Activities
Campamentos en LA MANDORLA from ALAYA FILMS on Vimeo.
Multi-activity camps, 5 nights, 5-14 years.
The activities we do with the children are varied and change according to the theme of the week.
Each week in the summer includes a day bathing at the lake or the Siurana river, a game or enactment in a spectacular outdoor location, and the final day which puts into context the week the children have experienced.
In the morning we do physical activities, e.g. gymnastics, martial arts, gardening, tending to the animals, or building huts.
All the handicraft activities are organised in small groups of 6 or 7 children, with a focus on language and personalised attention for each child. Activities take place in the shade or indoors during the hot summer afternoons.
A typical day at La Mandorla:
8 - 9 am: Wake-up and breakfast
9 - 9.30 am: Helping out with daily chores on the farm (washing up, watering the plants, looking after the animals)
10 - 12.30: Activities, e.g. building huts in the woods, bug hunts, making bows and arrows
1 pm: Lunch
1.45 - 3 pm: Free time (the children can play board games or read to while away the hottest hours of the day)
3 - 5.30 pm: Afternoon activities (handicrafts in the shade, typically using wood, textiles or clay)
5.30 pm: Snack
6 - 8.00 pm: Free time and filling in a nature scrapbook to record the highlights of the day (showers on Wednesday evening)
8 - 8.30 pm: Dinner
8.45 pm: Wash and bedtime for the younger children
8.45 - 10.30 pm: Evening activity, wash and bedtime for the older children
During the day the children take part in the same activities regardless of age. Activities are designed to appeal to all children, and each takes part in their own way according to their age.
Below is an example of the activities and enactment we did on the theme of Africa:
Activity brochures according to the seasons:
Summer:
Autumn:
Winter:
Spring:
Here are some examples of the themed activities we did in Summer 2014:
The Middle Ages
Songs with gestures and discussions on the exploits of knights, learning about plants to prepare medieval culinary specialities, making costumes, wooden swords and models of castles, an enactment in the actual ruins of a castle, simulating an assault on the ramparts!
Pirates!
Learning the songs and mottoes of famous pirates, observing local aquatic wildlife, working on signs and coded messages, making flags, miniature pirate ships, and huge rafts for… a fantastic naval battle on the lake!
The Celts
(Making potions and learning about the medicinal plants used by the Druids, introduction to Celtic agriculture and handicrafts (making metal jewellery, pottery and weaving), immersion in the mysterious universe of Celtic gods (rituals, magic and building dolmens).
The Prehistoric era
Making prehistoric frescoes on the cliffs using natural pigments, shaping of bones and flint, working leather and animal skin, tracking wild animals, re-enacting the life of Cro-Magnon at the entrance of a cave and enactment of a tribal battle.
Avatar!
Based on the film Avatar, immersion for a week in a new civilisation that lives in complete harmony with nature. Paying homage to the trees, learning about plants, insects and birds, dyes and natural make-up, and the invention of a new language…!
