PAPER MACHE

Camp SoulGrow 2023 Holidays at The Buras YMCA - April

We started our morning by taking the time to show our parents some appreciation by making cards to show our gratitude and love for them, and let them know we are grateful for them and all they do for us!! …Then we went in the studio and learned awesome aerobic dance moves and had an ultimate SoulGrow dance party! We made a dance circle and each showcased our favorite moves… were moving and grooving and getting such a great workout in, having so much fun dancing together!!! The energy was so UP a and we were feeling so great!!! We had such a fun time and worked up an appetite just in time for a Maw’s lunch party!!! Then, of course we hit the playground and can never get enough kickball… Life is good and we are SOUL grateful!!!
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We love living free and getting painty, so splatter paint was such a fun and wild way to express our creativity together! We used as much paint and made as big of a mess as we needed to, to make as many masterpieces as we wanted!!! It was such a freeing and fun workshop and we are so grateful to paint and live outside the lines!!!

What a SWEET time we had making Candy Apples with Ms Dawn!!!! She came and showed us the whole process and we made our own blue & pink Candy Apples! Thank you SOUL MUCH Ms Dawn and Fremin’s for making this possible! We had such a fun time and our apples came out beautiful and tasted divine!!!

SELF DEFENSE

We are SOUL grateful for all of our blessings and love those around us, for we are all brothers and sisters. Today we reflected on how special we all really are and used our Camp SoulGrow At-Home Almanacs to learn Sign Language so we can connect and communicate with more of God’s children. We learned how to sign the alphabet, our names and some words, and had such an enriching time using our hands to learn a useful, universal, and beautiful language. We had a wonderful time together and gained such a sense of respect and appreciation for others. We finished the workshop off with Klondike Bars, heightened self-esteem, gratitude, and smiles for miles!!!

We had SOUL much fun painting canvases for those we appreciate and having a piñata party!!! We are beyond grateful for the wonderful times we share together, living free and growing .. from the inside out!

SPLATTER PAINT

PUBLIC SPEAKING

We started our day with gymnastics, where we worked on our core strength, balance, and flexibility.. then we went outside and did some tumbling, then the monkey bars .. we feel like champions ano we are so grateful!!! After gymnastics we had a pizza and Birthday Party for Annie!!

We love making the most of what’s around us and seeing potential in everything .. so one man’s trash is our blank canvas!!!! We had such a blast being creative and making the most out of recycle-able products.. things that would have been thrown away, we turned into masterpieces and had so much fun together doing so!! Life is what you make of it and everything shines up with a little LOVE!!!

We had such a blast making own Obstacle Course, which was so awesome because we collaborated as a team and created a challenging and fun course for us all to enjoy… We worked on our creativity, agility, focus, precision and timed ourselves to work on our speed!! How fantastic it is to create a fun and exciting setting together with things all around, while laughing together, exercising, and cheering each other on!!!!

What a totally fun time we had making paper maché! We loved tearing up the newspaper, making the paste, blowing up our balloons, and getting messy and creative together!!! We made such a fun mess and had such a blast creating our artwork.. we can’t wait until they dry to pop our balloons, paint them, and bring them to life!!!!

OBSTACLE COURSE

MAKING CANDY APPLES

RECYCLE-ART

STRETCH & MEDITATION

SIGN LANGUAGE

Today we conquered our fears and became masters of public speaking!!! We went from being scared to talk .. to vying for the podium and microphone!! We learned how to make que cards, how to relax and speak slowly and confidently, how to engage our audience.. and how to be a respectful listener! We each gave speeches about who we are, why we are special, what we are grateful for, and what we want to do in the future. It was so wonderful being able to conquer our fears, doubt, and nervousness and feel comfortable, confident, and supported by our peers! We had such a great time pushing ourselves and sharing our stories, while cheering on and learning each others stories! After we all felt so great we got back on the podium and each gave a speech about everything we learned on public speaking. It was really special and uplifting! THEN we had a belated Build-your-own-Sundae Birthday Ice Cream Party for Lainey!!!!!

GYMNASTICS

APPRECI-ART & PINATA PARTY

LEATHER-CRAFTING

DANCE AEROBICS

KNOT-TYING

What an amazing gift it is to wake up and be able to share our energy and workout together outside!!!! WE LOVE SPRING!!! This morning we kicked off the day pushing ourselves -and each other- physically and mentally, outside in the beauty of nature on such a beautiful day!!! We learned cross-training techniques and did sprint work, calisthenics, and had the most challenging and freeing cardio workout ever!!!!! After we trained we were beyond grateful to have another amazing lunch party together!!!

What a great Monday morning and first day of Spring Break!! We had such a peaceful morning together after such an exciting Bunny Hop and Easter weekend!! We started the day reciting 3 things we are grateful for, then learned how to breathe and stretch our bodies and our minds … We had the lights out and lit some lavender incense, then practiced stretching our whole bodies and learning about our muscles, then we practiced a guided Chopra meditation on the five elements of nature, water, wind, fire, earth and how we are made up of all of them. Our Head Kid fanned us after stretching and meditating and we were so relaxed— we almost fell asleep! It was so wonderful to start the day in a grateful, peaceful, centered, and invigorating state of mind, loving living in our bodies and learning how to care for them. …Then of course we had a freestyle lunch party in true SoulGrow party style, then went outside and played on the playground and played kickball!! We are SOUL grateful to grow together.. from the inside out!

This morning we sharpened our safety and self defense skills in such fun and creative ways together .. First we spoke about the importance of protecting our bodies, then how to to defend ourselves and others in case of an emergency. We had such a blast learning important safety tricks and precautions, defense tactics, and strategic plans for if we ever need to use them. We had so much fun acting out scenarios!!! After self defense we had a burger lunch party!

We canKNOT get enough Knot Tying!!!!! We had the best time together learning how to braid and tie knots.. We started out with thicker rope then once we got our skills down, we made colorful friendship bracelets and got to take home as much as we wanted to make bracelets at home for all of our friends! Learning how to make our first braid- we will never forget today or this useful life skill!!!