So what do I know about summer art camp anyways? Well believe it or not, it was just over two years ago when I decided that I had to branch out on my own (thank you covid) and start my own summer camp program. In the beginning of the summer I had full intentions of blogging daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly about the trials and tribulations of everything related to art and art camps and summer art camps excetera and to be quite honest I was overwhelmed and dropped the ball! (ask my web designer how she feels about that. Second thought. DON’T ask her!) I found the file of my attempts recently with all of my thoughts and humorous anecdotes and decided it would be fun to share them with you now, as we move into my third summer running my own summer art camp! Enjoy!
What does a child’s incisor, 15 bottles of alcohol ink and 3 rolls of paper towels have to do with summer art camp?
Well let me tell you…
This week was week 1 of my summer art camp. 9 kids, 2 teachers and one teaching assistant. 4 tables socially distanced around my living room, 14 chairs and the AC set to 66 (were in Texas Y’all, what do you want from me?) Anyways, here are my stats. . .
A three day summer art camp requires 3 rolls of paper towels, one bottle of hand soap, 9 small trash bags, 1 full bottle of clorox wipes, 4 bandaids, 16 packets of crayons, 16 pencils, 17 scissors, 6 packages of construction paper, 6 paper cutters, 35 magazines, 10 sets of newspaper, two broken fingernails, and one lost tooth (that I dropped into the sink and had to dig out of the disposal with my fingers, (no one knows that, don’t tell the kid lol), 6 packages of Mr Sketch smelly markers, 2 1000 count bags of perler beads, one iron, one mop, a bucket of clay water, one football, one soccer ball, several baseballs and a bat, a 16 year old son to entertain with said sports equipment when the kids need an outdoor break. A hammock, shade, and outdoor seating, sun screen, bug spray, bug bite cream. 2 outdoor vinyl tablecloths, snacks snacks and more snacks!
Other fun and silly but important summer facts…
Short kids have short attention spans. Tall kids have longer attention spans. If it’s sitting out they will touch it. If you want to keep it safe, they will most likely lose it or touch it. Lol, Paint does come off of your back door with clorox wipes. Clay gets under your fingernails and likes to linger for days, Armadillo clay is oddly moisturizing on the hands.
ALWAYS have backup crafts. Don’t feel like you have to throw extra projects at them if they finish before others, put aside some quiet crafts they can do in between. Hide your candy stash from your kitchen counter unless you want the kids to be hyped up on sugar the whole day. Be okay with a mess. You will find used paper towels on the floor in the kitchen, art room, bathroom, backyard, stuffed into your purse; everywhere BUT the trash cans.
Did I mention I have 5 trash cans in the studio? FIVE trash cans. And by the look of the floor they are invisible trash cans. SMH Be okay with a kid meltdown, be ok with a grown up meltdown, it’s ok to step back and breathe. Leaving 15 bottles of permanent alcohol ink on a cart for someone to knock over onto the tile floor is not a good idea. (I used a lot of paper towels for that mess too!)
When was the last time I peed?I don’t think I have taken a bathroom break in three days. Siblings don’t always get along. Kids don’t always close the door when they use the bathroom. Older kids don’t stick things up their noses as often as younger kids. Older kids are role models to the younger ones and can be very compassionate and patient. Younger ones look up to the older ones and say the sweetest things.
Summer Art Camp in A COVID World
You know COVID has made everyone NUTS when a kid tells you this is the “Best Day EVER” after only making his name tag in the first 15 minutes of camp. It’s okay to just let them play outside for a little while. They need that too.
HYDRATE! Mr. Sketch smelly markers are still the BOMB. Music is something that everyone loves. Grown-ups singing and dancing to said music is always acceptable. Wear shoes when walking around for 6 hours on the tile floors. It will save your back. The Pearlessence brand hand sanitizer from Kroger smells like a margarita and I have used it 7 times each day just for the smell!!!
