Cave Sloth and the Fierce Saber Tooth Tiger Clan), each with its own territory, which was (and likely still is) marked with a wind-powered alert system (glorified wind chimes) and guarded by tree spirits (look for clay faces on the trees). The clans competed in some activities, and worked together in others. We spent our last day at the Funderburg Forest Preserve, where we hiked, waded in the stream, and had a closing ceremony that included trading items we had made and enjoying s’mores.
Early August found us in our final little kids camp: Little Pirates. Our crew of campers learned how to work together as a team as we explored the forest, prairie, and creek together! Like any good sea-faring pirate, we made our own boats, treasure chests, and marshmallow blasters. We also experimented with the properties of water! On the last day, a real-life pirate (Rustyclaw Ruffbottom) sent us on a treasure hunt through the trails of Severson Dells to find a true chest full of treasure.
We then tried something new: a one-day summer camp for adults, which we called Kindred Spirits. We had a full complement of campers, ranging in age from mid-30s up to their 70s! What a wild group it was, and boy did we have fun. We did many traditional camp activities, from name and team building games, to playing in the creek.
Summer drew to a close with a final week of Peek-in-the-Creek. Tried and true activities, like crayfish catching, were on the the menu, but we also tried some new activities, such as letting the campers create their own treasure and treasure hunts! We had a visiting pirate on Pirate Day, and had to find some last minute indoor options when storms and heat advisories drove us indoors. We were so glad when the weather broke toward the end of the week - it made our Friday Creek Walk so wonderfully pleasant.
As we take a collective breath now that camp is over, we start to ruminate about Summer Camp 2022. What activities will we keep and which ones will we change? Is it time to retire Forest Fantasy or Call of the Wild? What would we replace it with? Do we add more options for older campers? Do we need additional adult and grandparent camps?
If you have children in your life who are the right age for our camps, but you missed getting them into one of our sessions this summer, keep in mind that summer camp registration is usually open in January. The sooner you can register, the more likely you are to get a spot. We hope that next summer we can return to larger numbers of campers in each session…but only time will tell.
Until then, the summer isn’t over yet - go on out and have your own adventures!