Plainsboro Recreation is once again offering four two-week camps for students up through sixth grade. Students can attend all eight weeks or pick and choose the sessions that work best for them and their family. Registration opens Monday, March 2. Camps run from Monday, June 22, to Friday, August 14. They will not run on Friday, July 3.
Each two-week session of our Lenape Day Camp includes a field day, presenter, and a field trip. Each day includes arts and crafts, fitness, science, and multicultural games. They also swim every day for an hour. The children have a daily 30-minute Red Cross swim lesson taught YWCA instructors, followed by 30 minutes of free swim. Each session’s programs and events are centered around a different theme.
What sets Plainsboro Recreation’s Lenape Day Camp apart from similar camps is its emphasis on multicultural games. Karin Poveromo, program coordinator, explains “the multicultural games class was created by one of our staff members. We teach games children play in different countries.” These games might be similar to what we play in the United States, but with a different name and slightly different rules, or they may be completely different. “It is really unique to our camp. They love it.”
The Lenape Day Camp is a full-day program open to students entering grades 1 through 6. It runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, at Community Middle School in Plainsboro. Before and after care options are available. Plainsboro Recreation Department also offers a half-day pre-kindergarten program for four and five year olds that is held in kindergarten classrooms in a local elementary school. Karin explains the “structure is similar to the Lenape Day Camp. It is a very loving and nurturing camp.” They also run four two-week sessions with themes, a field trip, a presenter, and a water play day. They work on skills to help them prepare for kindergarten, such as following directions and improving their fine motor skills.
Lenny Celluro, the director of the Plainsboro Recreation Department, agrees. “The program is very well thought out. As a camper you are sure to have fun and as a parent you can be sure safety is our biggest concern.” They are very safety conscious. There is a 1-to-7 ratio of counselors to students, which increases to 1:5 in the pre-school program and 1:4 when swimming with the Lenape Day Camp. They have certified teachers, as well as college and high school students as counselors. At age 14 students can volunteer to be counselors in the pre-school program; the following year they can volunteer in the Lenape Day Camp.
Each two-week camp session of the Lenape Day Camp is reasonably priced at $255 through May 15. After that date it rises to $285. The pre-kindergarten two-week camp session is $155 through May 15, and rises to $185. Camp fees are all inclusive, including swim lessons for the full-day sessions, one field trip, a t-shirt, and all supplies.
In addition to these camps, Plainsboro Recreation Department offers performing arts camps up through grade 9, and academic and sports camps up through grade 12.
Visit their website for more information. Registration begins Monday, March 2.
Plainsboro Recreation Department, 609-799-0909. www.plainsboronj.com/content/programs-activities.html.
