Monday 23rd May
After a fairly good night's sleep, the children were awake bright and early for today's activiites. The children divided into their two activity groups and set off in different directions. Before lunch the two groups tackled the orienteering course and tried their hands at canoeing. The weather was not too kind to us, but this did not seem to deter the children. During the orienteering challenge, the children sped off in their groups trying to follow a map and find their markers quickly. A few quirky challenges were set along the way and if the children failed to stay together as a group, they had to go round the course holding a hoop to ensure they all stayed together. Many markers were successfully found by the children and I think they all did a pretty good job. Next was the canoeing. After a bit of time getting to grips with how to paddle and control the boats successfully, the children went on a duck hunt (I will let them tell you all about this). Clearly there was no need to get any wetter than the rain was making them, but given the option to be dropped into the water, the vast majority of the children jumped at the chance and so at the end of the session lots of very soggy children trapsed back to their rooms to get warm and dry!
After lunch, we had fencing and the giant swing. I was so impressed with a few children who were clearly nervous about tacking the giant swing as it hoisted you high into the air. The shouts and screams of delight (well I hope it was delight) rang out and I was proud of how some children had really faced a fear and conquered it. Fencing brought an entirely new skill to most of the children. This time they needed to display balance and coordination. We may even have a few budding Olympic fencing champions of the future, who knows!
The evening activity was another one which required a lot of running around. We are all secretly hoping that this will tire them out and they will go to sleep a little earlier than last night. Judging by the tired faces I have a feeling they will.
