GROWING MINDS

You may have seen them passing at the Nashua Y, moving together as one group from one end of the facility to the other. They are the curious participants in the Little Investigators Camp, and they are here to investigate what happens in the daily world around them. Since every week of camp is a different adventure, there is always something to explore. Along the way they have fun making friends and playing games.

Each day starts with morning drop-off when preschoolers hang up their bags, put on name tags, and say goodbye to their parents or guardians. This can be difficult for some, but there is a fun outdoor activity just waiting for them. During that activity they meet up with friends and play before they get ready for snack time. Part of the day is about making healthy habits by washing their hands before eating.

Sitting around tables with friends and eating from the goodies found in their lunchbox, carrot sticks, fruits, or yogurt, everybody gathers for circle. The excitement grows as they learn about what they are exploring this week. Exploration can vary from gardening and nature to tools and technology. Camp counselors talk about the subject that week and may read stories focused on that week’s theme to the campers.

What makes Little Investigators Camp different from a regular school day goes beyond activities such as swimming and gardening. Little Investigators is specifically for pre-kindergarten children. These young minds are learning new things all day ranging from nature, animals and professions as part of their participation in this camp.

Like Amit: a social bug who loves playing with his friends, be it at the playground or in the classroom. Many campers are active like him, enjoying fun sports such as soccer and searching for critters, like the butterfly they managed to catch. Or some are like Maverick: a bit more on the quieter side but still finding fun. Enjoying snacks, fun games like “the floor is lava”, and any activity with water involved. Either way, they are all learning essential social behaviors and skills for the school years ahead.

Little Investigators is a camp that helps feed that desire to learn to interact with the world in a tangible way. As Camp Director Amy Millard shares, the camp’s mission statement is “To get kids ready for school and to make them the best that they can be.” Little Investigators Camp encourages that hunger to learn and explore and keeps campers curious about the world around them. Your little investigator won’t stop being an investigator after they’re done being little. So when lunch is over, and they beam at their adults with the widest smile, they will come back the next day with ideas and thoughts on what else there is to investigate. And that curiosity for their world they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives.

By: Christopher O’Herren, a Champlain College student who is completing an internship with the Y.