It was time again Tuesday morning for visiting grandkids ages three to six to put on their Buckaroo headbands with colored feathers and take their parents and grandparents to the Savannah Center for the last Buckaroo Bonanza of the summer. The imaginative brainchild of The Villages Recreation Department staff, Camp Villages for kids began in June and has offered several activities each weekday for toddlers through teens since then. The program is winding down and will close after the August 1st sessions.
When the doors were opened, about thirty energetic children burst into the ballrooms. They shouted ‘Yea!’ as they spied the many  brightly colored game stations all around the rooms. Miniature golf, ring and coin toss games, a wheel spin, a bowling game, fishing, a treasure hunt… it was all so exciting for the kids. First they ran around the room, glancing at everything, and finally settling into the first spot they wanted to play. Older kids took readily to putting their plastic ‘golf balls’ through the hazards and into the golf cups. One or two of the tiniest kids weren’t quite sure what they were supposed to do or how to do it — but were praised anyway whenever they moved the little red or green balls.
A number of kids mastered the ring and coin toss games right away and others tried over and over until they hung a ring on the dolphin head or got a coin into the jar. The
backdrops for each game station were neat — juke boxes, the ocean, balloons and tinsel — all very colorful and inviting. Grandparents and a few parents too moved around with cameras or phones in hand, snapping memories of their little ones having fun.
“I don’t know what we would have done without Camp Villages,” one not-so-old grandpa said. “The kids are well behaved most of the time, but they just have too much energy. It’s hard to keep up.” Another nearby grandpa nodded his assent. “We had one group of three grands leave last Friday, and we have these two new ones now for two weeks. They love golf cart rides, swimming and shoppng with my wife, and of course there’s TV and video games — but we have a tough time coming up with new things to do to keep them occupied,” he said.
Alhambra Villager Tom Dorazio thoroughly enjoyed his volunteer job, showing the kids the wheel spin game. “They put their plastic fish or crab marker on a number, and we give them a prize ticket if their number comes up on the wheel,” he said. Village of Lynhaven resident Diana Pascal, plus Michele O’Donnell and her mother, Marilyn O’Donnell, who live in Belle Aire Village, were instrumental in making things happen for the kids. These and other volunteers helped the kids register, opened the doors to the rush of kids and generally helped out wherever needed.
When the kids had collected all their prize tickets, they turned them in for trinkets, ‘jewelry’ and goodies — and every child got two tiny cupcakes. Summer Hill Village resident, Grace Frazzetta, had perhaps the best volunteer job of all — helping the kids pick out which color cupcakes they would like best.
