Your children don't have to sit around twiddling their thumbs wondering what to do for the July/August vacation.
Nowadays, there is a camp for almost everything your child could think of participating in. From sport to music, to art and etiquette, there is something for everyone.
The T&T Guardian spoke with a few facilitators of specialist camps who annually conduct vacation workshops for children and teens.
Music
If your child is musically inclined, the Kids Music and Arts Camp 2017 might be worth checking out.
Beginning on July 17, children seven and older will have the opportunity over three weeks to get introductory lessons in guitar, keyboard, tenor pan, drums, singing and dance as well as art and craft. They will meet industry professionals and go on field trips to cultural arts institutions.
In a telephone interview, the camp’s facilitator Joseph “Joey” Rivers said it will be held at Kaiso Blues Cafe, 85 Woodford Street, Port-of-Spain.
The camp began ten years ago when Rivers, through his company Calypso Arts Specialists of T&T (Cast), began facilitating camps put on by various companies that wanted to offer music and arts to children during the vacation period. They began with the La Hoya Paediatrics under the direction of Dr Rose Marie Thomas, paediatrician and founder/director at Frontier Kids Care. Some clients Cast works with include Unit Trust and Tuco.
“It is part of a bigger network called the Calypso Island Cadbury, a small group of music and arts oriented people which I am also at the helm of. The camp is really the collaborative effort involving key holders in the arts,” said Rivers.
Rivers who designs the camp’s curriculum, said the programme culminates with a concert put on by the participants to showcase what they’ve learned. They also receive certificates and recordings of their sessions.
After the camp at Kaiso Blues Cafe is completed, it will then move on to Western United Credit Union where it will facilitate a similar camp for another three weeks.
Arts and craft
At the Emancipation Mas-camp-us 2017, under the direction of playwright and lecturer Marvin George, the annual vacation camp geared towards participants 18 and over, offers an immersive experience in the origins of mas making.
It will come to a grand end with a themed mas showcase at the Emancipation day procession in Port-of-Spain on August 1.
The camp is a collaboration between UWI-based arts group Jouvay Ayiti and Caribbean Yard Campus. Endorsed by the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, the three-and-a-half week camp is free.
George said the camp which began on July 10, will offer 90 contact hours of intricate training and practice in masquerade design and production to 15 interested and committed participants.
He said the training will focus on cardboard sculpting, papier-mâché, and the use of found and organic material in mas making, as well as offer life and business skills for artists.
Science and technology
If science, technology, engineering and mathematics is what you child is interested in, then Niherst’s Science Camp is the just the thing. The organisation’s marketing assistant Joanna Mohammed-Samaroo told the T&T Guardian that Niherst offers a variety of Stem-themed camps for over 2,000 students every year. The camps range in duration from one day to two weeks. They are held at venues across the country for the July/August vacation period, and during the Easter vacation period when possible.
“Niherst’s goal with these camps is to give children from a very young age the opportunity to learn scientific principles and their application in technology and innovation through fun, hands-on activities and interactive exhibits. This approach is designed to develop their creativity and critical thinking skills,” Mohammed-Samaroo said.
Etiquette
Catherine Gordon Institute of Finishing Elements wants to ensure your child understands that charity begins at home and ends abroad. For ages seven to 14, the Manners Maketh Me social etiquette vacation camp is a fun-filled four-day camp held at the Queen’s Royal Collage, Queen’s Park West, Port-of-Spain. The aim of the camp is to build confidence, increase social mobility, develop leadership skills, reduce shyness, ensure social acceptance and improves school behaviour.
For teenagers 15-19, the institute also offers Destined for Greatness where teens are schooled in dressing to impress, mixing and mingling, social etiquette skills, golf, horseback riding, styles of eating, dating etiquette, handling peer pressure and independent living skills among other programmes.
More info: Music and Arts Camp: Trinitone.Robin@gmail.com/681-1389/708-1107 More info: There may still be some room in the camp, so contact them at jouvay.ayiti@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page: EmancipationMasCampUs 2017 More info: Call Niherst at 642-6112 ext 250 More info: For information, email cgaimagedesign@yahoo.com or call 678-3845/640-2765