by Raphaella Ruggiero, Photographer and Communications Specialist
We’ve past the halfway point of camp and you can bet Tsofim have been busy!
The campers participated in a mashehu called “Taking Care of Yourself”, which revolved around exploring the varying ways to cope with stress. While Tsofimers are likely not riddled with stress, this was a fun way to explore stress relief techniques the campers can apply in the near or far future, which are useful during life’s little hiccups. They began by discussing the five senses- sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. This discussion then led on to the campers being split into groups to rotate through different sensory experiences. For example, the taste rotation included cucumber and orange infused water, which stresses the importance of staying hydrated and having a varied diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to make sure they get all the minerals and vitamins their growing bodies require and help them feel better. For smell, they picked various herbs from Campscape, the camp garden, with each smell from the various herbs helping in some way or other. For example, some give you energy, heal you, or relieve stress. The campers then got to pick favorites and talk about why they chose them and how they could use them during times of stress when at camp or at home. The campers also participated in yoga, meditation exercises, and used coloring books specified for stress relief.
During an evening program, the campers enjoyed “Kindergarten Karaoke Night”. This was a program with the sole purpose of the campers having a ton of fun and re-living life as a kindergartner for one night. This included dressing up in wacky outfits, suspenders and all, hair in bunches and bows, and playing games like 4-corners and heads-up seven-up, with background music like B-I-N-G-O and other kindergarten classics. They also had the chance to finger-paint, make sushi-candy, and dip Oreos in chocolate icing with rainbow sprinkles. The night ended with a finale- a super fun karaoke party!