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Symphony of the senses | Day 5: Culminating activity

It's the last day of the camp. The weather was so unforgiving today that we decided to cancel our initial planned trip to Kromeriz to see the mirror maze and visit other places connected to our camp's theme. Well, when things don't go as planned, we make new and better plans. Instead, based on the unanimous decision of the children, we headed back to the pool to have a dip in the cool water and beat the summer heat. It's also a great activity to bond with friends and end the camp with a splash. We played pool games, ate snacks and lunch together, awarded the certificates, and of course, spent countless hours frolicking in the water. Four children from the camp received a special certificate and gift prizes for consistently speaking English throughout the week. Good job kids! ... VíceMéně

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Symphony of the Senses | Day 4: Exploring the sense of taste and smell

The sense of taste and smell are closely connected and often work together. So for today's activity, we've paired these 2 senses for a fun and challenging day.

First, we had the 1-inch cube sensory challenge inspired by the T.V show Master Chef. It's a taste test and smell challenge where participants are blindfolded and fed a one-inch cube of random ingredients. They have to guess what it is based on taste, smell, and texture alone.

Next, we had a picnic outdoors and spent a few minutes of free time in each other's company before embarking on another challenge--The Chopped Challenge inspired by the tv show "Chopped".

We set up 4 grocery bags filled with random but limited ingredients. The challenge is to combine all the contents into a creative, inventive, and tasty recipe in a limited time. The participants were divided into 4 groups. Our chosen panel of judges judged the dishes based on how well each dish tastes, use of all the ingredients, plating, and creativity. It was a wonderful sight to see how well the children worked together to create their own masterpieces in such a short time. We are very impressed and proud. The children did not only explore their senses but they also applied practical kitchen skills, and their sense of independence and accomplishments. After the winners were announced, the children tasted each other's dish.

And we did not stop there. Half of the camp participants volunteered to cook their own lunch. What a pleasant surprise! We, the organizers acted as mere observers while the children manned the makeshift kitchen. They prepared crepes with assorted toppings and kiddie sangria and fizzy lemonade as drinks. While waiting for their crepes to cook, some children munched on freshly popped popcorn.

And to end this day filled with cooking and eating activities, we rested our tired tummies and made scented fluffy slime, bead necklaces, and bracelets. ... VíceMéně

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Symphony of the Senses| Day 3: Exploring the sense of hearing

Today, we explored the sense of hearing, one of the five distinct modes of perceiving the world. We invited special guests from poradenské centrum pro sluchově postižené kroměříž to raise awareness and eradicate any possible stigmas about hearing impairment. They introduced the most recent innovations that help improve the lives of people with hearing loss. The children were very interested in learning to spell their name using the sign language alphabet and learned to communicate using gestures and signs. After our guests left, we had a pizza party at the restaurant near the school. Afterwards, we played several games connected to the sense of hearing. We played the lip reading challenge where one child puts on headphones with music blasting while the other child reads a phrase. The child with the headphones has to guess what they are saying by reading their lips. We also played the rapid-fire game where we used familiar songs to point the players towards certain locations around the classroom to find the clue. And lastly, we had a music scavenger hunt outdoors where the children explored the park and find music in unexpected places. Tablets helped each group follow directions and document their tasks in the See-saw app.

Twas a meaningful day for the children to explore the sense of hearing. Tomorrow, we will be looking at the last 2 remaining senses that we will be visiting. ... VíceMéně

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Symphony of the Senses | Day 2: Exploring the sense of touch

With the weather heating up, this is the perfect time to go out and explore, and what better way to cool off than to take time to splash and frolic in the water on a hot summer day!

Water not only helps reduce heat for everyone. With the sensory experience provided by water, water play targets many sensory systems. Our sense of touch plays an important role in how we perceive our environment for our skin is the largest organ of our body. Most of what our brain learns and sees in our world are first communicated to us through our skin. Spending time in the water provides tactile feedback that helps us feel and experience different sensations. For example, it gives us the opportunity to experience different temperatures such as hot, warm, and cold, and textures such as dry, slippery, and wet.

The sensory games we have prepared for the children today kept them feeling cool and happy. They also built social and communication skills, developed hand-eye coordination and physical abilities, and enhanced their concentration and focus. Some of the fun sense of touch activities we played with them were the Touch and grab the candy, Wet t-shirt relay, Flour race (textures), Ring around the water and splash, and cold iced tea drinking race. Of course, between game breaks, the children were allowed to jump into the cold water to cool off, buy snacks, and bathe in the sun. With all the energy spent on the water, we replenished our hunger by having a heavy lunch at the restaurant and eating iced lollies before going back to school. ... VíceMéně

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We kicked-off the first day of the English summer camp with fun sense of sight games and ice cream! The participants settled in beautifully, met their camp teachers, reunited with old classmates and school mates, and met new friends from other schools. It was beautiful to see a crowd of smiling faces again!

This year's theme is Symphony of the Senses, the five distinct modes of perceiving the world. We will be exploring a different sense everyday with interactive and exciting activities that will encourage sensory exploration, socialization, critical thinking, fine and gross motor skills, and of course, language skills.

Today, we explored the sense of sight. The children explored this sense by playing blindfolded group games like landmine, Lego building, and eating snacks in the dark. The highlight of today's activity was our visit to Laser Game Ultron where the children experienced playing in the dark. We ended today's activity with some ice cream and film showing.

With such a fun first day already concluded, we can't wait to see what else is in store for us in the upcoming days. Stay tuned as we will be posting pictures of our camp everyday. Tomorrow, we will be exploring the sense of touch. ... VíceMéně