With 3 long weeks (24 days to be exact) and no travel plans in site, I was on the hunt for a holiday program in Singapore for my 3 1/2 year old son. After asking around, the same name kept coming up “Camp Magic”….

What the heck is “Camp Magic”! “Will my son learn to be a magician?” Don’t laugh – this thought did cross my mind. Camp Magic is actually an arts based holiday program for kids ages 3-12. Not knowing what to expect, we decided to take the chance and sign him up for three weeks of Camp Magic over the Winter break. Good thing we did – Zayden had an amazing time still continues to talk about Camp Magic!

Here is an overview of what to expect and some tips on how to prepare for Camp Magic:

What is Camp Magic? It turns out that Camp Magic is a holiday program that is full of arts, crafts, drama, circus arts, dance and of course lots of fun. The program was started 11 years ago by the Canadian Storyteller Katherine McLeod and is well established in Singapore. You sign up week by week for camp, so you can still take a vacation and participate in Camp Magic.

What do the kids do all day? The kids do a variety of arts and crafts projects, sing songs, hear and create stories based around the theme of the camp. The theme for the winter holidays 2012 was the “Solstice – Celebrating the Rivers Around the World”. The kids explored and learned about the different rivers in various countries including Morocco, Tibet, Canada.

Each week revolved around an original story. The kids work together with the counselors to create original songs and artwork surrounding the story and theme.

The kid’s also get a chance to try out various instruments, including different types of drums, ukuleles, guitars and sing a variety of songs. There are also hula hoops, pogo sticks, plate-spinning, stilt-walking, juggling, flags, unicycles and many other fun and crazy things for the kids to entertain themselves with.

What will they learn?  At the end of the week on Friday, the kids put on a mini show in the main auditorium that parents are invited to attend. The show revolves around the story and theme for the week.

Zayden did learn some really catchy songs. Just today we were singing and dancing to the Camp Magic theme song while he took a bath. It goes something like this… “Camp, Camp Magic. Camp, Camp Magic. Every day is a bundle of fun and we get to play with everyone” (or at least this is how we sing it at our house).

What are the counselors like? The counselors were all very friendly. The head counselors are from different parts of the world. All of them had some type of creative arts background – theatre, musician, performers. You can tell that they were really eager and excited to be there (this was not just another job), most of them made a special trip to Singapore to be there for the children. There were also some high school students helping out with each group. Even though specific counselors are assigned to each group, there is a lot of interaction between the all the children and counselors, so the children are exposed to a number of various art forms.

How are the groups of kids organized? The kids are divided into groups depending on their age. Each group had 3 counselors. The amount of kids in the group varied each week (depending on the amount of kids attending the camp). Over the winter holidays the camp was offered for 4 weeks. Week 2 of the camp was the busiest (with approximately 120 students).  The other weeks had about half that amount. Although I have heard that the summer program is really full every year and you need to sign up early. The 3-4 year olds have the option of doing half a day (ending at 12:30), while all the other kids attend camp from 8:45pm-3:15pm.

What do the kids eat? The kids get two snacks at Camp Magic. The morning snack consists of muffins, fruits, mini sandwiches (different choices each day) and juice. The afternoon snack is cookies, which they get right before they leave. You need to pack your own lunch from home. Lunch is at 12:30 p.m. Most kids bring sandwiches. I packed Zayden a thermos of hot food (pasta, noodles, fried rice, etc.). I also packed him a few healthy snacks in his lunch box since I know he is a picky eater and also a very hungry little boy.

Will they have fun? Zayden seemed to have a great time at Camp Magic. Additionally, every mom I spoke to (at least 10 other people) said that their kids also “love camp magic”

Where is it located? Camp Magic is located at the Nexus International School off of Ulu Pandan Road. It has a lot of parking and is really easy to get to.

It also has a nice outdoor playground and a lot of grassy area for the kids to run around and have fun.

 

Will SuperMommy enroll her kids again? Yes, we love Camp Magic. My boys will definitely be attending Camp Magic again in the future when they have a break from school. I thought it was a good creative arts program. I really liked the fact that the counselors were all experienced in the “Arts” and not just random people hired as counselors. Zayden had a great time and was very happy and enthusiastic to attend camp each day.

Some Useful Camp Magic Information:

 

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