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| A total of 115 children are participating in the Summer Kids' Club recreation program at three different locations this summer in Windham. SUBMITTED PHOTO |
Windham
Parks and Recreation has continued to offer summer programming even in the face
of the coronavirus pandemic through their Summer Kids’ Club and Summer Track
programs.
Sarah
Davenport, Recreation Coordinator for Windham Parks and Recreation, said the
Summer Kids’ Club has a significantly different structure than the summer day
camp program of prior years.
In late
June, the program opened to students entering first grade through eighth grade.
There are
three programs running concurrently, each with a maximum of 40 children. A total of 115 kids are participating in the
Summer Kids’ Club this summer in Windham.
Two of
the three programs are housed in separate wings of Windham Middle School, with
the third at Windham High School.
Davenport said the school district has been
very helpful in facilitating appropriate spaces, as well as new sanitizing and
disinfecting procedures.
“It’s
been really great to work with them on that,” she said.
Within each
program, kids are assigned to a group of 8 to 10 children with two or three
counselors that they rotate through activities with and remain with for the
entire summer.
“What’s
great about that is the relationships that the kids get to build with each
other and the counselors are maybe a little bit deeper and more meaningful than
if you’re in a group of 50 kids and you’re changing activities all the time,”
Davenport said.
Programming
includes many traditional camp activities, such as arts and crafts, board
games, and plenty of outdoor time. Though summer camp has always included a lot
of outside time, Davenport said they’re being even more intentional about that
now, incorporating more nature based and outdoors activities.
“Our
oldest kids have really enjoyed being in the woods down near the high school
cross country trails,” she said. “I’ve heard them talking about building forts,
or trying to identify plants, and going on nature hikes and playing nature
games in the woods, which is pretty great.”
In
previous years, field trips happened twice a week to places like Funtown, the
Maine Wildlife Park, and Seacoast Adventure Center. This summer, field trips were not an option,
because many places weren’t open initially, and because of transportation
challenges.
The
students going into middle school have begun participating in an outreach
program with the Presumpscot Regional Land Trust, going to the Black Brook
Preserve to do both community service and educational programs. This is the second summer that they’ve worked
with the Land Trust, Davenport said.
“It’s
great to continue that partnership even if it looks a little bit different than
it has in the past,” she said.
Though
certain aspects of the summer programs cost more this year, such as staffing
and providing individual activity bags to children, not having the cost of
field trips has balanced things out.
At the
beginning of the program, kids were provided with age appropriate activity bags
that included playdough and art supplies that are frequently touched and
non-consumable. Consumable supplies that are only used once, like plastic
lacing for bracelets or paint, are still shared. Once these supplies are
removed from the common stock, they are not returned after use.
Davenport
said they haven’t experienced major challenges, but they’ve had to become
accustomed to the culture shift of what it looks like to provide a fun day for
children while following social distancing, masking and other health
protocols. Children are not required to
wear face coverings if they maintain six feet of space between themselves and
others. She said those who find face coverings a challenge have become good at
communicating around maintaining that distance.
Success
depends on helping kids and staff understand the importance of why it’s
necessary and that “we’re all taking care of each other,” Davenport said.
The
program was provided clear guidance written specifically for day camps and
summer recreation programs to help them set up the program, she said. In addition to social distancing, masking,
sanitizing and hygiene practices, drop off and pick up are curbside and all
children and staff have temperature checks in the morning and are asked some
basic screening questions.
“Parents
have been really good about understanding if kids need to stay home because
they’re showing some symptoms. They’ve been good about doing that and notifying
us,” Davenport said.
The
Summer Track program is a five-week, skills-based program this summer, which
looks quite a bit different than it has in previous years. There is no inter-team competition or travel
involved this year.
“Kids are
having the opportunity to try lots of track and some field events to develop
their skills and compete against themselves,” Davenport said.
The program received such positive response
that they ended up with two sessions to stay under the 50-person group maximum.
“We feel
really fortunate and pleased that we were able to do this. I know that there
are communities who, due to various restrictions in the facilities they were
using, just weren’t able to offer any kind of a summer rec program,” Davenport
said. “I don’t think we really could
have done it without the district being so open and willing to partner with us
and without the staff. We have some really great counselors and some really
great administrative and leadership staff who are committed to making this
happen in a way that’s safe, and healthy, and fun.”
Windham
Parks and Recreation is not accepting new registrations for summer programming
at this point in the summer. <
