PERTH & SMITHS FALLS, ONTARIO (June 18, 2013) – The summer break is a wonderful opportunity to foster a child’s skills and interests that may not be fully addressed by the school system – particularly in the arts. If your child has a love of the arts, whether visual or performance related, Maple Key Day Camp is offering a program for them.

One of the pillars of Maple Key Day Camp’s success is the opportunity for older children (those 9 years of age and up) to choose a “major” for their time at camp, allowing them to concentrate on an area of interest for a large portion of the day. While the sports major is a popular option, the Fine Arts program at MKDC has experienced a strong increase in enrollment in recent years.

“The Fine Arts program is a wonderful introduction to a wide variety of art forms,” says Kristen Widenmaier, owner & director of Maple Key Day Camp. “We’ve covered everything from scrapbooking to clay sculpture to film making. Every week we take on a new medium.”

As a result of the success of the Fine Arts major, MKDC has added an additional ‘Performing Arts’ major for two weeks in August. Coming at the end of the summer camp season, the campers majoring in Performing Arts will study a variety of skills including improvisation, puppetry, voice, and dance, culminating in a presentation during MKDC’s talent show on the second last day of camp.

“We do our best to keep topics broad within the ‘performing arts’ and ‘visual arts’ genres,” explains Widenmaier. “It’s important that kids are able to explore their interests without having to hyper-focus on one specific element at such a young age. Rather than study JUST painting or JUST dance or JUST vocal, our campers have the opportunity to expand their range of experiences and skills.”

Maple Key Day Camp, established in 2009, is the only privately owned and operated day camp in Lanark County. Their goal is to contribute to the future of our community by providing high quality care and programming specifically designed for the needs and interests of school-aged children. For locations in both Perth & Smiths Falls, the summer session runs July 2^nd through August 16^th and spaces are still available in most age groups and sessions. For more on their programs, or to register, visit www.maplekeydaycamp.com or call (613) 464-2468.

SMITHS FALLS, ONTARIO (June 10, 2013) – Thanks to the Canadian Camping Association and the Charitree Foundation, campers at Maple Key Day Camp will have their chance to leave a mark on the world by planting a tree and making a wish for the planet.

On Wednesday, July 3^rd, campers at both Perth & Smiths Falls locations of Maple Key Day Camp will each plant their own “Wish Tree”, provided through a partnership by the Canadian Camping Association and the Charitree Foundation.

The program sources seedlings native to each province and coordinates delivery in the first days of camp each year, with the hopes that children will experience a deeper connection with nature.

In the pilot project in 2009, twelve camps in the Parry Sound/Muskoka district of Ontario planted 2,300 trees. Since then both the number of camps participating and the number of trees planted has increased exponentially. In 2012, campers planted more than 23,000 trees across Canada. Thousands more are expected to be planted in 2013.

Charitree is pleased to partner with The Canadian Camping Association for the fifth year. “I deeply value the efforts of camp staff to get kids outside, especially now when kids seem to have fewer and fewer opportunities to connect with nature,” said Koehle Jones, Executive Director of The Charitree Foundation. “This is a real loss because research shows that contact with nature makes kids feel better about themselves.”

“Camps really get this and I think the world would be a better place if more children had the opportunity to attend camp – and of course plant a tree.”

This tree-planting initiative is just one of the ways that Maple Key Day Camp is seeking to teach campers to be stewards of the earth. While nature activities have always been part of the schedule, they will also be bringing in a nature specialist three mornings a week this year to help improve the overall quality of the program.

Maple Key Day Camp, established in 2009, is the only privately owned and operated day camp in Lanark County. Their goal is to contribute to the future of our community by providing high quality care and programming specifically designed for the needs and interests of school-aged children. The summer session runs July 2^nd through August 16^th and spaces are still available in most age groups and sessions. For more on their programs, or to register, visit www.maplekeydaycamp.com.

So, you’re interested in sending your kids to Santa’s Workshop, but you’d like a better idea of what it’s all about? Here’s a little play-by-play, courtesy of photos from our previous events.

Note: This play-by-play describes the FULL DAY version of our program. The half day version includes gift-making stations and ornaments as time allows, but will not include lunch or extra games/activities.

So… there you have it! A day in the life of an MKDC elf!

Our 3rd annual Santa’s workshop was a great success! With double the enrolment of last year, we had a full house and both campers and staff had a wonderful time.

This year’s special projects included:

• peppermint bath salts in gift jars
• Christmas tile coasters
• wreath picture frame ornament/magnet
• slipper socks

The 2011 MKDC Camp Calendar!

Finally, here it is! Our Summer 2011 Calendar is now finalized and ready for your downloading & printing enjoyment! It will look great on your fridge. 🙂

You will notice that all our Fridays have “?” marks on them. MKDC Friday events are carefully guarded secrets and will be fun surprises for our campers. Three of these will be Colour War days, and the others will be other exciting all-day events. You’ll have to be there to find out!

Download the 2011 Camp Calendar Now!

image from thereptilerainforest.com

We love to plan special events and guests! This summer, during Week 2, I am excited to announce that we will be visited by the Reptile Rainforest Roadshow. The show will include over 15 live animals, feeding demonstrations, baby reptiles, and even some animals that our campers and staff can touch! Cool!

From the Reptile Rainforest website:

The Reptile Rainforest Roadshow™ presents a unique opportunity for attendees to get up close and personal with various misunderstood creatures, such as lizards, turtles, frogs, scorpions, and of course, snakes – All in a safe, and controlled situation!

Which creatures will you be most excited to meet?

Marbles a photo by maplekeydaycamp on Flickr.

One of the things we love to do at camp is bring back some of those “lost” games that today’s kids aren’t as likely to know about.

Today, some of our boys learned to play some simple marble games during siesta. What fun!