Jefunira Director Serenade 2008

Directors Jamie and Ben serenade Jefunira campers with a Lion King classic...

2008 Counselor Lipsync

The Jefunira counselors take things back to the 80's and rock the house with this rendition of "Total Eclipse of the Heart"!

Jefunira Campers in the news!

We wanted to give a shout out and congratulate one of our very own Jefunira Junior counselors, Allie Coleman. Allie was recently awarded the Palo Alto Daily Athlete of the Week in recognition of her performance in two volleyball matches against Los Gatos and Homestead. We at Jefunira have seen Allie's setting skills firsthand during games of Prisonball and they are truly impressive! And to everyone out there reading this, remember- If you had fun, you won!

Welcome to WEB 2.0

Hi All,

With much prodding and hand holding from Director Ben, I am finally entering the world of blogging.  I want to thank Ben for creating our fantastic Jefunira Camp blog and getting me started at a blogger.  

This weekend I was at the team party after my son's last soccer game.  As is often the case, one of the parents asked me about Jefunira Camp.  Their interest was piqued because every piece of clothing I wear has the Jefunira Camp name on it.  After I explained a bit about camp and my role, another parent asked the inevitable question, "That sound like a great way to spend the summer, but what do you do during the year?"  I said that running Jefunira Camp was my only job.  That is what I do.  People are always amazed when I say that.  They ask what I do when it is not summer.  My usual, tongue in cheek response, is "Relish my career choice!".  But the truth is that running a top quality summer camp is a year round endeavor.  The time between the end of summer and now is spend reviewing every aspect of Jefunira Camp and thinking about what worked and what we could do better.  We are always thinking about how we can improve the quality of the experience for campers, counselors and parents. November 1 traditionally marks the point when we move from reflecting on the past summer to planning for the coming summer.  So while finding ways to get rid of the last of the Halloween candy, planning for Thanksgiving and preparing for the holidays is probably more on your mind than summer camp, we are now spending our time getting ready for a fantastic Jefunira Camp 2009.  

Another Successful Tip the Bucket!

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Originally uploaded by jefuniracamp

Jeff and counselor Eric high five after Tip the Bucket. They may have been defeated by the campers, but they had fun so....they won!

I'll Make an Otter Pop out of you...

Those unique and creative Jefunira counselors are at it again! To whet your appetite for the coming summer (and the amazing performances its sure to produce!) here is one final video from the summer of 2007...

Less than 2 weeks till Summer!

The countdown has begun..13 days and counting till the first day of Jefunira Camp begins! We can't wait to kick off another summer full of wacky relays, good old fashioned fun and games, and don't forget the Otter Pops! We have assembled, yet again, a group of some of the most talented and accomplished counselors around and are thrilled at all of the unique talents, skills and experiences they bring to the Jefunira experience. What Jefunira game or activity are YOU most excited for...???

Kung Fu Panda?

Has anyone seen Kung Fu Panda? Jefunira took a trip to the movies this past weekend, in which an unfortunate coin toss resulted in the viewing of "Don't Mess with the Zohan" instead of Kung Fu Panda...We'd love to hear reviews and thoughts from anyone who made a wiser movie viewing choice...

Family Movie: A Blast from the Past!

During the offseason, we love watching movies. Of course, Meatballs and Wet Hot American Summer are tops on our list, but our tastes run to the non-camp genre too. Today we thought we'd recommend a blast from the past that would make for a great family movie night- "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson. Mixing animation with live action, Angela Lansbury plays an amateur witch who takes 3 British children into her care during the Blitz of London. Looking for a long lost magic spell, these wannabe magicians travel with the aid of an enchanted bedknob.

With some classic songs in the vein of Mary Poppins and other British musicals, and a good mix of adventure and comedy, this would be a very fun movie for kids aged about 8 and up. There is a battle scene in the end in which bewitched armor defends a village against a Nazi approach, which could be a little intense for younger or more sensitive kids.

Jefunira Rating: Red group and up!

Games for the Spring

Aww- the balmy evenings, later sunsets of Daylight savings and sunny afternoons- spring is nearing! And with the extra hours of daylight, we thought we'd throw out a couple ideas of games for kids (and grownups too!) to play at home.

