Day 2: August 30, 2022

Last night we arrived at the campfire which had been lit upon our arrival. Then we heard a "kind of" scary story and had S'mores  which was the first time for some of us! We made charcoal -  it was interesting to learn that we can make our own and would do it with our own classes. We played a game (1 frog, 2 eyes, 4 legs....) which kept everyone on their toes!

Then we took showers and went to bed.......

Tuesday morning we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed!! We were debriefed about the day. After we got this info, we went and bought our breakfast and lunch Volg. We got ready for the hike and we met Andreas who presented us with some information about the animals. After that we were informed about the unfortunate changes to the hiking trail and then we were on our way!

We were disappointed that we didn't see more animals! However, we had some good chats with the other students and the weather held!

As for campfires, in Singapore, we teach some cheers. We have a cheering competition to see who can be the loudest, get the kids hyped up and this helps to create team spirit. Prior to the campfire, there is preparation where teams create their cheers and group names! One example is "The Hungry Cheer" (hungry, hungry, very, very, .....). What also is good are campfire games like the telephone game, or two truths and a lie, or any basic icebreakers.

During the camp, we're also preparing a 3D village. It's based on a recollection of what we saw in the village. The Goosechase helped us to explore the village and this helped us to remember the details on the houses. We started the village individually with details we remembered, like the church or the flowers. If we had a class, in school or camp, we'd do this because there's no right or wrong and everyone can contribute something - it's a collaborative result. 

Today we got a lot of information about the animals and it was a lot of information!!! When kids are listening to such a presentation, they should take notes so that when they are on the hike, they can pull out their notes and add to them. We could also give kids booklets about the information with some gaps, and have them fill in those blanks. At the end of the trail, there could be a quiz so that they are better able to retain the information. We thought it was interesting to learn about the antlers and that they grow back every year and get bigger every year! We were stunned at how long the wingspan of the bearded vulture was!

Hiking with kids can be difficult! To incentivise them you can bribe them with gummy bears, gamify the experience (e.g. put them in groups so one group wins for doing something like completing an ABC list, not being caught complaining by the teacher, etc...), have enough breaks where there is something concrete they can do (e.g. seeing a playground to play at, etc....). 

Finally, make sure when you plan a camp, you check the schedules in case there are changes. Make sure that you check the trails and ask your school if there's money for this.