Summer camp keeping children busy

Camp Hardy campers spent Friday baking banana nut bread and finishing their own grass hula skirts.

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In the weeklong preparation for Friday's luau, campers made T-shirts, had water gun and water balloon wars and enjoyed a water slide.

"It is a lot of fun," said camp director Gabrielle Moore, who also is a Grovetown Middle School teacher.

Camp Hardy is a day camp put on by the Family Y Marshall Branch at White Oak Campground from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekly through Aug. 3. The camp is open to children ages 5-12 and costs $65 per week per child.

"We've got plenty of room," Moore said of the third annual Camp Hardy, which moved to the campground this year. "And we are anxious to grow."

Each week of camp is themed, with campers enjoying activities focusing on the theme Fishing for Father's Day this week. Moore said campers will be making their own fishing poles. Fathers are invited to camp on Friday.

Campers will be taken on a field trip each week, with a GreenJackets game on the schedule for the fathers-theme week.

The faith-centered camp includes daily morning devotionals, lots of swimming, arts and crafts and learning activities such as nature hikes and baking with recipes.

"They are going to learn all kinds of character-building things," Moore said. "We are going to work on their esteem. We're going to work on their relationships with other people, social interaction, their relationship with adults. We're going to teach them academic things every week."

Moore said campers can be dropped off between 7 and 8:45 a.m. at Harlem United Methodist Church, then at the camp after 9 a.m. Campers can be picked up from the camp before 4 p.m. and at the church on Milledgeville Street in Harlem from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

For more information or to register for camp, call the Family Y Marshall Branch at (706) 364-3269 or by visiting www.thefamily.org.