Tag: America’s Finest Summer Camp

Woodshop Projects You Can Use

October 26th, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-10-26 at 2.50.36 PMWe were thrilled to open a new Woodshop studio this past summer, our fourth (and final) move for this ever-popular activity. Walking into the Shop, guests will find it always busy and full of campers working on projects that are both appropriate for their skill level and useful in their daily lives.

Many of the projects we built this year come from projects we see around us. The iPod speaker is just that. Given as a gift to one of our full time team members over the winter, we thought it would be a fun project to try at camp. The kids jumped right in because they actually use it back home right away. And, it works!

Another fun and useful project was our travel stool. Last summer, one of our campers from Russia built a great stool all on his own. In researching the cost to send it back to Moscow, we found it prohibitively high. (Don’t worry – we are still using the stool today!)

Our head of Creativity developed our travel stool, a project that would allow girls and boys the chance to build something they could use back home but also pack in any bag. Dozens of these projects were created and painted to their builder’s own plans.

Lastly, our staff helped the campers use the wood from our surrounding forests to come up with winter holiday ornaments. These little reindeer will be great additions to many homes this winter.

We are proud of our girls and boys who use their hands, imaginations, and many tools they don’t often see to create useful projects. Come to the Shop and give it a try yourself next summer!

Fine Arts at Camp Weequahic

October 20th, 2015

11802642_10153511651761419_866835285771960755_oWe were thrilled to unveil our new Studio, the fine arts space at Camp Weequahic, for our Summer 2015 campers. This brand new space offered campers of all ages a chance to explore, create and play surrounded by engaged and excited staff.

Campers with “Studio” on their daily schedule were invited to join one of several project offerings between drawing & painting, jewelry, crafts and more. A number of very playful and creative kids developed their own projects to the wonder of our staff.

Memorable projects include picture frames, scrapbooks, melted wax, spray paint art and innumerable bracelets. The most interesting, though, was the homemade soap.

Campers spent time picking herbs from our garden to dry and then add to the soap. After a few successful attempts, several campers starting trying new options like citrus, oatmeal and crushed oreo cookies. (More than one visiting staff member wanted to take a bite….)

We hope you’ll spend some time with us next summer in The Studio. It’s a colorful, fun place where you can explore and create to heart’s content!

Top Chef Recipe – Triple Threat Brownies

October 13th, 2015

If you like a good, gooey brownie, this may be for you. While our campers enjoy cooking all types of meals in Top Chef, these brownies have certainly become a camper (and camp director) favorite. Give them a try at your home but be careful – they are addictive!

Triple Threat Brownies

Ingredients for the Chocolate Chip Layer

  • 1 cup of butter
  • 1 cup of white sugar
  • 1 cup of brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 3 cups of flower
  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • 2 tsp of hot water
  • ½ tsp of kosher salt
  • 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Ingredients for the Marshmellow or Oreo Layer

  • 10 marshmellows or 10 oreos

Ingredients for the Brownie layer:

  • ½ cup of butter
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp of Vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
  • ½ cup flour
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • ¼ tsp baking powder

Directions

Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. Cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add the

eggs one by one and stir in the vanilla.

  1. Dissolve the baking soda in hot water and add to the batter with salt. Finally

add the flour and chocolate chips.

  1. Spread the batter on an 8”x8” brownie pan or pyrex dish*

Marshmallow or Oreo Layer:

Cut the marshmallows or Oreos in half and push over the cookie batter.

Brownie Layer:

  1. Cream the butter with the sugar and add the egg.
  2. Mix all the dry ingredients together and add to the batter.
  3. Spread on top of the cookie marshmallow.
  4. Bake all together at 350 F degrees for 40-45 minutes.

*This recipe can also be made in muffin tins. You’ll need to cut down the cooking time, though!