Adventure and the Popcorn King!

08/14/2014

Today was spectacular. The sun shone but the breeze kept things cool. Adventure Village and Try-it spent most of the day together. In the morning the groups spent some quality time bonding with their tents. Then everyone headed out with Matt the Outdoor Living Skills instructor for some survival skills and practical survival scenario advice.

In the afternoon things really started to pop. The Popcorn King activity was brought to us many years ago from our Armenian Exchange Program and was revived this year by our Village Chief who played the game during her first year in AdVill. In the game Popcorn King, the campers are the rebels that are trying to free the popcorn king from the celery queen. To do this campers must complete tasks and activities to collect tokens from the 1% rich population. With these tokens the kids trade for popcorn kernels and cooking equipment all without the evil queen finding out what it is they are up to. After they collect all needed material the campers learn how to prep and cook popcorn on a camping stove. Then they take the combined popcorn to the popcorn king to build his power and take on the evil queen. The campers get lost in this world and their roles to work together and once again enjoy popcorn. An activity that even I bought into and had so much fun taking part in.

After dinner Adventure Village headed to the hard courts to play some peaceful ball toss (dodge ball) and the Try-it campers threw a birthday party (even though no-one had a birthday) with pinatas and birthday cake oreos. After the fo-birthday party Try-it sat down in the communal yurt to do a classic closing ceremony. Everyone shared their camp experiences and the counselors spoke about each camper’s accomplishments.

I’ll see all the Try-it parents tomorrow! Travel safely. You’ve got some great kids! For the rest of the villagers we’re going to get ready for another great day of fun tomorrow!

Happy Trails,

Lincoln McLain
(845) 985-2291 x265
adventure@frostvalley.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Zach eigenbrodt

Born and raised in Wisconsin, Zach couldn't keep himself out of the woods when growing up. He started working at a Northern Wisconsin YMCA Camp as a wilderness trip leader while in college and fell in love with getting kids into nature. The smiles on kids faces after returning from a once in a life time wilderness experience is why he is here today. Zach brought his talents to Frost Valley YMCA, in 2014, when he started as the Trips Coordinator and soon was promoted to Adventure Director. Zach loves all forms of Wilderness exploration, though some would say his heart lies most with canoeing.