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Business Spotlight
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f you’re looking for a fun and exciting summer camp experience
for your children, but want to ensure that their thinking caps stay
on while enjoying their summer break, then look no further than
Little House Learning Center.
With an 11-week summer camp schedule for 2014, Little House
is not your typical fun-in-the-sun camp.
“Our teachers plan different themed camps each week to engage
[the children] physically and mentally all summer long,” said Jennifer
Osterman, owner of Little House. “Additionally, our campers get a lot
of outside time – at our school, at the local park and through our trips
to the retreat center.”
This full-day summer camp provides families with many options.
Camp runs from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. each day. Extended care is also
available, where parents can pick up and drop off any time between
6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. “Our camp can meet the needs of both
working families looking for summer fun and care, as well as those
families simply looking for additional activities to keep their children
active during the long summer months.”
Themes will include everything from “Fear Factor” to “Art
Antics,” from “Survivor Mode” to “All Ball.” The children will be
challenged to step out of their comfort zone in the Fear Factor
camp, with individual challenges and unique experiences tailored
to the campers. During Survivor Mode they will learn and practice
basic skills of survival. Using the many acres at the retreat center,
the campers and the teachers will be hiking, making a campfire and
putting up shelter. All Ball is a chance to play many well-known
games as well as learn and play some unfamiliar ones. With bocce,
quidditch, badminton and more on the agenda, the kids are sure to
“have a ball.”
Each week will include at least one day at the Family Retreat
Center in Mars or at Adams Township Park. Additional special event
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days are sprinkled in. With visits from a cartoonist, the Carnegie
Science Center and some very special animals, the students are kept
active and engaged each and every day.
“Each camp brings new and exciting opportunities! We focus
on being hands-on and exciting to keep our students challenged
mentally as well as physically,” Osterman says. “Not only are they
swimming, hiking, running, building, and playing…they are reading,
writing, and learning each day.”
She indicated that the emphasis on summer teaching comes from
studies showing that kids can lose months of education during their
summer break from school. Skills that were learned and mastered
can become rusty, leaving students at a disadvantage when they
return to classes in the fall. Incorporating math, science, reading and
technology into their summer will put them at an advantage for the
start of the next school year.
Additional themes include “Under the Big Top,” “Looney
Landmarks” and “Blast from the Past.” They involve activities from
having a full week of circus-like fun to traveling the country to find
and replicate the silliest landmarks in our great country. The “OoeyGooey Camp” allows the campers to be messy, messy, messy. Dipping
chocolate, throwing paint, stretching oobleck and even wearing lab
coats and goggles to examine the viscosity of liquids will naturally
appeal to a child’s sense of curiosity and willingness to make a goodold-fashioned mess.
“If we can convey that learning can be fun or at least mix
learning into the fun, then we’ve succeeded in creating a summer
for our students that’s both unforgettable and beneficial for them,”
Osterman said.
For more information about Little House Learning Center’s
summer camp, go to littlehouselearningcenter.com or call
724.776.5583.
Mars Area | Spring 2014 | icmags.com 5