Camp Kupugani Blog
How To Be Resilient: 4 Steps To Success When Life Gets Hard
At Camp Kupugani, our Midwest summer camp, we role model and help our campers develop grit and resilience. Here is an article on how to make the most of things when life gets tough. Check out the article by Barking Up the Wrong Tree here (https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2021/07/resilient-3/) and see a quick summary below. “First world problems” [“champagne problems” as we prefer to call them]: Playing discomfort Whac-A-Mole just moves the goalposts and makes you see less threatening things as threatening. Deliberate discomfort keeps small problems small. Boredom is a motivation state: Read more…
Last Full Kids Camp Day of the Summer
Today was the last full day of camp before this session (and our safe, healthy, COVID-free kids camps) comes to an end. It was an overall normal day starting with the morning circle. After a tasy breakfast of eggs, bagels, and bacon, the campers did their chores then had team time, with the final day encompassing challenging initiatives like The Wall and Nitro Crossing. After a lunch of cold cuts, chips, and veggies, the campers headed to their last Siesta of the session. Then the campers got to choose their Read more…
Olympics with the Girls
Today was Kupu-Olympics Day! The campers had a great time doing a variety of activities that were judged in 4 categories: Spunk, ‘Spect, Spirit, and Sportsmanship. Each team came up with a team chant and did their face paint. Half the camp was on the red team and half the camp was on blue. The first activity was all camp gaga, followed by a relay race including a 3-legged race, a potato sack race, and a slip-n-slide. After a break for La Tienda, the campers enjoyed the next set of Read more…
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On this Wacky Wednesday, the campers participated in backwards day. This included having breakfast for dinner (and vice versa), wearing clothes backward, and pronouncing words and names backward. After the first meal of chicken and waffles, the campers broke into teams. Today’s module / discussion was Social Awareness/Activism with traditional team-building activities following. We continued to do lap sits, Yurt Circle, and lifts. After lunch, the campers got to pick their camptivities. After the activities, dinner was served. The evening activity was an Untalent Show–with some truly amazing performances and Read more…
A Terrific Tuesday at Girls Camp
On this Terrific Tuesday, after waking up and eating a breakfast of English Muffins (“muffins all the way from England!), the campers broke into their team groups. Today in teams, we started our initiatives which involve trust falls, Willow in the Wind, and Yurt Circles. They also played fun and funny games like “mafia” and “frogger” to pass the time before lunch. Lunch today was delicious comfort food of grilled cheese and chili–perfect for a temperate day weather-wise. The campers also got to choose their two camptivities for the afternoon, Read more…
Magnificent Monday with the Girls
On this Magnificent Monday, we enjoyed our first day liberalizing our COVID-19 bubble (given our infection-free state after our second round of in-camp PCR tests). Campers started off the day with the community gathering, with economic literacy the topic of the day. Breakfast was pancakes, sausage, juice, and fruit! Cabins did their daily chores before splitting off into teams to do some empowering economic literacy activities. After teams, campers enjoyed Free to Learn in the Walnut Grove, with a chance to explore, hang out with those in different cabins and Read more…
A Great Cabin Sunday at Girls Camp
Today started with the camp waking up from their outdoor sleep after their night under the stars. Cabin Day! Each cabin group enjoyed a sleep-in, with a “lazy breakfast” anywhere between 8-10 am. Breakfast was a surprise treat–delicious donuts! Each cabin had their folks switch beds or between cabins so everyone could start the week in a different spot. After breakfast, we had our community gathering Morning Circle, ending with camp pictures. Today’s lunch was a cabin hike and picnic lunch in different parts of the camp. During their day, Read more…
Super Soccer Saturday with the Girls
On this Super Saturday, the counselors defeated the campers in a close match in the staff vs. campers soccer game. The campers took the early lead, but couldn’t hold onto it as the counselors evened it up 2-2 before halftime. The second half brought more close, spirited and sportswomanlike action, with the campers eventually succumbing to the counselor’s relentless pace, with a 3-2 decision to the staff. There was tremendous effort and athleticism from both sides. Despite the campers’ disappointment, the Kupugani Girls camp had a very pleasant day, ending Read more…
Fantastic Friday in the Camp Bubble
On this Fantastic Friday, we had our final Covid PCR testing day of the girls session to ensure our Covid bubble. (For our third consecutive camp, all the tests came back negative, so we can be more liberal with our COVID protocols at camp, with more individualized activities and interactions…yay!) After the tests were collected, the campers headed to breakfast – bagels, bacon, and eggs. After breakfast, they did camp chores to help keep our community clean and healthful. In teams today, we worked on our final conflict resolution module Read more…
A Good Thursday with the Girls
On this Terrific Thursday, the campers woke up and headed down to morning circle/breakfast. After some camp chores, the campers broke into their teams to do trust activities including lineups and hula hoop pass, which worked on establishing communication and trust. After teams, they did a Nature Search and Swatch, seeking a variety of things in nature. A lunch of all-beef hot dogs satisfied the camper’s hunger. After Siesta, the campers did their first and second camptivities–again by cabin cohort in keeping with our week 1 COVID protocols. Dinner today Read more…
Pajama Day Fun at Girls Session
Good times with Pajama Day today! It was a planned reward for our first in-camp COVID testing day in the morning. After testing (regarding which later in the day, we let the campers know of our 100% negative results), we had a nice breakfast then went into teams. After teams, we were Free to Learn for the campers–a time today to hang out in the top area of camp with counselors serving only as available safety resources and not managers or participants. After FTL for an hour, we then headed Read more…
A full day of “normal” at girls camp
Today was the real beginning of a “normal” schedule, albeit mostly in our cohorts. The day started with the campers waking up at 7:00 AM to shower and brush teeth before morning circle and breakfast. Breakfast today consisted of eggs, plus muffins all the way from England! After breakfast, camp-wide chores ensued, then team groups for about an hour to work on learning the basics of successful team development. After teams, we headed into an AM camptivity in cabin groups: climbing, nature walk, challenge hike, and 9 square in the Read more…
