Here’s some photos to enjoy from our final day of Musical Olympics Camp. Since it was our last day, I invited the students’ parents to come and watch our last hour of camp. We re-played a few of our favorite games from the week, and also had an Olympic Awards Ceremony. More details below.
Our first game was the Ultimate Rhythm Relay, which was a culmination of all the relays we did throughout the week! First, the student tossed the musical beach ball (from yesterday) in the air and complete the musical task it indicated. Then, they ran to the buckets and tossed a beanbag until they got it into a bucket. The buckets were each marked with a note/rest. Last, students ran over to the ring toss area, where they had to toss a ring until they got it over the flag whose note/rest matched the bucket they had tossed their beanbag into. Then students ran back to the starting point to tag the next player. I know it sounds complicated, but these relays are much easier to explain by demonstration than they are to describe in words!
Next, we played the Flashcard Splash game, which is based on one of Sheryl Welles’ game. This was a great way to review everything from the week! I used a variety of flashcards that quizzed the names of the piano keys, names of the notes/rests and how many beats they are worth, etc. To play the game, I presented a flashcard to the first player on a team. If they answered it correctly, they earned a point for their team and were allowed to choose a water weapon (I laid out everything we’ve been using all week! The water shooter, sponge balls, squirt guns, etc.) to get a member of their team wet. It would also be fun to have your camp helper be the target! My husband wasn’t up for getting wet, though. 🙂
Soon, the parents started arriving. We re-played our favorite games of the week for them to enjoy:
- Musical Alphabet Noodle Relay
- Water Balloon Keyboard Toss
- Water Rhythm Relay
- Musical Alphabet Shooting Gallery
Then, we were ready for the Awards Ceremony. 🙂
The winning team received a gold trophy! I found the paper gold trophy pictured above at my local dollar store. I wrote the camp name and team name on the trophy with a permanent marker.
All of the students went home with two medals each, too. Each member of the winning team received a gold medal, and each member of the other team received a silver medal. Then, I awarded each student with an individual award, such as: the Helping Hand Award; Team Spirit Award; Leadership Award; Biggest Smile Award; etc. I ordered the customizable medals from Amazon here.
Overall, we had a great week! It was my first experience planning and running a camp by myself and although it was a ton of work, I can tell you it was totally worth it! 🙂
Browse the posts in this series:
- 2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 1
- 2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 2
- 2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 3
- 2012 Musical Olympics Camp – Day 4
Hi Joy,
I’ve been following your camp posts and I’m curious about something. Are all the campers current students of yours? If they’re not, how did you get the word out? Have any of them signed up for lessons in the fall?
6 out of 8 campers are currently taking private lessons with me. The other 2 were friends of my current students. I encouraged my current students to invite their friends and gave out extra registration forms. I also put posters around town to try to encourage non-students to sign-up, but didn’t have much luck with that. 🙂
Great job, Joy!! It sounds like all your hard work paid off! I love running these camps and understand all the work it takes. You did awesome!!
Thanks, Sheryl!
I love all the games you do. It’s such a great way to reinforce what is learnt at the piano. This is a great blog you have, I’m looking forward to visiting often.
Thanks, Anna!
Joy,
It looks like you had a successful Music Olympics this year. Can you tell me about how many kids you expect at your Olympics and how you go about promoting it?
This was the first time I’ve ever planned/run a music camp by myself, so I really had no idea what to expect as far as enrollment goes. I had 6 students sign up at first, and then had 2 more (friends of my students) sign up last minute. Promoting a camp is just like promoting piano lessons – I put up posters around town. I will add, however, that it helps to talk about the camp with your students – rather than just send a brochure home with students. Students won’t want to go to camp if they don’t know how much fun it is going to be!! 🙂
Awesome! I’m glad it went well for you
This looks like a lot of fun! I just started teaching again and am hosting a piano party tomorrow. Although, our weather is snowy, so I’ll have to wait for the summer fun for a few months. Our games will be indoor. I made a Musical Twister game and Hopscotch, an instrument craft and Musical Hearts for Valentines Day. I wondered if you’ve tried a Music Movie Night? I’m thinking about it…
Great Summer ideas!
I haven’t tried having a Music Movie Night, but I think it’s a great idea! Someday, I’d love to show that documentary about Steinways to my students.
Thank you for sharing your detailed plans. I have never done a summer camp before, but I am considering it (especially after finding your lesson plans–what a great resource!). I am curious about the financial side of it, and wonder what would be an appropriate rate to charge for the participants?
Check out this post, Kristi!
Thank you so much for putting this blog up 🙂 Really helped me broaden my way of teaching through games and making music fun 🙂 Love the water games!
Hello Joy,
Love this creative camp idea! What did you charge for each student and how long was it each day? Thanks for your reply.