Cornerstone Family and Youth (CFY) hosted a Circus Day Camp on Thursday, Feb. 19, with FunTAZM Entertainment.
A professional clown, Dawn Suchoboki, travelled to Carlyle from Regina to take the kids through a clowning workshop and balloon twisting class.
The first portion of her time with the kids was directed towards getting kids moving around, finding their voices, and developing a clown persona. The kids got to learn how to be a clown, while also enjoying being able to showcase their newly found talents to the parents and grandparents who had decided to stay for the event.
“It was the first time we didn’t allow cell phones in the room and it was great,” Jenn Sedor, Program Coordinator, explained. “There were no distractions and everyone was clowning around.”
The kids thoroughly enjoyed their time creating their characters and being goofy, but were equally as thrilled with learning the art of balloon twisting.
“The first part of that we just had to blow up balloons and pop them,” Sedor laughed as she continued, “The first few kids screamed, but eventually they got used to it, so later when they were twisting their balloons no one would be scared by the noise.”
“The made mice, flowers, swords, and elephants, it was great.”
The 23 kids who participated worked on their own if they were able to, while younger kids attending had help from their parents.
“It was a really, really great day,” Sedor stated. “Unfortunately we didn’t have enough room for everyone as people were signing in at the door and couldn’t. We overbooked with 23, but hopefully we’ll be able to do this again because everyone had such a good time.”
“Dawn will also be coming back as a clown for our Carnival on June 19 for Kids Night on the Friday of Boogie Fest.”
This was actually how CFY came across the Circus Day Camp according to Sedor, “We were looking for entertainers for our carnival and noticed that there was a teaching component. We actually had money available through Southeast Connection for an instructor of physical activity, but the dance instructor we attempted to get was unavailable. So, we thought about it and decided that Carlyle had never had something like this come to visit.”
“There was no sitting or watching, it was all doing. It was definitely good exercise for the kids.”
One of the grandparents attending, Janice Bee, was extremely pleased with the day and with what CFY is doing in the community for kids.
“I liked best that the girls were enjoying themselves so much and just laughing,” Bee stated. “Dawn had a way in that class to get everyone involved, even the shy kids. She was teaching without anyone realizing they were being taught.”
“Also, CFY, I’ve never actually gone to one of their events before. I knew of them because of my granddaughters, but I was totally impressed by what they’re doing.”
