Pirates of Pondering camp aims to help children succeed at life
From left, Julie Dunstan, a psychologist and children’s author who has expertise in early childhood education and learning differences, and Julianna Brewer, clinical psychology assistant for Solstice (Photography by Sarah Lagan).
A pirate-themed camp is being held to help young children think flexibly, celebrate mistakes and believe in themselves.
The Pirates of Pondering Spring Camp is being hosted by Solstice from March 25 to April 5 and is aimed at children aged 4 to 7. It uses the Pirates of Pondering resources by reFLEXions, founded by Bermudian psychologist and children’s author Julie Dunstan, which are based on the adventures of six pirates.
The early childhood programme is built around eight stories that follow a quest to find mysterious treasure while learning about the brain and key executive function processes, such as goal setting, planning and self monitoring.
The camp has been designed by a psychologist and executive functioning expert. Activities include story time, structured imaginary play, arts, crafts and mindfulness.
The programme said the children would “learn the value of mistakes and how to respond to obstacles by preserving and thinking flexibly”.
Dr Dunstan said: “The programme has been used in five of Bermuda’s preschools in the past, but this is the first time it’s being used in a therapeutic setting. The idea is to teach children early thinking skills and lay the ground work for what we call a flexible mindset.
“Put simply, I know myself, I have the tools I need, and by using those and grappling, I believe in myself. This is where the connection with the therapeutic setting became obvious once we began having that conversation. We said, let’s use it in a slightly different way and see what the outcomes are.
“It is a reFLEXions programme that is hosted by Solstice. It’s exciting. We are training the facilitators on Friday.
“We are looking forward to seeing how the children respond to the stories. We then have supporting activities, things like arts and crafts, and board games and pull out for imaginary play.”
Dr Dunstan said that imaginary play offered children the opportunity to solve problems, or puzzles as they were called during camp, in a “non-threatening” way, which is an important skill to develop.
Ms Brewer said the Solstice camps for children were typically about empowerment and belonging.
“We have a lot of kids struggling with ADHD and executive functioning, and flexibility in general is a really important topic we introduce.
“There doesn’t have to be a diagnosis. They might want some support with how to problem solve and we are trying to think about being flexible in our emotions. When problems come up in our own lives, how can we use those tools in situations that arise?
“We think this will be a great collaboration.”
Julianna Brewer, clinical psychology assistant for Solstice, said there was a high ratio of staff to children with three or four children at each station, led by a facilitator.
She added: “One of the stations is for imaginary play. We bring them to a room that is like a set and they have different tasks do to. It is based on the pirates theme so one of the sets is a pirate ship.
“Another is an arts and craft station around the theme of the day. Then there is a game station which is more of a movement activity.”
Dr Dunstan wrote the accompanying book The Adventures of Pirates of Pondering and was assisted by colleagues and friends at The Reading Clinic.
Information on Julia Dunstan
Julie Dunstan is a psychologist and children's author who has expertise in early childhood education and learning differences.
“She is the founding director of reFLEXions programme
“She has lectured at the graduate level and presented on international platforms, such as the LD conference at Harvard and the IARLD. Julie’s quest is to discover how we think about learning and use strategies flexibly to be successful.
“She has conducted neuro-developmental assessments and school consultations for decades. She served as the director of The Reading Clinic and lead the development of new initiatives such as the ICAN Math Programme and reFLEXions.
“Julie believes we are most resilient when we are flexible in solving problems. She has created The Adventures of the Pirates of Pondering to help children acquire tools to Learn how to Learn and believe ‘I can’ messages.”
Susannah Cole was the primary adviser on the book and is Dr Dunstan’s partner on the reFLEXions initiative.
Dr Dunstan said Ms Cole had described executive function as “what we use when we set a goal, use what we know to figure out what to do and then make it happen.”
“What is new this time is it is bringing in the emotional piece in more directly, talking about our feelings, playing games that help us identify what we are feeling at a given time, trying to look at flexibility and regulation, and there are strategies that Solstice has.”
Dr Dunstan said another programme is the “three Cs for change makers”, which uses cross-curricular approaches to teach critical thinking, complex problem solving and creativity.
She added: “It helps you then to find your voice and become a change maker. We have been developing the materials. We did a little bit of piloting at St George’s Preparatory School. We are just building the third unit and hopefully some time next year we might start to pilot the schools.
“The three R’s are really important – they have to read, write and do arithmetic, but the three Cs are as important and we need to teach that in as many settings as possible.”
The Pirates of Pondering camp runs from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday with the exception of the Good Friday holiday. Participants have the option to remain for Solstice’s own Mindfulness camp from 12.30pm to 3pm and there is also an after camp option running until 5.15pm.
There are limited spots for the camp. To register, e-mail groups@solstice.bm or call 292-3456 for more information.
The camp takes place at Solstice at 36 Victoria Street.
Source: https://www.royalgazette.com/general/news/article/20240313/pirates-of-pondering-camp-aims-to-help-children-succeed-at-life/