Interesting beginnings to our third Sprucelands session.

You have common ground with me
 if you like peanut butter and chocolate together!

You have common ground with me
if you have a sister who tripped on flat ground and broke her arm!

The first night of our third session was pleasant. Temperatures were reasonable. After a brief orientation for campers in the lodge and then interest hour, we adjourned to the athletic field for interactive mixers. Icebreakers are a great way to get acquainted with new souls. Before you know it, we are old friends.

Our all time favorite is Common Ground. Many of you have read about Common Ground before. It's a circle game where everyone stands on a piece of paper. However, there is one less piece of paper than there are group members. The person in the middle says, "You have common ground with me if....."

For example, "You have common ground with me if you like to walk barefoot in the grass." Anyone who likes to walk barefoot in the grace runs to find a different place in the circle. As long as they are standing on a piece of paper, then they are safe. If they get caught in the center of  the circle, then they say, "You have common ground with me if...."  The kids love this game and thoroughly enjoy playing it. While having fun, they get to know each other and discover they are not alone in their likes and dislikes.

Over here. If you like pink, we're over here.

We are a group that likes horses. Right here!
Our favorite animal is horses.

Our favorite sport is football!

Another game is called the Live Survey game. The group leader hollers out a topic like favorite ice cream, favorite color of horse, favorite music, favorite food, favorite sport, etc. Immediately, hands are raised in the air so that anyone with a similar interest groups together. Some groups are big. Other groups are small. Occasionally, a group consists of one or two. I love when I see a group clustered together in a hug.

This is another of the kids favorite games. It could go on for hours. Of course, there are always a few that come up with clever responses. They shouted out, "If you ever have a cat, what would you name it?" Many gathered together saying that Panther would be their cat's name. One of the kids stood alone and said he would name his cat McLoven. Everyone thought that was way cool. Another group formed to say they hated cats and would never have one. So I guess we learn all kinds of things from our Live Survey.

Let me tell you about me....so glad to meet you.

A third game involves two circles. One group of kids make a full circle inside another group of kids. They were to turn and face a player in the opposite circle, tell them interesting things about themselves, and then when the word 'change' was called, they rotated their circles in the opposite directions to talk with yet another person.

The remarkable thing about watching this game play out is that older kids are forced to actually talk with younger kids. I've discovered some of them are a bit shy. And you know what, they do just fine, discovering that the little guys won't bite them. Younger kids learn to interact with the older kids, discovering they aren't scary at all. We are in fact like a big family at Sprucelands. That is felt in this particular game as the kids reach out to each other.

I really like this game. I'm making so many new friends.

Hey, you know what? This is really fun.

So the evening played out well. I snapped a few photos for you to enjoy. Will continue to do that across the week so you can be like a fly on the wall with me, watching what the kids are doing. I'll do my best to keep up. I noticed a few of the kids were a little tentative in the first games we played. They stuck close to each other. By the end of the evening though, they were hugging everyone and laughing more relaxed laughs. It doesn't take long to get into the mix at Sprucelands.

P.S. My posting on the blog was delayed this morning because we lost power around 11 a.m. I have to laugh. The backhoe came and dug up my lawn this morning so that new plumbing can happen from the septic tank to my basement. Then, but of course, there was a huge storm that went through. I'm laughing because maybe if I had dug up the lawn a week or so ago it would have rained sooner!!!! Now I have a mud hole. LOL

Everyone is fine. Lots and lots of rain which we needed. Just got power back around 5:30 p.m. The riding program went as planned this afternoon although we danced around raindrops and thunder. The kids are smiling. That's the important thing. Now let's hope the humidity breaks.

Comments from you are always, always welcome.