Day 3: Some painting, stories, live performance and pancakes make for a good day at camp!

Greg and Katie paint a t-shirt.

As the children arrived today they went straight for their teen partners—already buddies in one day alone! We began by painting t-shirts (and tables, fingers etc, but did a good jobs of keeping it off our clothes) with colorful designs that the children will be able to take home on their last day when they have dried. As soon as all of the t-shirts covered in wet paint had been stored safely out of reach, the group gathered for a round (or two or three) of "Old Mr. Rogers" (who lies in his grave...). This is a song with a story and characters that the children get to sing and act out at the same time.

The story of the Vingananee

Then as the children settled down a bit, Mrs. Birdsall got out her storytelling shell and began the to share the African story of a monster called the Vingananee. This is a scary story about four friends, Spider, Buck Deer, Lion and Rat who have a farm. Rat is the cook and one day the Vingananee comes and ties Rat to a tree and eats all of the food. Each of the friends tries to stay home one day to fend off the Vingananee but none succeed. As the monster approaches he chants:

The Vingananee wrestles the Lion for the pancakes and stew.

I'm the Vingananee and I'm very hungry 
give me your pancakes give me your stew
or I will eat you!


And finally it is the tiny Tree Toad who is victorious! (To find out how, you will have to join us for camp sometime!)

All this talk of pancakes and stew made us all hungry and fortunately it was time for snack and a short outdoor recess.

When we returned to the classroom it was time to reenact the story of the Vingananee in a live performance. Both children and teens volunteered to play each character including a pot, griddle and a three person monster! Being the first time many of these children had acted out a story in a class like this they caught on very quickly and both the audience and those on stage laughed uncontrollably each time the Vingananee wrestled with one of the four friends and left them tied to a tree. With a fresh reminder of the story, the children began to draw pictures of scenes of the story with colored crayons and assistance from their mentors. These pictures would later go into a book along with the story that they will take home and share with their families.

Playing a round of Rock, Paper Scissors.

After a break for lunch and longer outdoor recess we returned to the classroom ready to make some pancakes in a jar and finish up the Vingananee drawings and books. When drawing became too tedious for some of the more lively children the teen leaders were quick to come up with short breaks and alternative stationary activities such as the always popular Rock, Paper, Scissors. To make the pancakes, the children gathered in groups and to measure and pour ingredients into a jar and shake, shake, shake it until they could shake no more and pass it on to another person in their group. Then there were toppings to choose from to spice up the pancakes and plenty to be eaten. With the books and pencil cases all finished and the pancakes all gone it was time to say goodbye to the children for the day.

To see more photos from today please click here.

Pictured here from left to right: Chaitanya, Madison, Tori, Will, Jocelyn and Greg.