Shadow Tag- This game is actually best played after sunset. A "home base" is chosen, typically the front drive or front steps of your house. One person is assigned to be the 'seeker' and counts down while the other players hide in the surrounding bushes/backyard. Once the countdown is finished, the seeker begins to look for the players in hiding. If they spot someone, the seeker must run back to the base and call out "1,2,3 on Joey (or whomever has been spotted)" before Joey runs and steps on the base. The players who are hiding must try to sneak their way back to base without being spotted- growing up, my friends and I would come prepared by dressing in dark cloths and covering our shoes with dark cloth! Once all players have either made it back to base without being called out, or have been caught by the seeker, the next round begins.. For variety, the seeker might be given a flashlight and the boundaries for hiding expanded.

Backyard Treasure Hunts- All you need for this game is a few sheets of different colored label stickers and some enthusiastic treasure hunters! Hide the stickers in various spots around your yard or neighborhood (with the sneakiness level of the spots depending on the ages of the participants), then give each kid or team a sample sticker on a notecard and challenge them to find as many others as they can! If your treasure hunters claim your hiding spots are too easy, challenge them to reverse the hunt and re hide the stickers for you to find! (But be warned, you may be finding stickers hidden on the bottom of your patio furniture for months to come...)

The Importance of Play

The Feb 17 issue of the NY Times Magazine contained an article, "Taking Play Seriously" which examined the developmental importance of play for children.
Examining both the potential dangers and rewards of play during the developmental years, several theories relating to the value of play are thrown out and discussed. I was particularly intrigued by experiments that hypothesize that rats neurological development in certain parts of the brain is affected by lack of play, and a project in which rats exhibiting behaviors similar to ADHD seemed to benefit from extra play time.

The article also opened up a discussion on whether play is as important to development as many adults claim, or if our nostalgia for the good old days of Shadow Tag and Kick the Can is causing us to assume kids are missing out on the unstructured play of past decades. Certainly, we at Jefunira firmly believe in the value of creative, unstructured play for kids and have noticed similar dialogues in this area- Playborhood, a local site was recently featured in the Palo Alto weekly, and local author Denise Pope has been sharing her "Stressed out Students" message through local lecture events.

We would love to know what other parents/educators/community members think about this issue- comment away!

Where are our counselors now?? Part 2

While Counselor Sheeftah was off on the beach in Mexico, Counselor Orlie has been busy training for the UC Davis Triathlon- Notice how she's wearing her Jefunira hat for good luck!

Where are our counselors now??

For those of you wondering what our talented and accomplished counselors are doing in the off-season, we have some updates! Counselor Sheeftah sent us the above picture of her proudly showing off her Jefunira Tie-dye in Mexico!

New Jefunira site Opening!

It is our pleasure to announce the opening of a new Jefunira Camp site this summer (drumroll please...)! In addition to our Palo Alto site, we will be offering the original, old fashioned summer fun Jefunira experience in Mt. View! We'll be located at Huff Elementary school, which has a giant, jumbo-sized, fantastic field. We're already looking forward to the Capture the Flag games... We are very excited to expand, and to be able to offer the Jefunira experience to even more families this summer. Whether you're at Palo Alto or Mt. View, we can't wait to see all our campers this summer!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Years from all of us at Jefunira Camp! We hope everyone had a safe, restful and fun holiday season and that the new year is off to a great start! With the New Year of course comes....registration for Jefunira 2008!!!!! Thats right folks, our applications will be going live on the website as of February 1- you can download them, fill 'em out and mail them back to us. Some of the sessions filled up very quickly last year, so we encourage you to mail your application in early for another amazingly fun-filled summer! Starting Jan 15, the application forms can be found on our website here and registration opens Feb 1!

2007 Session 4 Lipsync

As we enter 2008 and begin counting down the days until Jefunira Camp begins, we thought we'd get the memories rolling with this clip of the final counselor lipsync of last summer...Feel free to comment and leave your own favorite memories and what you're looking forward to most about this summer!

(And for those wondering- yes, that is water the counselors are spraying at each other!)