Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula

Editor’s note: This is another in a weekly series of activities happening at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula. For more information, see positiveplaceforkids. net or call 683-8095. — MD

Delta Dental of Washington’s Tooth Fairy visited the club on to spend some time teaching our members about oral hygiene and fun dental facts.

The Tooth Fairy sprinkled happiness all over the club, giving away books, water bottles and selfie sticks with a pouch full of oral care items such as tooth brushes, mouth wash, floss and more.

Our young members gathered in the multipurpose room to hear a story from the Tooth Fairy before getting their goodies and teens gathered around in their club to hear best practice messaging.

Morning Camp: Glimpse into the future

Campers enjoyed a week of futuristic week and spent some time with robots. Art projects centered around robots including flat pastel drawings and what we affectionately call “trash art.” Robots were made from recycle bin materials like shoe boxes, plastic containers, egg cartons and many unique shape pieces and turned into 3-dimensional art.

In the club’s theater room the kids watched “Wall-E” about a trash-collecting robot of future times.

The movie sparked wonderful group conversation centered on what members expect of future days, among expectations, flying cars and hover boards.

Friday’s field trip was in our own backyard with a trip to Railroad Bridge Park and a tour through the Audubon Center.

Junior Rangers: Ruby Beach

One last trip to way out west for our junior rangers, as they headed to Ruby Beach last week to explore the ocean beaches and tide pools. Upon arrival, they split into groups with different activities and quickly discovered that their favorite time was spent using beach material to re-create their own miniature environments.

“Lakes” were dug into the sand, sticks became large logs and the kids worked together collaboratively to recreate beach scenes while learning from Ranger Jared about the eco-systems on the beach.

Rangers leading other groups encouraged participants to explore senses on the beach, what did they see, smell and feel and how was that different from some of their other stops during this summer’s journey through the parks.

What’s cookin’

With a grant from Opal Applies, we are able to spend some program time this summer focusing on Healthy Lifestyles, a core focus of the Boys & Girls Clubs across the nation. We operate all health and nutrition programs with the same objective — to teach our members to lead a healthy lifestyle, make good choices and to grow and prepare food.

To break the cycle of food insecurity and obesity, we offer programs like: Kids Take Heart and Food Smart to teach physiology and nutrition; What’s Cookin’ to demonstrate food preparation and Garden Club to focus on agriculture and growing food.

What’s Cookin’, our summer program, is off to a great start targeting members with a specific interest in preparing meals and using kitchen appliances. Last week’s session was facilitated by teen staff member Jordan Miller.

Our members have covered basic kitchen safety concepts, measuring and chopping techniques and have prepared delicious meals like ground turkey tacos, teriyaki chicken stir-fry and a berry cobbler with fresh locally grown berries.

Stride Academy

Daily fun in the computer lab is available for our members. Stride Academy is comprised of learning modules for our elementary school members.

The online program assists personalized learning through adaptive technology. It locates the exact skill students need to work on and through incentives encourages participants to master skills needing work and builds upon that success.

The game rewards students for their efforts with limited, highly engaging games.

Each computer station in the lab is filled with a participant during the program hour and reports communicate to staff which students might be performing behind grade level and in which subjects, allowing the club to targeted enrichment.