Kamp Kaleidoscope offers kids a flexible escape

No money for a vacation this summer? Is even a "staycation" out of the question?

How about a "stay" camp?

The Batavia Park District offers a day camp that allows you to enroll your children for the summer or for the week. It's that flexible.

Kamp Kaleidoscope has been a popular summer program for the past eight years. It offers a daily program from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. with flexible end hours available from 4 to 6 p.m. to accommodate parents who work outside of the home. Originally, it was created as an extension of the after school program that runs during the school year at the park district.

Recreation supervisor Rachel Schmit, a single mom herself, realized the need for a program that would make it easier for parents who needed child care. Yet she still wanted to have a summer program that would be fun as a summer camp.

"In terms of child care we are very inexpensive," she said. "It works out to about $3 an hour.

"But we offer so much more than just child care. We have an amazing staff and they put an outstanding program together."

Schmit hires college kids who are pursuing a career in either education or medicine and she looks for creative counselors.

"Our staff is comprised of future teachers, doctors and nurses," she added. "And we have a couple of kids who are studying special ed who work with the special needs campers."

Having a camp available to all Batavia children is important to Schmit.

"The camp believes in an inclusion policy with a counselor assigned to the camper that needs assistance," Schmit said. "If the camper requires more than the staff can handle there is a special arrangement with Fox Valley Special Recreation so that the camper can have the best possible camp experience."

To make the camp enjoyable for those who come all summer, the staff puts together a varied program with themed weeks, featuring related crafts and activities.

Each week includes a field trip and the campers have been able to go to baseball games, the zoo and even the wild west.

Locally, the campers enjoy trips to the quarry and the movie theater. Field trip costs are included in the cost of the week.

"The theme weeks have proven to be a big success," Schmit said. "The kids really look forward to them. Last year, one of our counselors, Paul Jurgens, a pre-med student, held a science week where students were amazed at different experiments each day."

Kamp Kaleidoscope is reinforcing the principles of the Character Counts program that is used in Batavia Schools with a special week. The campers spent Monday learning about the Pillars of Character from the reigning Miss Illinois 2009, Katie Lorenz. Throughout the week there will be puppet shows, games, crafts, and outdoor activities that center on the themes of Character Counts such as caring about others, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, citizenship and fairness.

They will end the week with a special presentation by Batavia Mayor Schielke about citizenship.

The park district offers a variety of camps from sports to music. It also offers programs similar to Kamp Kaleidoscope for both teens and preschoolers.

Having the flexibility to sign up for these programs on a week-to-week basis gives parents the opportunity to try the programs for a short time and see how their kids do.

Kids can feel like they are going to camp and parents don't even have to fill up the tank to take them there.

For details, log onto www.bataviaparks.org or call (630) 879-5235.