Yak Trackers and the Search for Bigfoot, Day 4

Wow!! Can't believe it's already Thursday! It has been such a fun and busy week at Camp Yakety Yak!! We have had so much fun on our hunt for Bigfoot. There have been a few sightings but he's still out there somewhere...

Today, we had Yak Academy Instructor, Miss Emily, take over our Instagram account! She made an Instagram Story so you all could see our awesome Instagram account!! Follow us at @campyaketyyak to catch it. If you aren't on Instagram, see the video at the bottom of the blog post!!

One thing we've talked about this week is Julia Cook's book, My Mouth is a Volcano! It has helped us understand when we should think something but not say it. We're practicing how to keep our inside thoughts inside our brains!

We've also been collecting Yak Back! A Yak Back is a little ticket that a camper earns when the camper is being a good example of a camp rule! They're being safe, being kind, and trying their best! Each group turns in alllllllllll the Yak Backs they've collected each day so the JCC team can help create a beautiful mural! We are hoping we earn enough Yak Backs for a special prize on Friday!!

Let's check out some other adventures from today!

The focus of today’s ChitChat class was the concept of “Think It” vs “Say It” (also known as “Inside” vs “Outside” thoughts)! We learned about filters and used a real-life coffee filter as an example of how to “filter out” negative or inappropriate parts of our speech when coming up with what we want to say to others. Campers helped Bigfoot figure out how to filter his mouth at a birthday party, coming up with ideas for his “think its” and “say its”! By the end of the class, campers were understood the concept so well, they could have taught the class themselves!! Tomorrow will be an exciting day for our last class of the week! We will be bringing this all together for a fun group game.

Today in Yak Academy teams filmed in camp’s super amazing Green Screen Studio!! The Green Screen Studio has professional lights and a green screen. Campers used their props and their lines to create funny, thoughtful, and silly stories about how we can use out social filters! The filming process was a little unsystematic for some campers but everyone did an awesome job being flexible and allowing others to try their part again! Tomorrow we start to edit our incredible mini-movies!!

In Games, campers modified yesterday’s obstacle course to make it more fun and challenging. Today they log across the raging river had overhanging branches that they needed to avoid while walking across to the other side. There was a partner ball toss that they had to accomplish using either one hand or no hands in case they were injured. They learned to make a hand-to-hand bridge to support their friend so they could get past a deep pit. Finally, they practiced sitting back-to-back and getting to their feet by leaning back against their partner.

In Discovery, our second group of campers created their amazing projects from outdoor materials!! We took the outdoors into the classroom by creating projects out of things found in nature. We had the chance to create anything we wanted out of sticks, rocks, leaves, flowers, pinecones, and other arts & crafts materials! Their creations were incredible!!!

Finally, in Cooking, we took the outdoors inside and made s'mores! Campers practiced kitchen safety and learned a new recipe. The campers had a great time talking about their past camping experiences. Today we learned that s'mores are a "sometimes food". Whereas, the trail mix from Wednesday was an "everyday food".