Outdoor vinyl tablecloths are REQUIRED on all art tables, they can be hosed off at the end of the day and put back on. They are durable enough to use over and over again but you won’t feel guilty if you have to toss it after three weeks. Teenagers can sleep through 7 kids screaming and playing in the living room for hours at a time. Teenagers will work for cheap. You lose your patience much faster with your own kids. Some crafts are good for some kids and some are not. Let them pick their passion, They will spend hours on it.
Everyone looks like the “Mask of Zorro”
Starting a summer art camp, in person, during a pandemic is not easy. Many summer camp programs about about to start up and the one thing I will say to you all is that THE MASK WEARING IS A PAIN IN THE A**!! (I support the pandemic efforts but seriously this is a HUGE game changer) 6 straight hours of mask wearing each day.
At first it was only slightly annoying and in the way. But as the day went on, it was hard to be heard by the students, hard to emote through fabric, at certain times I actually felt like I was struggling to breathe and left the room to take it off and take a few breaths. And DON’T get me started on when I started to get hot and my glasses fogged up from deep breathing inside the mask. It doesn’t seem to matter the material either. Day one I wore my homemade cotton mask. And my glasses fogged up. Day two I wore a surgical mask I got online. And my glasses fogged up.
One of the days we worked with clay and paper mache. Do you have any idea how hard it is to NOT touch your face when your hands and arms are covered in goo? Or are you up to your elbows in ceramic clay? Or to adjust your glasses on your face? Or a mask? It was quite aggravating for all of us. Why don’t you move your camp outside where you can use masks less you ask? BECAUSE I LIVE IN HOUSTON, TEXAS! Satan himself doesn’t even visit here in the summers!
One good thing is that we can allow siblings to sit at the same table together without wearing a mask. Each time I told the kids that they could remove their masks, all said the same thing, “Oh thank goodness” and they ripped them from their faces.
The collective sigh could be heard on SpaceX. They were told however that if they got up to go anywhere they must put on their masks. Can I tell you how many times today I heard myself saying, “ ______ please put on your mask”. “_______ I need you to go back to your seat or put on your mask please”.
- I felt like a broken record.
- Who would have thought that the biggest issue I would have at a summer art camp is not about getting hurt, but about breathing on someone else in the room.
Summer camp during Covid meant lots of feels
Those poor kids. Looking forward as I hear discussions of schools opening for 2020-2021 the idea of kids/teachers/administration having to wear face masks for a FULL school day is SCARY. How is a preschool teacher going to meet a new class and show them how excited she is to see them without her smile? How is she going to show pride, encouragement and other emotions through a mask?
If we cannot hug or touch or let them see a smile, how will we teach them empathy, care, compassion and such? What does this do to the next generation of emotionally healthy children? Am I overacting? I just know that today, a kid was playing out a beat on the table while the teacher was talking and I mouthed to him to stop, and guess who didn’t see my words? Guess who had to interrupt the teacher and ask him to stop. If I cannot touch the child quietly to get his attention and he can’t see me talking to him, what else do I have to do?
Today the WHO announced that “asymptomatic transmissions are rare” . I got excited. That basically meant, if you don’t feel well stay home, but the rest of us are good to go. THEN this afternoon they recanted the entire claim. And then the CDC recanted as well. So now, if you’re sick or not, carrying or recovering we are all swimming in the same waters. S. C. R. E. W. E. D.
Again, my anxiety is not about myself as much as my parents and others with compromising immune systems. It’s my job to help protect them as much as everyone else. Every time my son sees a new friend, I cannot help but think about how many other people THAT kid has touched, hung out with, hugged etc.. It’s mind blowing.
The next summer art camp project may be to design or decorate our masks. Maybe print our photos on fabric and make masks out of them. At one point I thought sticking their name tag ON their mask would be relevant and funny. Lol Who knows. But this is a whole new world and so far all I’ve gotten is that tooth, 15 broken bottles of alcohol ink and a trip to the grocery store to stock up on paper towels. I’m exhausted and completely happy at the same time.