Photos from a typical week at camp!
Be ready for an exciting week at Franke Park Day Camp. We have so much packed into every day you won't want to miss even a minute!!
When you arrive at camp you will be introduced to your counselor and meet all of the other kids in your group.
Next stop, Singing Tree! You will learn a lot of new songs at Singing Tree and have lots of great laughs too!!
We then raise the flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance.
If you are in the 4-5 age group, your camp name will be the "Fireflies"! Look for your camp home inside the Nature Lodge. You will have a great time meeting new friends, learning about nature, working on a tie dye t-shirt and much more!!
If you are in the 6-8 or 9-11 age group, your camp name may be the "Sycamores", "Mallards", "Snakes" or some other nature related name! Your basic supplies will be in the Long House and you will use your bull pen area as your camp home base.
Let's head to the Long House and make various types of crafts...some of them are quite messy but we do not mind!!
Since we are already "messy" why not work on tie dye? We will make tie dye shirts we can wear at camp!
After this it is time to hit the trail. That means a quick trip to the Long House to gather up the supplies that we all need, a restroom break, time for bug spray and a final check before we head out.
Off we head into the woods....and what fun we have as we head to our camp site for the day! Let's go...TURTLES!
What about a trip to see Bullet Hill? What is Bullet Hill and why all the FUSS? Today we find out! Ask us to explain....and we can fill in the details.
Let's head to Spy Run Creek for MESSY FUN???? I need to remind MY FAMILY.....that I will be getting dirty but having FUN...so only OLD CLOTHES for me!!
While we are having so much water fun.....let's see what we can learn! The counselors are eager to share about the properties of MUD as well as tell us what we may find if we find insects or other creepy crawlers in the water!
We make it to our camp and now it is time to get everything set in place!
The "Fireflies" (the 4-5 year old group) join us on this particular day. Their counselor reads to them while we prepare the camp fire! Later we get to make a drawing using the coals from the fire (don't worry mom we make sure they are nice and cool for our little campers).
On Fridays those campers that are 11 years of age by June 1st are eligible to earn a dogtag. What is expected of the 11 year olds?
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campers are blind-folded so they do not know where they’re being led by their group in the woods
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remain silent from the time the flag is raised in the morning until it is lowered in the afternoon
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only allowed to speak three times throughout the day
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collect firewood
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light a fire using flint and steel
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extinguish fire
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fill out a fire permit
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assist in leading their group through the woods back to camp
Each of our fellow Sycamores has succeeded and the pressure is off! They are happy for they know in a little bit they will receive their dogtags and be able to just enjoy the campfire like this fellow camper pictured above!
After gathering all of the campfire wood we need, we set about getting our campfire ready. We then enjoy both our campfire food and also the food we bring from home. We need to make sure we bring lots to eat because we get pretty hungry from all this fresh air and we quickly devour our food!!
Before we leave camp we must fully put out our fire and complete our Fire Permit.
We have time this day for some fun games...so we head to the MUD SLIDE! If you have not experienced this before....get ready for FUN! Depending on the summer the Mud Slide may be a muddy mess or a gentle ride.
After all that "MUD"....we just may need to get "clean" on the soap slide! 
We may need a bit more help from our Counselor and the water hose to make the job complete!
Oh....not so fast! Now that we are clean.....and HUNGRY....what about PUDDING contests!
As our week winds down on Friday we are successfully led back to camp by the 11 year olds.
There is a little time for final songs at Singing Tree before we leave for the day.
The flag is lowered and the end of the camp for this week
draws to a close. It is a bittersweet moment... full of lots
of memories of the week.
Registration for Camp BEGINS next SPRING!
Remind your family that we want to see your smiling face at camp in 2025....do not MISS the fun! Until then....Tra-Ho!
Enjoy a few photos from the 75th Celebration in 2023! 
