Haifa Tzevet Keitana!

So when the kids who go to Beit HaTziorim (the ken I work at) have their spring break from school, the ken is usually closed as well. However, there is a 3 day camp (we planned 2 out of the 3 days and the HaNoar HaOved madatzim planned the other day) that occurs at the ken, and my tzevet was fortunate enough to plan and run it for the chanichim! 

The first step was to decide on a theme for the Keitana. We decided to loosely base it off of the movie Brave. The main characters during these 2 days were King Jacob, Queen Eva , Prince Eli, and Princess Hannah and they were played by 4 of the madrichim at the ken. The overarching theme of the Keitana was freedom of expression. Eli and Hannah want to go into the woods outside of the castle and explore, which is something they love to do, and somewhere that they feel they can be themselves. The parents don't like them to go out into the woods because they have responsibilities as the prince and princess of the kingdom. 

Each day started out with a skit and the song that we made for the Keitana. It's was to the tune of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. We then had chuggim, which were the same both days. I helped run a chug with Sara Banai and Geffen, which was chipping off paint from the wall outside Beit HaTziorim so that we could paint a new mural! Taking off the paint took longer than expected so that's what we did for all 3 days. Nonetheless, the kids really enjoyed it, so that made our job easy. Aaron ran a chug that was called funology, which was a series of science/ hands on experiments like trying to drop eggs without breaking them and making paper airplanes! The kids loved it! Next, the had a scavenger hunt around Haifa. Each stop along the way was supposed to be the kids' favorite places to explore outside the kingdom walls. They all ended in the park that overlooks the Haifa Bay. We were supposed to play a game of capture the flag (madrichim  vs chanichim) to the get the key to the kingdom, but since this park has a giant fountain in it, the kids all wanted to play in the water after walking around in the heat. We all realized that sometimes things don't always go as planned, but that's okay and instead of trying to make it work the way you wanted it to go in the beginning, feeling the vibe or the mood is more important. The kids would not have been able to reconvene for a game of capture the flag, or to sit for another skit and recitation of the song, so we let them  play in the fountain. And by the looks of it, they were having the best time ever!

The next day of the Keitana was a bit more relaxed, but still super fun. Again, they started out with chuggim, but then we had a round robin, which was meant for exploring different things they could do like being an artist, cook, builder, or athlete. The artist station was the one I was at. The kids made paper mosaics with cut up pieces of construction paper that spelled their kita (grade level). The building one was building with cardboard and other various materials. The cooking one was by far the favorite, and that was making pizzas with the pizza oven! And lastly the athlete station was playing soccer. I'm pretty sure the kids were only really hype for the round robin because they knew they would be able to make their own pizza at a station. The round robin transitioned nicely into a skit where the kids finally get to do what they want and the parents understand and know that it's best to let the kids be themselves and do what they love to do. The last part was a carnival on the migrash (the court that we use that's on top of the bomb shelter which happens to be where the ken is in). There were tons of different stations. Aaron and I collected coca cola bottles and filled them halfway for a bowling station. There was also a soccer station were you had to kick the soccer bowl at a bunch of different numbered targets to get points. There was face painting, anything for candy, a post man station, and building houses out of cookies and chocolate spread. There was also music playing in the background that went along with the theme. I took pictures on Aaron's camera  most of the time. The carnival went really well and I think the kids enjoyed it a lot. It was a great way to end our part of the Keitana. 

Afterwards, our melavim, Sarah and
Adam, took us out for ice cream/froyo! I got froyo which is something I really miss from home. Once we got back to Akko, I felt so happy knowing that we ran a successful Keitana and that we got to start our chofesh early! The other tzvatim still had their Keitana like activities, but we were free to relax which felt awesome.

Some of the madrichim at the ken performing in one of the skits