CRDC offers lots to do for summer holidays

August 15, 2013 · 0 Comments

It usually doesn’t take very long into summer vacation before a parent hears ‘I’m bored’ from a school age child who finds there isn’t a lot to do when classes aren’t in session.

The Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex offers a lot of all-day activities for kids ages four through 12 at the Centre in Shelburne.

“This is our third successful year,” said CDRC Administration Manager Kim Fraser. “The program runs eight weeks from July 1, through to August 23.”

There are different activities throughout the day to keep young minds occupied. The program was started when it became apparent that there was a need to keep children busy when their parents went off to work during the summer.

“I wanted to start something in Shelburne that is reasonably priced, for kids that are at home but the parents are still working.” Kim explained. “We wanted to start something that gave parents options. Some day care centres you have to sign up for a week, but as a mom, I might be home two days, then have to work three days. There are a lot families that come for a couple of days and others that come for an entire week. It’s flexible.”

That flexibility provides families with options when it comes to activities on a day to day basis.

The program operates from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m every week day.

The fully qualified staff begins by creating the program agenda weeks before the kids start arriving.

“About three weeks before camp we start setting up the programs,” explained head camp coordinator Amelia Pendleton.

Amelia is a summer student currently working on her post-grad degree in social work with past experience in running summer programs.

“We get in touch with people in the local area that we want to visit for field trips.” She said, “We try to us as much of the local facilities as we can.”

Those field trips include walking to local businesses and places of interest for the kids to visit.

The day we dropped by the kids were all working on decorations that were going to be used to decorate the Centre’s float in the Fiddle Festival parade.

One of the highlights of every day is an afternoon swim in the Centre’s outdoor swimming pool.

You can find out more about the programs by contacting the Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex.

By Brian Lockhart