Bears’ Social – Session 1
Our Bears campers had a fun night of dancing and ice cream! We always love watching them socialize with each other and make new friends!
Eagles’ Social – Session 1
Our Eagles campers enjoyed a fun social together this week. On Tuesday, they had a fun evening of casino games, laughter, and ice cream!
Lions’ Social – Session 1
Our Lions campers had a blast at their social on Sunday evening. They had a fun evening of games, laughter, and ice cream!
Carnival – Session 1
As always, Carnival was a blast for all campers and staff! Check out some highlights from the day here!
Session 1 Week 1 Recap
We’ve had a terrific start to Session 1 with a week full of new friendships, new challenges, and a whole lot of choosing kindness!
Our campers and staff have written lots of WOWs, made lots of friends, and challenged themselves to try new things. Our youngest campers (Bears) had a great Bears’ Adventure where they made forts, cooked dinner over a fire, and slept in tents under the stars. Our Bears and Tigers campers had Big Campfire on Saturday and showed off their cabin skits that they had been working on all week. Our Tigers campers also had their social where they played Bingo, had loads of fun, and even got ice cream!
All campers enjoyed carnival on Sunday where we played games, ate treats, and won some prizes! Our older campers (Lions and Eagles) have their Big Campfire this evening, and we are excited to see the performances they’ve planned. Lions had their social on Sunday evening where they practiced friendship skills and played casino games.
Thank you for sharing your campers with us! We have been having fun, making friends and growing this past week, and we’re looking forward to our final few days together this session.
Check out the Outpost Schedule to see overnight trips and special events happening this week!
Helping Campers Find Their “Green Zone”
The concept of red, green, and blue zones from The Yes Brain (a parenting book by Dr. Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, Ph.D.) has been a helpful tool for counselors as they learn how to assist campers who become dysregulated.
The red, blue, and green zones describe the emotional characteristics or states our children (and we!) are in at any given time. The “green zone” is the state we want to help our children be in as much as possible and to help them learn to return to when they enter the red or blue zones.
When our children are in that wonderful green zone, they are receptive, resilient, stable, calm, flexible, open, and teachable — all the traits that allow them to be their best selves.
When our kids feel and exhibit high anxiety, fight or flight, rage, extreme fear, a “deer in the headlights, or high arousal, they are in the “red zone.” It’s easy to remember since we all have experienced the feeling of “seeing red” or feeling extremely angry.
Some kids who are dysregulated or out of their green zone don’t go into the “red zone.” Instead, they may go to the “blue zone.” They’re in the blue zone when exhibiting shutting down, being depressed, going rigid, fainting, freezing, or appearing numb.
Understanding what’s happening when kids respond inappropriately (outbursts, tantrums, freezing, etc.) is helpful as we guide them to expand their green zones and learn how to deal with different emotions and experiences.
Tools we can use when campers become dysregulated include:
Connection
Staying in our Own Green Zone
Redirection,
Name it to Tame it
Our goal is also to help campers gain skills to expand their green zone and learn to remain in the “green zone” when responding to interpersonal challenges that are part of all relationships. We talk with campers about calm down strategies that work for them when they “flip their lid.” One of our Kindness Tips is to “Share your favorite calm-down (unflipping your lid) strategy with your cabin group.”
Thinking about children’s behavioral responses to different events and triggers provide a clue to the size of their green zone and can help us, as adult mentors, camp counselors, and parents, help them grow their green zones.
Related/Resources
Ep. 95: Raising a Yes Brain Child with Tina Payne Bryson
10 Ways to Teach Kids to Calm Down
Dr. Daniel Siegel Explaining the Hand Model of the Brain (Flipping Your Lid)
The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child
One-Page Summary of The Yes Brain
Ep. 20: The Yes Brain with Tina Payne Bryson (podcast episode)
The Yes Brain (Facebook Live interview) with Tina Payne Bryson
Bears’ Adventure – Session 1
A highlight of the two-week session for our youngest campers (grades K-3), and their version of backpacking, is Bears’ Adventure. This one-night trip allows campers to experience sleeping outdoors under the stars and cooking over a campfire. Campers’ luggage is taken for them to the campsite, so they are not technically “backpacking,” because they have no pack to carry. With just their water bottle and their positive attitude, they set out from camp singing and talking on their hike.
The best part of Bears’ Adventure is the free time kids get to play and explore the area. For many campers, the longer sticks provide the perfect start to a fort. Others enjoy laying on their sleeping bags talking with friends or silently watching clouds move overhead. Some participate in crafts and games while enjoying being outdoors. For many of these kids, Bears’ Adventure is their first experience “roughing it,” and they absolutely love it.
When they hike back into camp the morning after their adventure, our Bears campers stand a little taller. And their dirty, smiling faces are the best indication that they have experienced the awe of nature.
Tigers’ Social – Session 1
Tigers are our campers heading into 5th and 6th grades. They’re at a great age for age group socializing and events, and they enthusiastically participated in yesterday’s Tigers’ Social, which included socializing, snacks, and a rousing game of Bingo!
Camper Support Team
Our 2022 Camper Support Team is an amazing group of people with many years of experience who are ready to provide assistance to campers and support our counselors this summer.
Our main focus is to partner with you to provide the best camp experience possible for your child. We will contact you if your camper is having an especially difficult time settling in to camp or if we need assistance with a behavior your child is exhibiting that’s not meeting our camper standards of behavior.
If you have any questions or would like to share how we can best support you and your camper, please let us know! Send us an email or give us a call at 800-554-2267 x. 0.
We’re looking forward to helping your camper have FUN, make FRIENDS, and GROW!
Happy Camping,
Chelster & the GAC Camper & Counselor Support Team:
Assistant Directors: Gem, Mec, & Peanut Butter
Head Counselors: Aloe, Anmut, Bagel, Bravo, Dinky, & Tripps
Session 1 Has Begun!
Session 1 has started! We’re so excited to welcome our Session 1 campers to our first two-week session of the summer. This session we have campers coming from as far away as Cananda, Mexico, and Germany and representing many states! Of these campers…
126 are 1st time campers at GAC
194 are returning campers
28 are 3-year campers
and 16 are 5-year campers!
We are so excited for the next 2 weeks that will be spent hiking, singing songs, waterskiing, campfires and so much more! Make sure to keep up with everything going on at camp through our News & Photos (on the Campanion App or your My GAC Login).
What are we eating this week? Check out the Session 1 Menu.