Pack Your Bags for Kindness Camp!
By Courtney Krieger – July 21, 2020
Kindness is contagious! That’s why we kicked off this summer with a collaborative effort between seven local organizations with the shared vision for a kinder future. Each week in July approximately 40 kids and their parents, grandparents, and guardians are turning on the computers and tuning into an online Kindness Camp, hosted by the Maltz Museum’s Education and Outreach Manager, Courtney Krieger, with friends from jHUB, Hale Farm & Village, Pro Football Hall of Fame, SAFY, PJ Library and B’nai Jeshurun Congregation.
In this week’s blog, Courtney gives you a sneak peek into what they did last week and invites anyone with kiddos who are aged around Pre-K to 5th grade to join for next week. You can register here: Kindness Camp Registration and/or be on the lookout for future young family programming, which we do year-round.
Register for our family program mailing list >
Happy reading!
We’ve had an exciting time at Kindness Camp so far! Here is a look at the adventures our Kindess Camp families were on last week as we learned more about the theme of “Sharing with others.”
Monday, July 14
With Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage and jHUB
Imagine a time when we didn’t have grocery stores. How did people buy food? Campers read pages from Maltz Museum’s book, Sarah and Samuel’s American Story written by Dahlia Fisher and illustrated by Mike Ferrin. Together, we learned that over 100 years ago, peddlers were the ones who brought food and other items to people. Then, we imagined what it would be like to be a peddler ourselves. Campers used their toy horses, wagons and baskets to sell items from their homes, like apples, bananas, peppers, muffins, giraffes (yes one camper came with a huge stuffed animal giraffe), and so much more!
After a long day of selling in the streets of Cleveland and also “meeting” American Greetings’ card peddler and founder Jacob Sapirstein featured in the Museum, campers ended together by singing songs about sharing and caring in sign language with our special guest, Julie Zorn, from Canton’s Temple Israel and Chadash Community Hebrew Academy.
Check out the history of American Greetings here >
Tuesday, July 15
With Hale Farm & Village
It’s time to grow our garden just like the Hale family did in the 1800s! We saw fun ways to regrow celery and to watch what happens to a carrot when its roots grow. Campers shared vegetables and fruits from their own garden and kitchen. Of course, we enjoyed bringing our own snacks along too and had fun eating with everyone. We imagined what it was like to live in the Hale house a long, long time ago! Guess what!? Sometimes there may have been a bed in the same room as the kitchen!!! Can you imagine that?
Read more about Hale Family History here >
Wednesday, July 16
With Pro Football Hall of Fame
Cardinals, Eagles, Bears and Lions! What do these birds and animals all have in common? They are all football team logos from the National Football League. Campers learned why teams have logos and camp families created and shared their own family logo to hang up in their house for everyone to see. Some of the family logos included hearts that represented love, others had different initials that stood for their names, while others had different pictures of hobbies that the families enjoy doing together. It is so nice to share and learn more about each other. Campers also found out that they have a lot in common with one another!
Learn more about the Pro Football Hall of Fame here >
Thursday, July 17
With Specialized Alternatives for Families and Youth (SAFY)
It’s summer! What should we share with each other? Why an ice cream sundae of course. Camp families made ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream from scratch. We can’t think of a yummier way to cool ourselves down after playing outside. We also learned that people may have allergies and that is OK. Using different ingredients, we can enjoy different flavors and share recipes so everyone can try the foods we make.
Friday, July 18
With PJ Library & B’nai Jeshurun Congregation
Today we read The Cricket and the Ant written by Naomi Ben-Gur and illustrated by Shahar Kober. We realized that sometimes we make a mistake and need to apologize. Sometimes this happens but we learn that we are still great people and we can forgive one another and learn from our mistakes. Rabbi Josh helped us get ready for Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, by leading us in the blessings over the candles, wine and challah. The families blessed their campers with goodness and love and we were happy to have our day of rest with our families after a busy week. Mr. Chuck sang songs about being friends and we “made” a Shabbat soup together, stirring in our favorite things like vegetables, ice cream, fruit, chocolate cake and so much more.
Is it already time for the end of camp? You can still sign up for Week 4, with the theme of “Make Others Feel Welcome!” Sign Up Here >
Thank you to our partners for being so kind and participating in this awesome summer series. For questions, please contact Courtney Krieger at ckrieger@mmjh.org
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