LIFE: SCHOOL'S OUT...FOR SUMMER!
Summer is upon us in full throttle. Schools are done for the year. Everyone is busy planning their summers, making sure they find the best ways to keep their children busy. So what do we do with them? Any travel plans? Should we enroll them in summer camps? Keep them at home in front of the television (uhh…not a chance), or keep them active so they continue to thrive and learn, all while making new friends and having a blast?
My husband and I have had some bad luck in the past with some of the summer camps here, in Abu Dhabi. Our kids were below 3 years old, so the summer camps provided for this age group usually takes place in nurseries, and some nurseries will sell this amazing summer camp plan, but in reality, will end up just keeping the kids in a room to play all day, while the teachers drink coffee and gossip, because they’re in ‘holiday mode’. That being said, the following summer, we tried keeping the kids at home as an alternative, and it was a disaster. Children need to stay active, and with both myself and my husband working full-time jobs, we couldn’t cater to their needs all the time. It was unfair to them to stay cooped up in houses, and they became really restless, and honestly, quite intolerable to be around.
This year, we decided to give summer camps another shot, and now that our kids are older, we realize that they definitely need proper activity-based distractions. After some research, we had a few options to choose from to cater for their age group (3 and 4 years old, respectively), but then Kids First Group got in touch with me to check out their summer camp programme, and with 16 nurseries across the UAE, they immediately pinpointed the nursery that is closest to our location, for convenience, and invited me in for a chat. Ladybird nursery is running the summer programme Rumble in the Jungle for children aged 1-4, from 30 June to 27 August. That’s the entire summer! When we went to visit the campus and have a tour of the place and the facilities, we were really impressed with the curriculum and what they have planned for the children this summer.
To start, the children will learn about all the animals that live in the jungle and will include the following breakdown of topics across the summer programme:
Jungle cats
Frogs and bears
"I Went on a Safari"
Jungle plants and flowers
Birds of the jungle
Butterflies and spiders
Snakes and crocodiles
Gorillas and monkeys
They also have a purpose built soft play gym set-up so that the children can have an alternative area to use, and a messy play room used for sensorial play such as, water, mud, jelly, slime, shaving foam and more. I think we all know how most children love to get their hands and feet and every other body part dirty! Some of the activities the children will be participating in also include weekly Jiu-Jitsu classes, splash days, clay modeling, dress-up days, baking, cooking and science experiments - just to name a few! I was really excited to hear of some of these activities, especially the Jiu-Jitsu and cooking classes, which I think my children would really enjoy.
Another plus point is that the Ladybird nursery incorporates the British system (EYFS) and the Montessori principles and method of learning, and the activities are all child-led to ensure complete development and learning for the child. I was obviously really taken by all of this and it was an easy decision to make that this was the ideal summer camp for my children.
I know many of you may be curious what other options I had considered for the summer, and these included: Kipina nursery, but I had previously enrolled my kids in their extracurricular activities and my children just didn’t take to it, so I was reluctant to try again. The other option was Alliance Française's French summer camp, since my son goes to Lycée, but it was way over our budget for the summer.
So, if you’re curious or interested, follow me on my Instagram page for weekly updates on my children’s progress and time spent at the summer camp.
Let me know what you have planned for your kids this summer, and if you’re still unsure, I highly recommend you check out the Kids First Group summer camp programme.
P.S. Children photographed are not my children.