Day Camp Offers Hours of Unstructured Play

What do finger painting live horses, sloshing through creeks or building a lizard fantasy land have in common? They’re just some of the playful activities that children have devised during a new play day camp offered at Colvig Silver Camps this summer. You’re watching the local news network brought to you by Tile and Light Art of Durango and Durango Party Rental. I’m Wendy Graham Settle. The New Day Camp at Colvig Silver Camps has a simple mission to give kids an opportunity to indulge in unstructured play. Camp Director Jill Somrak, a retired Elementary school teacher says the program combines structured activities with ample time for kids to explore their surroundings and use their imaginations. For example, swim time at the camp lake might turn into a project to build a mud city for mischievous elves. Or a hike a longer creek turns into a dam building project to see what materials work best for diverting water. Unfortunately, today’s children don’t have enough time to play, as schools and parents place more emphasis on student achievement, worry about stranger danger, and fill schedules with structured activities, children have less time to play on their own. A study by the Real Play Coalition found that 20% of children say they’re too busy to play. 56% of children surveyed for the report say they play less than an hour each day. And 20% say they play less than an hour a week. but Somrak says that children need a lot more time to play on their own to learn how to learn.

They really helps with, yes, definitely the problem solving and the conflict resolution like we’re seeing, you can kind of hearing the kids playing, when something happens and we’ll kind of be there and maybe say like, well, how can you, how can we fix that? Or how’d you come up with that idea and they kind of talk about it. So, they’re really trying to formulate creative processes and problem solving and then of course, conflict resolution is a big one. And then, but it’s been fun.

Each camp session is centered around a conceptual idea to inspire children’s creativity, like make some noise or strange creatures. One and two week camps are scheduled through August 20th and spaces are available. Camp days run from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, Monday through Friday. If you’d like to know more visit colvigsilvercamps.com. Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News network. I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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