Week 1: Super Yak Gets Lost in Space!

Blasting Off into Week 1

Hello friends! We are SO excited to be blasting off into another amazing year of Camp Yakety Yak. We have lots of returning stars joining us this summer, and many new shining stars as well! This week, we are focusing on outer space and our solar system. In all 8 of our classes: Friendship, Projects, Play, Chit Chat, Yak Academy, Games, Discovery, and Mindfulness, we are learning cool and fun new things about our universe. Our JCCs (Junior Camp Counselors), Yak Apprentices, and Buddies are also along for the ride. We are so glad to have all of our space cadets here at Camp for this super spaceflight!

Links to 2022 Blog Posts

Week 2: Super Yak and the Music Makers

Week 3: Around the World with Super Yak

Week 4: Super Yak and the Animal Explorers

Day 1

In Discovery, we learned about our planets and made maps of our solar system. Today in Yak Academy, we learned about personal space from a book titled "Personal Space Camp" and drew our own galaxies on black paper with chalk! Meanwhile, in Chit Chat, we enjoyed making our own planet puppets. Ice cream planets and pizza planets are just 2 of the many creative planets we discovered today! Last, but of course not least, in Play, we worked together as a team to keep all of the beach ball planets within our parachute solar system. Lots of laughter and fun at camp today!

We had a fantastic start to our week this Monday! In Projects, we discussed how every planet is unique, just like us! In fact, they all have a different number of moons! We had lots of fun in Games today. We got to know each other through games, of course, with hula hoops and bouncy balls! Our friends in Friendship talked about the Zones of Regulation and communicating their emotions. We colored our very own nametags with planets and spaceships as well!

Day 2

Tuesday was another exciting day for our super space cadets! In Friendship, we learned about personal space with hula hoops and built our own popsicle stick rocket ships. Today in Games, we enjoyed a change of pace by playing with lots of board games!

In Yak Academy, we read the book "A Little Space for Me," which taught us about finding a quiet, calming space to center ourselves. We used yarn to draw our own personal space orbits and also checked out the amazing new images from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope!

There was lots of movement in Play today, from playing hokey pokey to completing the "weightless" relay. After learning that some objects feel weightless on the moon, our space cadets transferred weightless cotton balls across the room using only a spoon!

In Projects today, we journeyed through the stars! We learned that our sun is a star and that stars make up constellations in the night sky. We even made our own super cool constellations with straws and paper, and used coffee filters for our sun and stars! Our Chit Chat friends explored the galaxy by designing their own starry skies and spaceships to ride in.

Meanwhile, our JCC crew is doing awesome partnering up with their peers and making friendly connections! Our JCCs brainstormed different communication styles they can utilize for all kinds of kiddos. Nothing like another incredible day at Camp Yakety Yak!

Day 3

Happy hump day friends! Today in Friendship, we played Pin the Helmet on the Astronaut and practiced taking turns with fellow space cadets! Meanwhile, in Projects, we adventured to a galaxy far, far away and made ourselves a crown with a rocket or planet on it.

In Chit Chat, we explored space with our own rockets! We decorated 2 rockets of our own to build them into rockets that can fly. In Yak Academy, we read "Harrison Spader, Personal Space Invader." This fun book told us the tale of Harrison, a hippo who learns about the social norms of personal space!

Over in Games, we started off class by tossing bean bags through steps on a tall ladder! Teams also worked together to pass a ball by alternating over our heads and through our legs to get the fastest time possible. Every team decreased their time by about 2 seconds each round!

Today in Play, we learned that astronauts contort their bodies to navigate the lack of gravity in space. Our space cadets imitated this through the pull puzzle game! We sat on scooters and pulled ourselves along a rope in order to retrieve the puzzle pieces needed to complete beautiful puzzles!

In Mindfulness, we played a game called Alien, Astronaut, Asteroid. It was inspired by rock, paper, scissors but included a twist: we wanted to get the same item as our partner! We practiced looking and listening for everyone's cues. Yet another fun day at Camp!

Day 4

We can't believe it's already Thursday! But, that didn't stop us from having fun at Camp. Today in Buddies, we read "Big Green Monster," and sang about 10 little aliens. During project time, we created our own special aliens with paper, markers, and decorations! Our JCCs discussed ways to forge friendships. They talked about openly listening, responding respectfully, and how to appropriately communicate in challenging situations!

In Chit Chat, we built our own UFOs. We decorated the ships with glitter, stickers, and added our own fun and unique aliens too! Today in Play, we

practiced being "the leader" by keeping track of how many chances each of us individually had to stay in a game! We also talked about how and made sure to respond appropriately if we lost.

In Projects, we discovered different kinds of stars by making our own with popsicle sticks. While among the stars, we also created our own galaxies! In Friendship, we made our very own sensory solar systems out of hair gel, glitter, food dye, and beads. What a fun day at Camp!

In Mindfulness, we explored an asteroid field. Space cadets had a blast going through a wild obstacle course of asteroids! Today was another great day in Games spent playing board games with our friends. In Yak Academy, we continued to practice what we've learned about both personal space and outer space. We watched a video about stars and constellations, then used pipe cleaners and beads to recreate constellations we might see in the night sky!

Day 5

We had such a fantastic first week at Camp! In Friendship, we listened to an audiobook on what it means to be a good friend. Afterward, we each got our own "friendship star" to decorate and give to one of our friends we made at Camp. Space cadets were so excited to hand out their stars!

In Yak Academy, we read "Sun! One in a Billion," which described how the sun is a superstar that makes life on Earth possible. We connected our earlier learning about personal space by memorizing that "to be cool, an arm's length is the rule." We also crafted our own cool suns out of paper plates! On our last day of Games this week, we had open gym time. Our space cadets had

the choice of playing basketball, board games, or both!

We ventured to outer space once more in Projects. We painted or colored our own planets and created a solar system with all of them! In Play, several of our space cadets requested to lead us through our "Play Class Song," demonstrating their growth this week in their confidence and teamwork skills! Then, we hung out on the outdoor playground.

Today in Mindfulness, we went on a scavenger hunt for stars! Our space cadets worked with their teams to explore the walking path around Camp and search for clues. In Buddies, we sang a song about the planets in our solar system and played a spinner game about space objects using Play-Doh! We tried out painting with ping pong balls and wrapped up the week with an epic Buddies dance party. Here's to all the incredible campers who made our first week's super spaceflight possible!