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Children's Summer Program
Camp Linden works with six inner city summer day camp programs located in schools, churches, or community centers in the poorest neighborhoods of Philadelphia and Camden. These programs provide a variety of educational and recreational services to children which encourage the development of various skills and cooperative behavior. We provide resources not available to them: safe, beautiful fields and woods, swimming and nature lessons, clean air and freshly harvested, organic vegetables from our own Camp farm. We are open five days a week for seven weeks during the summer.
Camp Linden gives each child a once - a - week adventure; simple activities unavailable in overcrowded cities. The children discover a world that most have never encountered. They arrive a bit fretful, wondering if they will be safe from bugs and wild animals. They quickly become acclimated to and appreciative of their newly found natural surroundings. After their second or third visit, they've learned to feel at home when surrounded by trees and pastures. By the end of the summer, they've captured insects to study and release. They've waded in a creek full of life and found it cool and lovely. They've grown a sturdy marigold to take home; they've cut bouquets of flowers for their city counselors and learned how quickly everything can grow if they take good care of the garden.
At about 10 AM, Monday through Friday, late June to mid-August we welcome 30 to 50 children per day. Our campers range in age from five to twelve years. We have swimming lessons at our 30' by 75' pool allowing even the most challenged child to learn. Successful students have loudly proclaimed their freedom from fear and are justly proud of their new skill. We have hikes through our 54 acres of woods and fields led by knowledgeable and well equipped staff, and discussions about insects, animals, trees or habitat. Campers taste and smell wild garlic and wood sorrel growing in the fields, or cherry tomatoes and basil from our garden. We have books, supplies and equipment. Each walk is a lesson followed by related activities - games, stories or crafts - that illustrate or better explain points made during the walk.
Our raised bed garden (we have 12 beds, each 48 square feet) is becoming an increasingly important part of our curriculum. The garden is an abundant source of cabbages, carrots, potatoes, cucumbers and many other vegetables for our campers. We strive to make the program as much fun as possible, engaging the children through their energy and not through our expectations.
Children are permitted to run and explore. We have found that the campers get along far better than they do in traditional school settings. If you ask them why, they might tell you it's because they have more space at Camp or because of the trees and how pretty everything is. At the end of the Camp day, everybody gathers round for fruit, flowers and goodbye hugs. Counselors and campers wave goodbye, looking forward to the next week. The children generally leave at 3 PM. This gives each child five or more hours a day at Camp, one day a week, for six or seven weeks.
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