This summer, all the participants of the 3 eco-camps where given the mission of solving how humans can live in harmony with the planet.
Want to see their ideas?
As with all of our camps, the kids joined us to experience 4 days and 3 nights in nature and in English immersion. As usual, we had the pleasure of witnessing all of the participants gain confidence in themselves, create new friendships, marvel at the beautiful nature that surrounds Lavenant and naturally improve their English speaking and comprehension.
The Grain&Sens 2019 Summer Eco-Camps in English
“The small-family feeling”.. the Eco-camp values quality over quantity. The limit of 15 participants for 3 counselors maintains a feeling of security in a new environment (physical and linguistic), allows campers to engage in more one on one conversations with the English speaking animators and gives the kids the space to create lasting bonds between each other.
Fun, collaborative and team building games… During the eco-camp, all of the counselors propose games that promote cooperation rather than competition (and in the case of competitive games, they change up the rules mid-game to avoid a “winner-loser” situation).
Time in nature … Here at Lavenant, we are surrounded by incredibly beautiful forests composed of beech, oak, pine and chestnut trees and we find it very important to share this beauty with all of the campers! Whether for a hike, game or activity, we do our best to get into the forest each day.
Meals that are 100% organic, vegetarian and participatory… During the 4 days of camp, the kids have the chance to try something new… whether it be the vegetarian diet or cooking and preparing a meal for their 1st time, the kitchen has proven to be an incredible life and language classroom! The kids also engage each other and the counselors in rich conversations about the importance of eating local, organic, nutritionally balanced and low carbon-impact meals . Not to mention, from meal time to snack time, everything is delicious!
Oh and how could we forget to mention, all of the bread consumed during the camp is made with love by the G&S community’s organic farmer-bakers, Raph and Kim!
Studio time… A space for creativity and deep thinking! During each camp, participants have 1 and a half hour of studio time per day where they work on a project that they will present at the end of the camp (in English of course). For the camps this summer, all of the kids were challenged to think of alternative solutions that allow people to live in better harmony with the nature.
For our first two camps, the participants worked in groups on imagining alternatives ways of playing, traveling, dressing and growing food.
For the third camp, participants were given the challenge of building some eco-appliances that could help the Grain&Sens community. The inventions included a windmill pond aerator, a solar cooker and a human powered bicycle mixer (made with G&S community member, Romain’s bike that has made a tour around the world!
( See the film about the bicycle’s journey here: LeCycleDeLaTerre )
To conclude, the camp councelors Astrid, Victoria, David and Pepe would like to say…
BRAVO TO ALL OF THE SUMMER 2019 ECO-CAMP PARTICIPANTS!!!
oh and P.S…. we can’t forget to say thank you to Earthicis, the most ancient guardian of the Planet, for his visits to our 3 camps this summer!
Happy school year to all and we look forward to seeing you again!