Spring Break and Butterflies!
by Mandy Wilson
What is Spring Break Camp at The Cridge? It’s two weeks of fun, faith and friendship. It’s going on adventures and trying new things. It’s playing games, making crafts, baking cookies and so much more. It’s waking up each morning filled with excitement as you anticipate the day ahead and going to bed exhausted with a brain full with new memories.
Each morning the children are greeted with a smile as they enter The Cridge child care facility. They are invited to find a favourite toy to play with or book to read. As friends arrive, the energy grows. Soon a leader invites some children to come outside to play on our playground. At 9:30 everyone gathers and the day truly begins. After a healthy snack from home, the children prepare to go on an out trip such as to Butterfly Gardens! Everyone enjoys learning about all of the beautiful butterflies and other creatures that live there. As the leaders supervise the group, the children are able to wander around the facility at their own pace. Some are mesmerized by the resident iguanas and flamingos while others are fascinated by the colours on the wings of the butterflies.
After awhile the children start to get hungry and it’s time to get back into the vehicles and head to a nearby park for lunch. The children are offered choices in their activities and on this afternoon they must choose between a hike in the forest, some structured games on the park’s field or free play on the playground. At 2:30, it’s time to head back to The Cridge as parents start to arrive shortly after 3. Once back at The Cridge, the children are offered a healthy snack – today it’s Ants on a Log (celery, cream cheese and raisins). They spend the rest of the afternoon either playing with the toys at the child care facility or enjoying our wonderful playground again until it’s time to go home. At The Cridge, we strive to be as inclusive as possible in all of our activities so that children of all abilities can participate and have fun.
Spring Break 2016 was filled with many highlights. This year we celebrated St Patrick’s Day by baking cookies and on our final day the Easter Bunny left us some treats. On other days we went hiking at Goldstream Park, saw a science show, played Bigger/Better (a trading game) at Mayfair Mall, enjoyed the playground at Gyro Beach and watched the Peanuts Movie at Cinecenta. One fun afternoon was spent styling each others’ hair at The Cridge using purple and blue (washable) hair gels and fancy elastics.
All of the fun activities during Spring Break 2016 have left everyone anticipating Sun Fun 2016.
