2017 Spring Camp

Portland KinderschuleActivities, Camps

During spring break there is no school at PKS, but this year there was a Spring Camp offered for the first time. The daily schedule followed the usual PKS day but there was a science focus in the activities.

The first day the ten children attending the camp learned about the bridges in Portland, found out, what to look for in a stable bridge and constructed their own bridges from toothpicks and marshmallows. As most of the kids knew the Fremont Bridge one of them required little flags on top of their bridges. Another big topic were volcanoes which we have quite a few all around Portland. They learned all about magma, lava and ash and built their own volcano. As hot molten rock is not really safe for classroom use, baking soda and vinegar was used for an indoor volcano eruption which also gave an opportunity to investigate acids and bases with the help of an indicator. And then knowing about acids lemon juice was used as a secret ink and egg also miraculously lost it’s shell but kept its shape.

But there was also a lot of time to play games, run around, read books (in German), sing songs, play hide and seek and the weather wasn’t too bad, so that the kids could enjoy the playground outside on four of the five days without getting too wet.

As this first Spring Camp at PKS was a success there might be more in the coming years.