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WEST SPRINGFIELD For most of today's youth who are too busy shut up indoors with the latest 21st century electronic entertainment, they might never have thought that they could travel back in time transforming themselves into children of the 19th century, but that is exactly what they will be doing at this year's Storrowton Village Early American Summer Days. Next week children ages six through 12 will be participating in the first session of this annual camp that takes them through a week-long series of hands-on activities educating them about life in New England during the 19th century. "Think of all the Charles Dickens' movies you watched when you were a kid," Dennis Picard, director of the Storrowton Village Museum and coordinator of the Early American Summer Days said as he described the atmosphere of the event to Reminder Publications. "We're engaging all of the senses and it's really neat to see the kids light up." Picard stated that from the first day of the camp they children begin to learn about a world that they might have only seen on television. On the first day the children are given costumes to wear for the week. The girls wear dresses and aprons while the boys wear pullover shirts and workmen's caps. The children are divided into groups by age and begin learning about 19th century New England, Picard said. On the second day of camp the children participate in authentic craft activities including candle dipping and tile mosaics under the tutelage of Storrowton Village instructors. They also visit the schoolhouse and workshops of the villagers. Children also begin to learn songs and dances with live 19th century music. "We have some benchmark programs that we do every year like candle dipping, making cheese and milking a cow but we have a pool of activities that we draw from every year so that we don't repeat [all] the same programs every year," Picard said. According to Noreen Tassinari, director of marketing at The Big E, who has been with The Big E since the inception of the Early American Summer Days about 25 years ago, Picard and his team are always looking for ways to keep the program fresh. With a ratio of one supervisor to every five or six children each of them have the opportunity to learn about and participate in the activity, Picard said. There are four groups of 10 to 14 children, he added. According to Picard, the children obtain the greatest lessons not through the activities but the lessons that go along with the activities. Children are learning valuable communication, social interaction and writing skills throughout the week. Picard stated that on the first day of the camp the children also begin a journal that they write in at the conclusion of each day. They can write about their favorite activities, what they learned or who they met that day. On Wednesday, the third day of the camp, the children learn how to churn butter and make cheese. They also make apple cider with a wooden cider press and learn how to milk a cow by milking the live milking shorthorn, Picard said. "My favorite experience was with a girl who was eight years old, while she milked the cow she said, 'the cow is warm,'" Picard said. "She didn't know that the cow was warm because in her world the only cow that she ever sees is in an ad for cheese." On the forth day children participate in spinning wool and weaving cloth from fiber and view demonstrations on sheepdog herding and wool dyeing. On the final day the children participate in an on-stage skit, dance, poem or song that reflects what they did over the past week, Picard said. The children also take their parents on a village tour and are able to demonstrate the various crafts and skills that they have learned. They also participate in other activities such as town ball, constructing puppets, drawing animal portraits and play marbles, according to information released by The Big E. "It's a heck of a lot of fun and it takes place in a beautiful setting at the Storrowton Village Museum," Tassinari said. "They are learning about life in another era with fun and exciting activities and I think it's important for children to get back into another era and [see] how much fun it can be." Currently all spaces have been filled for both sessions of the Early American Summer Days but there are one-day camps during February and April school vacations which give children a taste of what the week-long summer camp is like, Picard said. For more information call the Museum at 205-5051. | ||||||
