BADGER  ADVENTURES

The Badger program is for children ages 8 & 9 by December 31, 2010.  The Badger program is one of the most popular and fills VERY quickly. The highlight of this program is the OVERNIGHT each week, except week 5. Badgers will get the chance to help cook their dinner over a fire, sleep in a tent, experience campfire program with songs and skits and explore the night sky before bedtime. On Friday after the overnight, the Badgers will have breakfast  and a BBQ lunch at camp.

All Badgers will have the chance to do 5 out of the following 7 outdoor adventures each week:

Archery, canoeing, low ropes course, outdoor living skills, tree climbing on our Mighty Norway Pine,  orienteering and the climbing tower. Kayaking will be an option for 2nd year Badgers.

In addition to all of this, the Badgers will do a woodworking craft and visit our Craft and Nature Specialists. Each day, weather permitting, they will have a swimming lesson following the Red Cross Swim Kids program.

All Badger groups have an indoor air-conditioned classroom for use in inclement weather. There are marquee tents and large trees on site providing shaded program areas. Staff assist campers in applying sunscreen at least twice a day and encourage campers to drink at least 2 litres of  water daily. The Badgers have their own marquee tent with picnic tables underneath to eat their lunch at.

What is the Badger Program???

  Badgers began their reign of control over the FIELD Adventure programs (and you could say of camp…) 7 years ago. Since then the program has gone through some significant changes in an effort to find the right ingredients to meet the needs of the Badger age group. Due to the unique nature of this program, the Badgers seem to operate as a miniature camp within the larger KDC.

With seven years now successfully under our belts we feel we have established a solid framework for the Badger program.

 

The program is the following:

 

·         A program that revolves around environmental education.

·         Provides children with the opportunity to sample a ‘residential’ style camp experience through an overnight in ‘BadgerLand’.

·         Provides young children with opportunities to challenge themselves, to try new things and to be afforded the potential for an increased sense of self esteem.

·         The Badger program offers experiences that encourage the campers to be individuals. Within those experiences we (the staff and the group) will celebrate the individual successes to help the camper be more aware of the important fact that they can succeed without the help of the parental figures in their lives. This is one of the big reasons for the inclusion of an overnight into the program structure.

·         Encourages positive life skills (communication skills, problem solving skills, trust and conflict resolution).

·         Extends their personal skill base beyond what they learn in school. They will be provided with the opportunity to learn outdoor skills (edible wilds, how to start a fire, map and compass skills, canoeing, kayaking, archery, group work, climbing {Climbing tower and Tree Climb} and nature interpretation.)

·         The Badger program provides children with opportunities to grow through positive reinforcement, and celebrations of successes!

 

On Mondays, Badger groups will meet, greet and overview their week and all the exciting things the counselors have planned for the group.

After participating in some well planned and purposeful group development activities, each group will visit the Badger board and as a group decide on the 5 specialty activities that they will do for their week of camp (canoeing, kayaking, climbing tower, tree climb, low ropes course, archery, orienteering or an outdoor living skills program).

These activities will then be programmed into their week.

In addition each group will visit the Nature specialist and the Craft specialist over the course of the week.

Badgers will also have a scheduled swim lesson and free swim each day of the week. On Thursday Overnights if it is hot they will also have a swim opportunity after Dinner to cool off before the ‘Campfire’.

 

The Campfire Schedule… (Thursday Nights – An optional event for campers)

 

            4:00      Meet at the stage on the island to head up to BadgerLand

            4:15       Set-up at least one of the 7 tents as a group!

Have campers hang up wet stuff on clothes lines (remember to take them down before bed!)

            5:00      Build your dinner fire

            5:30      Change into long clothes and apply bug juice

            5:45       Group Games

            6:00      Dinner

6:30      Clean-up and apply bug juice if it came with your campers from home.

(optional free swim before campfire, this will change the timing of the campfire)

          7:00      Campfire

            7:30      Snack

            9:00      Campfire ends and prep for bed…

            9:30      Stories and tuck-ins…

            10:00    Sleep

   

Friday is a fun filled day of larger group activities! “Wolf Prowl”, a barbeque lunch and a large group swim opportunity makes up this more relaxed day at camp.

The weekly program fee is $375.00. The week 5 program fee is 275.00 (4 day week, no overnight).