University of Texas Permian Basin First 5’s Kinder Camp is coming up July 15-19 in a hybrid version — partly virtual and partly in person.
Including children from Ector and Midland counties, the in-person part of the camp will be held in the multipurpose room in the Mesa Building on the University of Texas Permian Basin campus.
The hybrid option will let First 5 reach more families, HIPPY Coordinator LeAnna Valle said.
HIPPY stands for Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters.
About 80 families have enrolled in Kinder Camp this year.
“Basically, we’re here to help families through the transition (to) kindergarten. We’re offering them parent resource topics, ranging from home routines for school, how to be involved in your child’s education, how to communicate with your child’s teacher, and then dealing with separation as there’s a lot of children that have never been in a school or have never been separated from their mom so kind of just giving them tips and little things on that on how it can help them through the transition of starting school and starting kinder,” Valle said.
It’s not only the children that have to deal with separation; it also impacts the parents as they let go and entrust their child with someone else, she said.
Valle said they help families with purchasing school supplies and it helps build children’s social-emotional skills.
“If they’re able to join the in-person sessions, they get to meet other children. A lot of the time, they can meet someone that’s enrolled or registered at the same school, so we do allow them an opportunity to kind of just meet other kids that are going into kinder as well,” she added.
Last year’s camp was hybrid as well. Parents enjoyed being able to do activities with their children and it gave them practice for when their children start bringing home homework.
A lot of the activities during camp let children use scissors, crayons and use their imaginations while the parents connect with their child during the activity. Valle said it can also encourage parents to get involved in school.
“During the day, we try to cover the main objectives like literacy, math, science, language is in there as well. They’ll be making their own book, so using their creativity to write their own book and put it together,” Valle said.
They will also be making cloud dough, a mixture of corn starch and hair conditioner; adding with elephants; making a safari explorer and categorizing the way animals move like animals that fly and walk and run.
The kids will cut out an explorer who will use binoculars made from toilet paper rolls to observe the animals.
Although it’s not being held in a school as it was some years before, Valle said it still helps the children.
“I feel it does. First 5, as an agency, we focus on helping build healthy, happy families, helping the parent, empowering and encouraging the parent to be their child’s first teacher. We’re just staying true to that where the parent is being involved in their education. They want to know, they want to help them learn and help them succeed. This is a way to stay true to that as an agency itself,” she added.
