Bread, Baths and Beyond: Willow Autumn Camp 2025

Willow class dove into their annual camping trip in the forests of Chiba. The Upper Elementary children spent three days exploring independence from their families, cooperative living with their peers, and self-sufficiency. Preparation began weeks before the journey, as the campers planned and packed, set rules for their room groups, and organized themselves into rotating cooking and cleaning teams.

Baths and Barbecues

Because of rain on the first day, the class stopped off at a water park and spa, normally the last stop before heading back home. Fortunately, the mid-week morning found the entire complex relatively empty and the kids had the place to themselves.

The long tubular water slide was especially popular. And many swimmers braved the cold outdoor area where they could warm up in the many "flavored" onsen pools; the green tea one always had a friendly crowd.

Back at the camp, after excitedly situating themselves in their rooms, campers played a series of energizing games led by Willow teacher Manamaya.

In the evening, teams of cooks and servers offered a steady stream of barbecued meats and vegetables. They could barely keep up as almost everyone came back for seconds, thirds, and even fourths!

The evening finished with a karaoke and dance party, with plenty of popular kids' anthems sung with great gusto.

Forests, Football and Fires

After a hearty breakfast, prepared by the morning crew that included school head James and his enormous pot of oatmeal, and overseen by Willow teacher Koji, the campers trekked out into the forest. A quiet misty trail opened into an obstacle course and eventually a castle play structure that spanned a hillside.

The adventurers found plenty to do here, exploring nature as well as clambering and scrambling around.

A spirited football tournament filled the afternoon. Though there were both a girls' and a boys' contest, footballers from each tourney crossed over to play in the other. James and Koji joined in, with kids rotating into refereeing and timekeeping.

For those who opted out of soccer, they crafted bamboo lanterns, which required drilling a lot of holes, and for some, handling a drill for the first time. This was such a popular activity that eventually most of the soccer players made their own too. And the drilling and sanding resumed after dinner.

Under campground staff supervision, the children built cookfires for the curry. Other teams prepped the vegetables and cooked the rice. Many of the chefs made use of their swimming goggles to keep the smoke out of their eyes.

While the food was cooking, librarian Elizabeth supervised bread baking on a stick. The sticks were whittled by English teacher Wind, who was nearly successful in using every tool on his Swiss army knife.

The evening ended with a great bonfire and campfire songs led by James and Koji, capped off with the much anticipated s'mores, a cookie sandwich with chocolate and roasted marshmallows.

What's a campfire without a few rounds of "Country Road"?

Completing the Food Cycle

By the last day, breakfast and lunch crews were a well-oiled machine. The children were so efficient with packing for the return journey that there was plenty of time for some last minute free play.

Undeterred by the rain, the traveling party stopped off at a farm to dig out sweet potatoes. This last activity completed the circle of understanding the food cycle, Harvesting the tubers from the earth was a meaningful final act after days of preparing meals from scratch and cooking them over campfires.

Special thanks to super camp counselor, Koji, who was our liaison with the campground staff, oversaw our schedule and performed the most taxing job of all, kitchen manager, which was a continual cycle of food runs with James, meal planning, prepping, cooking and cleaning, as well as supervising the meal teams. All with a smile!

Wind Edward Kim