7/24/26

It was a magical Camp Week 5 in the Girls Inc. Kingdom! ✨🏰

🖌️ Arts & Crafts: Campers brought their imaginations to life by creating decorations for an enchanted garden, designing their own treasure maps (aged with instant coffee), painting Disney-themed hairbrushes, decorating rocks with special guest, Ms. Christine, and illustrating their very own fairy tale storybooks.

🧬 STEM: Girls put their creativity and problem-solving skills to the test with the UP Challenge, building houses out of popsicle sticks and seeing how many balloons it took to make them float. They also planted their own enchanted gardens to take home.

👟 Physical Activity: Campers stayed active with the Grow Your Kingdom Relay (collecting teammates as they raced around cones), competed in Ruler of the Kingdom (a fun mix of dodgeball and Battleship where teams knocked down each other’s “ships”), and practiced for Friday’s camper talent show.

🧘‍♀️ Mind & Body: This week focused on building friendships and self-expression through Walk & Talk Circles, where campers paired up with someone they didn’t know well and connected through guided conversations. They designed family crests, acted out Disney Character Charades, and enjoyed Tea with the Queen by creating their own herbal tea blends followed by girl talk. Phoenix Mental Health led a specialty session where campers decorated crowns, created playlists, and explored how music can express and influence emotions.

🌟 Wednesday Dress-Up: Campers showed off their creativity by dressing as some of their favorite Disney characters!

🚴‍♀️ Bold Adventures: Adventurers enjoyed exciting trips to the Beardsley Zoo and IT Adventure Park.

🎉 For this week’s Ellafi Specialty, campers celebrated Christmas in July! They got to design the best stocking they could within a budget, learning to prioritize needs before wants. They also played Christmas “Price Is Right”, guessing the prices of holiday items while discussing smart shopping, and took on the “Pass or Purchase Challenge”, deciding whether they would buy different items and explaining their choices. To wrap up the festivities, everyone decorated ornaments, enjoyed candy canes, and spent time coloring together.

NEXT WEEK – WEEK 6 “GIRLS CAN…MAKE IT, BUILD IT, CREATE IT” 💡⚙️📝

CREATIVE ENGINEERS

Activities: Marble runs, Domino chain reactions, Wearable STEM art, Tie-dye, Team build + move races

Learning Focus: Engineering, Aviation, Art, Imagination

Wednesday Dress-Up: Who you look up to! 🌟

FIELD TRIPS (UNIT 7/8 and UNIT 9+)

Bold Adventures (U7/8) Field Trips:

• Monday – NO TRIP
• Tuesday – Meriden Markham Airport (Meriden, CT)
• Wednesday – National Helicopter Museum (Stratford, CT)
• Thursday – West Hartford Reservoir (West Hartford, CT)
• Friday – NO TRIP

Leaders in Training (U9+) Field Trip:

• Friday – National Helicopter Museum (Stratford, CT)

Please make sure Field Trip campers pack appropriate items for the trips, including cold lunch, water bottle, a light jacket or sweatshirt, bathing suit (when applicable), towel, sunscreen, and closed-in shoes for all trips (flip flops can be carried in a bag).

SWIM SCHEDULE 🏊

REMINDERS:

• LOST AND FOUND
  • Please LABEL all of your child’s belongings, so we may reduce the number of items that end up in the Lost & Found. Please check the Lost & Found throughout the week for any items your child may be missing. Unclaimed items will be donated or disposed of at the end of each camp week.
• LATE PICK-UP FEE
  • In order to account for staffing and maintain smooth operations, families will incur a late pick-up fee of $25 if your camper is picked up more than 10 minutes after their scheduled pick-up time. We understand that delays can happen, and we appreciate your effort in picking up your child on time. If you anticipate being late, please notify us as soon as possible.
• SWIM LESSONS
  • Please be advised, that during free swim time, beginner swimmers do have the opportunity to use life vests. However, during swim lessons, our swim instructor does not allow use of them for the following reasons:
    • They prevent proper learning of swim skills and managing body position.
    • They create a false sense of security. It’s important during lesson time that they create trust with the instructor in the water.
    • They interfere with learning water confidence!
  • All swim lessons are taught with an Water Safety Instructor (WSI) in the water with the camper at all times, and a lifeguard supervising from outside the pool.
  • If your camper expresses that they are not comfortable getting into the water, our WSI always allows them to opt out when it is time for their lesson.
• FOOTWEAR
  • To ensure the safety of every camper, please make sure your child comes to camp with closed-in footwear (Ex: sneakers, Crocs in “sport mode”, fisherman sandals or all-terrain sandals). Flip-flops and other open-toed or open-back sandals may be worn for pool-time only; closed-in footwear must be worn for all other activities. 
• UNIT 7/8 and 9+ LUNCH
  • Unfortunately, lunch is NOT provided by Meriden Schools for Unit 7/8 or 9+ field trips for the duration of Summer Camp. Please send your camper with a cold lunch on their field trip days. Free lunch is available for their days on-site at our Center.
    • Unit 7/8 – Lunch provided on Friday ONLY (Field Trips on Mon-Thu)
    • Unit 9+ – Lunch provided on Monday-Thursday (Field Trip on Friday)