RUBY PAYNE
KIDS around the Riverland have been able to take part in a school holiday program arranged by a local council.
Renmark Paringa Council’s holiday program kicked off September 26, the first Saturday of the holidays, and ran until October 11, the last Sunday of the holidays.
Council planned out the activities, which range from going to the Chaffey Theatre to watch a variety of kids movies, learning about astronomy, cooking different foods, water sports such as canoeing, nature days, walks and bike riding, plus circus workshops and arts and crafts at the Renmark Paringa Public Library.
All activities had strict COVID-19 protocols and social distancing, with a limit of 20 people attending each activity.
One of the activities at the Renmark Paringa Library was called the shark throwing game and was supervised by librarian Maxine Hodgson and library officer Heidi Obst.
The library hosted two activity sessions per day, with one typically held in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
Library officer Heidi Obst said the game-making activity involved kids creating a shark out of paper and empty plastic bottles, then trying to throw small balls into the shark’s mouth.
“The kids learned how to sit and concentrate, work on their art skills and improve their hand eye co-ordination,” she said.
Librarian Maxine Hodgson also made sure that COVID-19 protocols were known and set in place.
“We have a maximum amount of 20 kids for restrictions of social distancing and we also required bookings,” she said.
Another activity was the Cirkidz circus workshops held at Riverland Youth Theatre (RYT), for kids who were more into physical activity and wanting to learn acrobatic tricks.
It was a three-day program with two sessions running each day, one being for kids aged five to eight and then another later in the day for kids aged nine to 12.
Creative producer of RYT Danyon De Buell said she was “very happy” with the turnout because it was a manageable amount of kids to work with.
RYT also had COVID-19 protocols in place by having the limit of 20 kids, social distancing and cleaning the equipment by making sure that everything was sanitised.
“They learned some really cool stuff in that time and it’s really amazing what they can do. It’s extraordinary,” Ms De Buell said.
Ms De Buell also said RYT had been doing the workshops in partnership with Cirkidz for a number of years and she hopes they will be able to do it again for many years to come.
It is expected that these holiday activities will carry on well into the future.
For more information visit renmarkparinga.sa.gov.au, or call 8580 3000 for activities available in the next school holidays.