From Irene, a parent of a Daisy camper at Make A Mess Day Camp in Colorado Springs
Growing up in a small town in New Mexico, I have many fond memories of my time in Girl Scouts. Perhaps my favorite of them all is the summer I spent at a day-camp out in the desert, cooking breakfast or lunch every day in our little Dutch ovens and cleaning our plates and silverware in mesh bags and buckets. So as my little 6-year-old was nearing the end of her first year in elementary school, my thoughts turned to what kind of day-camp she might enjoy.
My daughter, M, had been enjoying her first year as a Daisy Scout and I knew she would miss the learning and fun of her monthly Girl Scout meetings. Initially, though, I thought there wouldn’t be any camps for her at such a young age. Thankfully, I was wrong! When I received a summer camp brochure in the mail one afternoon, I was excited to see many opportunities for a girl her age. We decided on an art and science camp for her – Make a Mess Art Camp. The art part for M, the science part for me (who desperately hopes she loves science more than I did!).
What a great experience this was for her! She was a little nervous on the first day, knowing that none of her troop friends would be with her, but after about three minutes she was busily making and decorating her name tag, and telling me I needed to leave!
Every day was an adventure. M would come home with a list of all the neat (but messy) things they made at camp that day – snow, mucus, putty. She would excitedly tell her dad and I about painting with her feet, bobbing for apples, blowing bubbles with Columbine, and singing lots of songs (some of which I remember from my Girl Scout days!). I did worry a bit because she is a picky eater, but she would come home telling me about the healthy snacks they got to have and what new things she had tried.
It was wonderful to see my shy little girl make new friends on her first day and tell me all the nicknames of her new pals and leaders – M&M, Happy, Aspen, Pills. While she looked like one of the littler kids at camp, she seemed so grown up and confident as I left her each morning. And she is already asking about art camp next summer!
We’re so glad we chose a Girl Scout camp for M’s first day camp experience. We don’t leave her with people we don’t know very easily, but knowing this was a Girl Scout camp, I had full confidence in the leaders and organizers and knew my daughter would be safe and have a great time.