"Different: not the same as another or each other, unlike in nature, form or quality".
June was a month where our 3C participants created and embraced "different". We hosted events which were different to any others we have done before and discovered differences among our group!
To open our month of different, our first event for June was Clay Play, and event we haven't done yet before at 3C! However, I think it may now become a new favourite! Participants each received a lump of cold, damp, slippery clay and were given absolute creative license to make whatever they wanted. We had many interesting clay formations, from a jewellery tray to a South Melbourne Dim Sim, all "unlike in nature, form or quality!" It was really fun to get our hands dirty and to work with a different craft material than before.
The following week, we continued on our "messy hands" train with our Pizza Parade, getting elbows deep in ingredients! While this is an event we have done before, this time, we congregated at the beginning of the event to plan our pizzas - what kind of ingredients will be on each pizza? This was where we discovered that each participant's idea of a Capricosa pizza were all different, not to mention the differing opinions of favourite ingredients! The participants did so well working as a group and made compromises in order to make 5 fantastic pizzas. There was lots of laughter in the kitchen this week!
Our Encanto sing-a-long the next week showed our participants another example of different. The movie Encanto is a delightfully colourful celebration of an individuals unique powers and special qualities, reminding us that no matter how different those special qualities are, they are all welcome and can be used for good. Another difference for our participants perhaps was seeing a Disney movie encompassing Columbian culture, the first Disney movie to do so! People benefit and learn from different.
This month, our Day Out Program took us up North-East to Daylesford! For a good handful of our participants, this was their first time visiting the township. We first headed straight to the gorgeous Lake Daylesford for a GPS Treasure Hunt! Our facilitator, Brett from Secret Forest Walks, was super welcoming and helpful as he took us through how to use the GPS devices - a bit different from Google Maps that's for sure! We split up into teams and followed our GPS leaders through wet and windy roads around the Lake, keeping our eyes peeled for our markers. Each team had two GPS leaders, two marker searches and one scribe, so it was all hands on deck to solve the puzzle. To conclude the adventure, our GPS's took us down to the natural mineral water springs, where we all got to have a try of the natural mineral water! There were LARGE differences in opinion about the taste of this water - Ethan loved it and chugged a few cups, while Caitlin pulled many yucky faces in reaction to the taste! After trying the water, our participants found the final clue at Sutton Springs, and of course, some treasure in the shape of a chocolate Freddo Frog! At the end of the activity, everyone had walked 5.5km, which is a huge feat! To solve our understandable hunger, we then huddled up at Bill and Sophie's Pizzeria for some warm food and energy, ready for the next activity. One of Daylesford's most stunning places to visit is the Convent Art Gallery - the participant's commented that it was a bit different to the art galleries they normally see (large wide spaces), as this art gallery was made of up of small, different shaped rooms, and different levels. We even got to poke our heads in at a Bell Ringing class (yes, you heard correct, a bell orchestra!) With a nice warm hot chocolate or coffee in our hands, we hopped on the bus ready to drive on home after a big day of walking and exploring.
To finish off June, we hosted another event which hadn't been hosted before, a Golden Oldies party! Whilst we still got dressed up in costume and had a fun boogie, we really went for quite a different theme here, and boy did our participants bring it! Check out the photos below for the amazing costume efforts. We hobbled around the centre together, played bingo and cards like they do in the nursing homes and had some delightful chicken sandwiches (soft on the teeth!). However, I don't think anyone over the age of 70 can boogie on down like our 3C participants can. With an emphasis on "old" music, we rocked out to lots of Queen and Billy Joel.
I'd like to thank everyone at 3C for embracing different this month - I hope you all have had a great time exploring different ways of having fun, solving different problems and making different things. At 3C, different is something we celebrate and tackle head on, as we are all different in our own ways - and that's what makes it so much fun! What will July have in store for us?
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