During Specialty, which takes place three times each week, campers have the opportunity to choose their activity and with each meeting they further their skills or continue a project.
Teva means nature in Hebrew. For Teva specialty this session our theme is, “The World We Live In.” The first week centered on animals as we introduced the campers to the many animals living in Teva for the summer. We have a bird, two goats, two chinchillas, two mice, three snakes and five guinea pigs. The campers helped make signs for each animals’ home so that everyone who visits Teva knows their names. They were also challenged to design their own animal, each camper picked a place where their creation should live and then two characteristics which included anything from ten legs, a color, what time of day it lives or whether it has wings. Their creations were amazing; from multicolored ten legged beasties to robotic space penguins and square desert worms to expandable watermelon fish!
We finished off the second week building an obstacle course for one of our guinea pigs. Small groups each designed an obstacle before combining them all into one course with treats hidden along the way. The campers built the course out of old cardboard boxes which ties into our next week which is about saving the planet by reducing reusing and recycling. By the end of the week, they will have used recycled or reused materials for crafts and used the nature around us to make a snow globe.
During the final week of the session, we will practice “survival week” where campers will gain skills in using trail signs to know what animals are around and how to make and use a compass before using these skills to follow a trail and find a hidden member of the Teva staff within camp!