Eluna’s Expert Voices – Importance of Communication with Art & Animals
When you think about the 7th C of COMMUNICATION, bearded dragons and snakes probably aren’t the first thoughts that to come to mind, which is why we love this video! Emily with Camp Mariposa Chicago, shares some insider communication tips using silhouette’s, letters, camp fires and conversations with a pet or animal!
Art Expression:
“Other people want to express their feelings in art. At camp we really value art expression and doing an activity of journaling or silhouette shadows and decorating them with things that are important to us. We also do something very important at camp, which is the letter writing ceremony. And that’s a way to express your feelings onto a piece of paper. And then you have the option when we go to the campfire to either share that out loud or to throw that in the fire and release those feeling. It’s all up to the youth to decide what they’re comfortable with and how they want to express their feelings. Maybe paper is best for them or maybe they want to share and find those similarities verbally.” – Emily, Mentor
Communicating with Animals:
“If you don’t feel like you have someone to trust or talk to, communicate with a pet or an animal. We have animals at Camp Mariposa Chicago – chickens, bearded dragons, lizards, bunnies, snakes – kids love it! It’s one of their highlights is to go feed the animals and hold them and see who is new to the little area. It’s important that we tie those fun activities in with an educational way to say if you really love the animals and you are having a hard time to communicate your feelings – tell them.” – Emily, Mentor
Horses and the Seven C’s:
“One thing we recently did for our Camp Mariposa additional activity, we went to a horse ranch (Borrowed Time) that was created for substance abuse prevention and for kids affected by addiction. At this horse camp we talked about how you can’t always control your horse and your horse may do something that you are not going to know in advance or know how to handle. We related it back to the Seven C’s of I can’t control it, I didn’t cause it. You didn’t cause the horse to get scared, but it happened and it was scary. We related all the things that animals do back to the Seven C’s, which was very cool.” – Emily, Mentor
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