A Typical Day at Kenesserie
Wake Up & Morning Activities🌞⏰
Every morning our campers have the option with their cabin to participate in a morning activity such as: morning dip in the pool, hike the road, bird watching, morning meditation/yoga at Vesper Point, a walk through the woods, and karaoke. These are announced the night before and are a great way to kick-start the day!
Gophers🍽
At Kenesserie all campers will take turns with their cabin mates to set the tables for their fellow campers. This is a really fun time where they get to take on responsibility, and even get a sneak peak at whats for the meal! After the meal they are responsible for sweeping, wiping tables and sorting cutlery. They then, with the assistance of their counsellor, get to lead the entire camp in a sing-song grace and prayer.
Breakfast🍳🍴
Check out our sample menu under the Summer Camp tab above for an idea of whats for breakfast. Out kitchen staff work hard to create healthy, nutritious, delicious food for every meal!
Morning Watch
The whole camp meets at Vesper Point to greet each other, share gratitude for the coming day and wake up our neighbours.
Cabin Clean up✅
Counsellors and campers return to their cabins to organize and tidy their belongings. The camp Health Coordinator scores each cabin on cleanliness and tidiness. The cabin with the highest score receives the coveted stuffed prize for the day and the cabin with the highest score at the end of the week, receives a prize!
Sessions begin🎲🏊
There are usually 4 sessions each day at camp. The usual sessions include swim, crafts, environmental learning, team building initiatives/low ropes, science explorations and wild games! Sessions are full of exploration and learning.
Gophers🍽
Lunch 😋🍴
Kenesserie Camp food is awesome! There is always an optional salad bar set out for lunch and supper. Ice water is set in large jugs in the dining hall for campers to refill their water bottles at all times.
Chores and Cabin Time🏡👭
At Kenesserie Camp our campers participate in daily chores that make camp run smoothly each day. Many hands make for light work. At camp we live in a community where we all pitch in to make camp sparkle and shine. These chores include walking around the field checking for garbage, taking the compost bucket to the compost pile, and bringing more firewood to campfire pit! Chores usually take 15-20 minutes then the cabin chooses their cabin time activity. Some activities that are loved by our campers are: hanging out in the Hammock Village, bird watching in the woods, singing songs, bracelet making, frog catching at the pond and sitting near the cliff, listening to Lake Erie waves. This time is a low key, restful time of the day.
Afternoon Snack🍎
Snack is another time in the day where the whole camp comes together and shares a healthy snack together.
Afternoon Theme Related Activity or Skill Activities😆🎉
Each week at camp has a theme. Themes are shared with families in the spring and campers are sometimes asked to bring costumes or items specific to the theme. These activities vary each week. An example from Astronaut Theme, each cabin worked together to create an element to an astronaut training course outside of their cabin. They were to design, and build their element so that each camper could run through each element. Once they were complete, everyone circled through each element. Once everyone passed their training they were awarded astronaut status!
Chapel🎸🎶
Chapel is a wonderful time of day where everyone meets at the outdoor chapel or in the Spirit Centre to sing songs, listen to stories, tackle challenges and sing some more. Our band inspires campers to learn and play guitars/ukuleles/bucket drums/tambourines to play along with the band. Our campers are encouraged to ask questions and explore faith and spirituality. This is truly a magical time of day.
Gophers🍽
Supper😋🍴
Suppers are held in the dining hall with one evening meal a week being cooked outside over an open campfire. Sometimes suppers are served at picnic tables outside the dining hall as well. Our theme meal is held at various places around camp depending on where we are... sometimes our Dining Hall gets transformed into the Great Hall, our Volleyball Pit turns into a Luau and our forests become Jumanji's playing field!
Evening Program🏃🌲
Campers come together most evenings and play a wide game. There is nothing quite like 80 or more campers squealing as they run through the forest while being chased by an “animal” from higher up in the food chain like in Survival. Sometime games relate to the theme, sometimes not. Either way the campers run, jump, strategize, sneak, explore, work together and simply have a blast during this time.
Campfire🔥🎵
Just like you would imagine the whole camp comes together at dusk, while the sun is setting at campfire beside Lake Erie. They can hear the waves while approaching campfire and getting settled. Your children will have the opportunity to lead the entire camp in song, skits, challenges and stories with the assistance of their counsellors and fellow cabinmates. Campfire ends with a few slower songs where things quiet down before the campers head in for evening snack.
Snack🍪
This is a quiet time of the day. Campers travel from campfire and into the dining hall for snack. They quietly talk about the day with their cabin mates.
Vespers🌙
Once tidied up from snack, the campers and counsellors head over to Vesper Point, on the edge of the ravine and the lake, here staff lead the camp in a short meaningful story and a few quiet songs as they reflect on their day. When Vespers ends campers walk quietly to their cabins to get ready for bed.
Bedtime💤
Once pajamas are on, teeth brush, faces washed and everyone is snuggled into their bunks the counsellors read stories, hold quiet discussions, make plans for the next day, and end their day in community with their campers.
Lights out for older campers💤
Our older campers are sometimes taken to a location away from the cabin circle where younger campers are going to sleep. They may be given a challenge, maybe a night game, perhaps a project that is appropriate for older campers before they head to bed. They then follow the same procedure (pajamas, teeth brushing, etc) as the younger campers do, just at a later time.