This week is princess academy camp through the recreation department in York, Maine. I have never run a princess camp and to be honest, I have never really done artsy craftsy things with kids. I am learning more from this camp experience than they are. There are ten little girls in the camp, and many of them appear every morning at ten am with a bag full of princess gowns to change into. I loved dressing up as a little girl, but I think this activity is not always encouraged in this day and age. I think it celebrates individuality, and it fosters creativity and imagination. These girls are having a blast! They are all four and five years old, and some of them just want to prance around in their dresses. But some of them know every word to every song from "Frozen" and "Cinderella" and "The Little Mermaid".
The first day we made beautiful plastic rhinestone necklaces, and everyone helped to make their own necklace. It turns out though, children this age need a lot of help, and cannot tie things, or paint things, or use modgepodge by themselves. It is quite an education to be working with children this young on a project. On Tuesday we made crowns out of sparkly garland and trimmed it with ribbons of all colors. They looked especially princess-like if I do say so myself. Today we made beautiful glittery magic wands, as some of the princesses we know have magic powers. They came out the best of all, as I suspected they would. My trusty helper, Ali, applied the glitter using modgepodge and extra glitter shaken on them, and left to dry, they were dry within an hour! Tomorrow we will make bracelets, but also Ali has an idea she will reveal to all of us tomorrow. Friday is the Academy graduation, and tea party and I am making a big crown cake that the children will all decorate as preparation for the party.
Today we made beautiful rhinestone and glitter flowers using the hot glue gun, some colored paper, and some more of the sparkly garland for the stems. They look stunning and many of the girls danced with them to their favorite princess songs.
We have also practiced kindness, patience, waiting your turn, politeness like please and thank you, and manners as well. We have listened to beautiful princess stories from all over the world, and we have drawn pictures of castles, moats, our favorite princesses, and our favorite princes. It has been a great experience for me, and a big hit with the children. One of them said, "I wish there was princess camp for a hundred more days!" I was thrilled to hear that.
Next year we have to up the ante and maybe get a refrigerator box and create a castle that they can play in during the mornings. There is always room for more ideas!
Frozen, their favorite song
