Sardinia 2024-10 camp report

The facts

The premier Music-Maths-Mare camp took place in October 2024 at a beach in Sardinia. It lasted two weeks, and hosted six families with 11 kids.

The ages and the languages of the kids were: 2 y.o. (ukr, rus, deu), 3 y.o. (eng, rus, deu, ita), 3 y.o. (deu, rus), 3 y.o. (deu, rus), 4 y.o. (jpn, eng, deu), 7 y.o. (deu, ukr, rus, eng), 8 y.o. (rus, eng), 8 y.o. (deu, rus, eng), 10 y.o. (ukr, rus, ita), 11 y.o. (rus, eng).

The music lessons were run by Riccardo: three group lessons a day, including the evening ones with parents; and additional daily individual piano lessons for 7-11 y.o.

The maths lessons were organised by Asia (half the term): daily group lessons for 3-4 y.o. (25 min), 7-8 y.o. (an hour+ and they were asking for more), 10-11 y.o. (an hour+), plus game evenings for everyone, as well as a couple of maths quests for both kids and adults.

The 7…11 y.o. also got a chance to try themselves in robotics whenever they felt bored.

We played daily at the beach in the morning, and it was impossible to get the 5+ y.o. kids out of the water; the temperature was +22C. In the evenings there was football, beach ball etc etc in a field.

Initially we planned to rotate the cooking between ourselves, but Inna the Chef took over the kitchen and ran the show.

The opinions (parents’ feedback)

“Good job guys. We really enjoyed the camp. Kids had so much fun and we adults were also able to relax and do Sports. The idea to combine playing activities with also educational Program such as Maths and music is great. We also enjoyed getting to Know new people.All had exciting things to Tell. Thanks again, keep going and let us know about upcoming plans.” — A doctor from Zürich.

“Our daughter goes to a kita in Zürich, but we have never received such a feedback on her interests and abilities. If the [Russian-speaking] playgroup you go to is as great as your camp we’d join the playgroup even though we had zero plans or reasons to introduce her to the fourth language.” — A Japanese family from Zürich.

“Thank you very much for organising such a camp, it was our first experience of this type and it exceeded our expectations, the kids are still remembering our evening music sessions and all the participants of the camp. Really hoping to join you again.” — A parent of a dancing three-year-old and of a meticulous and inquisitive eight-year-old from Baar.

“It was such a wonderful experience, thank you for accomodating us so well!! During the very last breakfast, Nina said "Is it OK to come to this home again?", so she clearly enjoyed this trip :)  And for us as well it was a very inspring experience…” — A Googler’s family from Zürich.