CEFS Centre’s Talent and Fun Summer Camp creates unforgettable summer experiences
This summer, the non-profit, multi-service organization GTA Community Engagement and Family Support Centre (CEFS Centre) held a summer camp for the fourth year. This year, because of increased support from our community, as well as increased sign-ups, we were able to hold two summer camps; one Academic Camp which was held at Edward T. Crowle Public School and one Talent and Fun Camp. For our Talent and Fun Camp, we were given the opportunity to hold the camp at Stonebridge Public School, a school with two different nearby parks for our daily outdoor activities; Berczy Park South and Stonebridge’s playground.
To fulfill our promise to the families who have trusted us with their children, a great deal of care and effort was put into ensuring the success of this year’s summer camps, especially considering the significant increase in sign-ups. This year, the children attending the CEFS Centre’s Talent and Fun Camp were supervised by 7 youth workers, up to 30 youth volunteers, as well as 7 adult volunteers.
Like many summer camps, the CEFS Centre’s Talent and Fun Camp is a safe camp where the children in our community can make friends and play. But what makes our camp special are the fun and interesting classes that will allow the children to foster new skills. This summer, we invited different professional instructors each week to teach the children skills like arts, cooking, Chinese painting, Chinese paper cutting, dough art, as well as robotics over the camp’s six week duration.
Week 1
For the first week, our theme was arts. We invited a professional art instructor to our summer camp to teach the children to draw and paint various elements of nature such as flowers, butterflies, and beautiful landscapes. Additionally, through our daily outdoor activities, we encouraged the children to exercise and learn through outdoor play. On Thursday, the camp took the children on our first weekly field trip to see the Little Canada exhibit in downtown Toronto and learn more about Canada in a fun and exciting way.
Week 2
In the second week of camp, the children were given simple cooking lessons by a cooking instructor. In these lessons, the children made their own mooncakes, animal and cartoon sushi creations, as well as yogurt mousse cakes. Aside from these lessons, in the classroom, the children participated in various other activities to encourage their curiosity and creativity. These activities included making slime as a science experiment, and learning how to create embroidery friendship bracelets. For our weekly field trip, we visited Brooks Farms, where the children could have fun outdoors, connect with nature, and get active. Finally, as the second week marked the end of our summer camp’s first term, the CEFS Centre hosted a small party on Friday afternoon for the children who would be leaving our camp to ensure that they had a fun and eventful last day with us. Before they left for the day, the children were gifted with small prizes.
Week 3
The third week of our Talent and Fun Camp was also the beginning of our second term, where we welcomed several new campers. During the second term, we had almost seventy campers split among three different classes. The theme of the third week was Chinese painting, and two professional instructors were invited to teach the children about Chinese culture, and the differences between traditional Chinese painting and the Western art that they may be used to. On our weekly field trip, we visited the Legoland Discovery Centre, where the children could have creative fun.
Week 4
The theme of the fourth week of CEFS Centre’s Talent/Fun Camp was Chinese paper cutting. A professional instructor led the children as they learned how to make beautiful art with just paper and a pair of scissors. On Tuesday, we took the children to Treetop Trekking’s Treewalk Village, where the children had fun being active in nature. Towards the end of the week, we visited the water park at Berczy Park North, where the children had fun cooling down in the August heat.
As the second term came to an end at the end of week four, the camp hosted another party for the children who were leaving our camp. At the end of the day on Friday, the children were given prizes to mark the end of a term.
Week 5
The fifth week of the Talent and Fun Camp’s theme was dough art, and the children shaped dough into various items such as red envelopes, animals, and cars. We invited a professional instructor to teach the children this unique art form. For our field trip, we visited Timber Creek Mini Golf where the children had fun playing golf as well as exploring various minerals in Timber Creek’s unique Gemstone Mining activity. Additionally, as this week of our camp occurred during the 2024 Paris Olympics, we organized many Olympics related art activities like an activity where they created Olympic torch art pieces out of their hand prints. On Thursday, we held a mini Olympic games of our own, where the children got active and worked together in teams. The children competed in various events such as archery, standing long jump, basketball, badminton, and a relay race. Members of the winning teams from each of the three classes were given medals and all of the children who participated were given small participation prizes.
Week 6
For week six, we invited a professional robotics instructor to teach the children about magnetism, circuits, AI, and small robots. On Thursday, we took the kids to visit The Jump City Scarborough, an indoor playground where the children had an amazing time. Finally, as week six was the last week of our Talent and Fun Camp, on Friday, the CEFS Centre’s Academic Camp joined us when we held a large outdoor party at Berczy Park North. At this party, the camp held a short appreciation ceremony for all the volunteers that had joined us throughout our six-week camp as well as a talent show for the children where they performed dancing, musical instruments, gymnastics, and even a comedic play.
All in all, the CEFS Centre’s 2024 Talent and Fun Summer camp was a great opportunity and learning experience, not just for the children but for the university student youth workers and the high school student volunteers. The job experience the camp provided allowed these youth workers and volunteers to give back to their community and learn important leadership and teamwork skills that will be important for their future endeavours.
Now, as our camp has come to a successful end, let us look forward with excitement and anticipation to all the new experiences and memories that next year’s summer camp will bring!