Cookies and magic for all ages
Published 1:32 pm Friday, July 22, 2022
A YMCA camper places a cookie on the tray before baking. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)
Bob Sanders shows campers a magic trick with string. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)
Campers with some of the Senior Connection helpers. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)
Each camper took home a bag full of cookies. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)
The campers learned how to make chocolate chip cookies from scratch. (CAREY REEDER | ADVERTISER)
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By Carey Reeder | Staff Writer
The Senior Connection in Clanton and the YMCA of Chilton County partnered for the second consecutive year to give the summer campers a chocolate chip cookie baking experience.
Members of the Senior Connection invited the campers over to their kitchen where the kids learned how to mix together cookie dough, place the cookies on the tray and bake them in the oven.
“We told the YMCA we would love to have their kids over to cook something,” Martha Thornburgh of Senior Connection said. “She came to me and I had to work a team up.”
Thornburgh said there were just under 25 kids last year and the number grew to 26 kids this year. The kids came as one big group last year but were broken into four smaller groups this year to help with kitchen traffic. Each team entered the kitchen and mixed together the ingredients to make the cookies before placing them on a tray to bake.
The team Thornburgh put together are former teachers that turned the whole baking experience into an educational experience as well.
“It is so much fun … And both of these ladies are working it as truly a teaching experience,” Thornburgh said. “They have math in it, 24 cookies per tray so how many trays do you need? As far as a teaching experience, it is all important for them to learn and follow the recipe.”
The YMCA camp counselors said the kids have been excited about the trip to the Senior Connection for a few weeks eager to make cookies. Hayden Carter, a first-year YMCA camp counselor, said she thinks the kids enjoy it because they are getting to interact with other people outside their summer camp.
“They really love coming over there, and I think because it is a different environment for them,” Carter said. “Them being around older adults, I think they really enjoy it.”
Bob Sanders, Lucy Sanders, Janice Wilson and Gordan Swendon performed magic tricks for the kids after each team worked on the cookies in the kitchen. Swendon performed card tricks while Bob Sanders showed the kids tricks with string.
“It is really fun for us,” Thornburgh said. “Almost all of our grandkids are beyond this age, it is just fun to watch how kids react and to see our people and how much fun they have.”
