Buddies Intensive Camper Program
For adolescents with special needs, ages 12-15
$680/week
Important Notice! In an effort to keep the integrity and effectiveness of our special programs such as Special Needs Campers (40), Buddies Intensive (8), Junior Camp Counselors (12), and Yak Apprentice (12) there will be a cap for participants each week, noted in parentheses. Once the cap is reached, a wait list will be generated. Please don’t wait to register because these programs fill up fast!
Registration Opens April 17th at Noon
Buddies Intensive Camper Program
For adolescents with special needs, ages 12-15
$680/week
Important Notice! In an effort to keep the integrity and effectiveness of our special programs such as Special Needs Campers (40), Buddies Intensive (8), Junior Camp Counselors (12), and Yak Apprentice (12) there will be a cap for participants each week, noted in parentheses. Once the cap is reached, a wait list will be generated. Please don’t wait to register because these programs fill up fast!
Registration Opens April 17th at Noon
Week 4: Animal Planet
Safari through Week 4
Hello friends! We have made it to our fantastic fourth week of Camp. This is going to be a week to remember, full of epic animal surprises! This week, we are focusing on everything to do with animals. We will be learning about big animals, small animals, predators, herbivores, and much more! Our young zookeepers are going to have so much fun making animal-themed art projects, and getting to know their favorite animals more. We are so ecstatic to have all of our incredible young zookeepers here for this fantabulous final week!
Day 1
Today was such a marvelous Monday at Camp! In Play, we engaged in some friendly competition with an obstacle course. Our young zookeepers had to crawl through a tunnel, hop like a kangaroo through grass, and carefully carry an egg on a spoon back to their teammates! Over in Cooking, we made a delectable cold pasta salad with olives, cucumbers, broccoli, and tomatoes. Yum! Our friends in Yak Academy made super cool snake scarves today using paper rings. Everyone at Camp had a great time showing them off! In Mindfulness, we played a new game called "Dice Baseball," where we tried to "out-roll" the pitcher. It was so much fun!
Our Yak Apprentices discussed the importance of problem-solving and empathy. It is necessary to be empathetic to the wants and needs of others before solving problems! Our Buddies made and decorated their own a-neigh-zing horses. They also had a ton of fun playing with Play-Doh! Our Explorers Blue made super cool music-themed art collages today. We drew our favorite animals on a circle of wood in Discovery, creating our own special animal coasters! We did a super fun icebreaker activity in Friendship. After introducing ourselves and saying our favorite animals, we split into 2 groups and played peek-a-who! We did our best to recite our friends' names and favorite animals. In Projects, we read a book about a chameleon that could not change his colors! Then, we colored and decorated our own chameleons with tissue paper. What a great day at Camp!
Day 2
We had such a fun day at Camp on this hot Tuesday! In Games, we had some more fun with scooter relays. We scooted forward, backward, sideways, and on our tummies! Over in Mindfulness, we focused on linking our breathing to our movements. After, we had a great time playing charades and completing a Mad Libs story! Today, our Explorers Red learned about the importance of understanding our friends' perspectives and compromising. Our Buddies made frog faces using a paper plate and party streamers. They turned out so cute!
In Discovery, we made our own pinch-pot bowls out of clay! Then, we decorated them with our favorite animals. Our friends in Friendship made adorable animal puppets using paper bags and coloring sheet outlines of some cool animals! Our young zookeepers' favorites were the turtle and koala outlines. We celebrated the full moon in Projects by reading Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes! After, we crafted our own kitten masks using a template, markers, scissors, and string. This was undoubtedly the most purr-ific Tuesday at Camp ever!
Day 3
We had such a ssss-pectacular Wednesday at Camp today! 3 special guests visited us, and 2 of them were snakes! Our friend Chris D'Angelo brought his snakes Pixie and Egypt to Camp. Pixie was a 10-year-old corn snake about to shed, and Egypt was a 7-foot-long boa snake! All of our brave young zookeepers had so much fun petting and holding their new reptilian friends. It was truly the most ssss-pecial experience. Meanwhile, over in Cooking, we made a chocolate pudding "dirt cup" with a gummy worm on top!
In Projects, we read Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes and
made our own worry dolls to wish our worries away! We used clothes pins, googly eyes, yarn, and pipe cleaners to make them. Today in Mindfulness, we worked on sensing our own heartbeats inside our bodies. After, we completed a fun challenge of passing a ball from cup to cup without dropping it! Our Explorers Blue had a great time playing with fake snow today. Later, after reading a story about a bird's social interactions, they made their own fancy
bird puppets! In the meantime, our Buddies made awesome shark puppets. They also had a fun day playing with slime! In order to beat the heat, we made super useful animal fans in Discovery. We made them out of half of a paper plate and a popsicle stick. We even got to decorate them however we wanted to. This was such a ssss-illy Wednesday at Camp!
Day 4
We are back for a thrilling Thursday at Camp! In Games, we put our skills to the test with various board games. Everyone enjoyed the change in pace with this calm, self-paced day! Today in Projects, we read Duck & Goose by Tad Hills. After, we made our own colorful eggs out of egg-shaped outlines. We got to choose whether to decorate our egg with tissue paper or color it in with markers! Our Explorers Blue had a great day making sock bunnies and salt painting.
After, they played a group card game!
In Mindfulness, we focused on breathing in the form of sighs. Then, we played a game called "Remember the Beat." We drummed on our bodies, adding a different rhythm on every
turn, with the goal of remembering our whole "song!" Our Buddies made
their own pig puppets today and also got to play with paint! In Discovery, we painted our favorite animals on fabric. It was so cool painting on a different material! Our friends in Friendship colored and cut out their own monkey outlines. After, they connected all of their monkeys together on one thread branch, as a sign of our everlasting connection! We used our imagination in Yak Academy today by gluing together magazine cut-outs of animals into our own crazy creatures. Best Thursday at Camp ever!
Day 5
We had a fantastic fluffy Friday at Camp today! To celebrate the end of Camp Yakety Yak 2023, we had some incredibly soft and special visitors join us. Everyone had so much fun meeting our alpaca friends, Napoleon and Captain Jack! We had an awesome time getting to take cute pictures with them, petting them, and feeding them carrots. Some brave young zookeepers fed the alpacas with "carrot kisses!" While some of us were meeting Napoleon and Captain Jack, we had so much fun in Games. We got to enjoy some epic open gym time to round out the summer! Our young zookeepers were all smiles from start to finish. Over in Projects, we read Jungle Drums by Graeme Base. After, we made extravagant and colorful animal crowns!
On their last day of Camp, our Explorers Blue made paper mice with beaded tails! Then, they finished off the day by playing with some shaving cream. Our Buddies also had a ton of fun playing with shaving cream too! They also got to celebrate their last day by making a giraffe craft. Over in Discovery, we commemorated the last day of Camp for this summer by rocking on! We made rock art with paint and paint pens. We all got to decorate our rocks however we wanted to, and all of the rocks looked so bedazzled afterwards! Our friends in Friendship read I Won't Quit by Danny McGill. They gathered together and acknowledged the accomplishments they made throughout the time they spent at Camp! Then, they made friendship bracelets and had a balloon party with bubbles! This summer at Camp was truly incredible and so special for everyone involved. We are so grateful to all of our amazing campers, and cannot wait for next year. Thank you to everyone involved for joining us for Camp Yakety Yak 2023!