Posts Tagged ‘supplies’

Jun
29

Supplies on Wheels

Posted by in Camp

Our newest camp innovation - an Art Cart!

Every year we try to find ways to make our Summer Camp Zoofari run smoother while making things easier on the teachers.  This year, one of our innovations is the Art Cart – rather, the Art Carts, as we have three of them.

At a program at one of the local hospitals, Victoria (our camp principal) saw their art cart. With wheels on the bottom and a plethora of art supplies, this was a way to bring all of the art supplies to the participants.  When the kids may not be able to come to the art, the art cart can come to them.

Doesn't it just make you want to create some art?

We’ve took this idea for camp and ran with it.  Last year, every classroom had their own set of scissors and glue, and teachers had to collect their own paints, brushes, and construction paper every day.  The art carts relieve the need for all of that.  Now, the teachers just sign up for a time for the art cart and pick it up when it is their turn.  They only have to collect the more specialized items for their crafts, which saves them time in the mornings.  It also means we only have to stock enough scissors and glue for one classroom worth of kids per cart! 

Each of our art carts has enough glue and scissors for our biggest group of kids, bottles of paint in 11 colors, paint trays and brushes, googly eyes, clear tape, a stapler, and a rainbow of construction paper.  Our camp interns have taken on the task of keeping everything neat and refilled.  And the teachers enjoy having a few extra minutes and a mobile supply closet that comes to them.

I would say our art carts are a success!!

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Apr
03

It’s That Time Again!

Posted by in Camp,Featured

It's almost time for Summer Camp Zoofari!

It may not be summer yet, but it is definitely on the horizon.  And you know what summer means for the Education Department – Summer Camp Zoofari!  Registration is open, and preparations are well under way.

For those of you who have read some of my earlier posts, you know two things about me when it comes to camp: I am the camp supplies guru, and I spent some time on grounds last fall thinking about new camp topics.  First, to the topics.

We kept some of our topics from last summer – why write new stuff when the existing stuff is still perfectly good?  A few of last year’s new camps sold out really fast (Bringing Up Baby, Island Hoppers, and Keeper Camp come to mind) so keeping those for this year means more people can have a chance to experience them!

We have some new, exciting topics debuting this year, too!  Toad Trackers, for our 10-12 year old age group, includes real field research on Zoo grounds.  8-9 year olds can take an Asian Expedition with us to visit elephants, red panda, Komodo dragon, and other awesome Asian animals.   The 6 and 7 year olds have a chance to explore some of the most remote habitats of the world in Natural Mysteries.  And Colossal Creatures for our youngest group should be tons of fun. 

Some of the camp supplies that arrived at my desk last year.

Now that we have our topics, the fun part for me begins: supplies!  I spent most of my day yesterday “shopping” with school supply catalogs covering my desk and at least 5 browser windows open to craft supply sites.  I know a lot of people like bargain hunting, but this is a little different.  When is the last time you did price comparisons for owl pellets or rubber fish replicas for fish printing?  But I got it done!  The list to order is finished, we’ll start placing those orders next week, and then it’ll start to feel like my birthday.  Boxes will arrive, I’ll get to open all of them and see what’s inside, and then I’ll have the task of finding someplace to put everything.

Camp Zoofari is 10 weeks long, and it takes a lot of supplies for a camp this big.  This year we had requests for more than 6,000 sheets of construction paper (in a variety of colors), nearly 4,000 googly eyes, and 2,000 feet of yarn!  And we have to get some odd things, too: pantyhose, plastic insects, golf balls, and a blubber mitt were also on the list, just to name a few.  But we find it, we make it, we order it, or we borrow it – there is very little that we end up needing to substitute.

So now that I’ve told you all about my part of camp planning, it’s your turn!  What are you looking forward to about Camp Zoofari? 

Summer Camp Zoofari is filling fast, so register your kids today!

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May
24

The Camp supplies are coming! The Camp supplies are coming!

Posted by in Camp

Oh my, that's a lot of camp supplies

Oh my, that's a lot of camp supplies

21 Gallons of Tempera Paint.  1600 Googly Eyes.  54 Pocket Notebooks.  12 Hula Hoops.  Giant Checkers.  Camp Supplies are starting to arrive!


With the 200 campers a week we are expecting this summer in our Camp Zoofari program, it should be no surprise that we need large quantities of craft and activity supplies.  And I get to inventory them all as they arrive, and find storage space for them. 

 
It’s almost like my birthday, with all of the boxes I get to open!  Even if it does mean making several trips upstairs and trying to find space for all those gallons of paint. 

 
Of course, we did have to test out those hula hoops and checkers.  Just to make sure they worked. 

 
 - Leigh, Education Specialist aka Camp Guru

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