With Thursday 5th May being a school holiday for Al Isra W’al Miraj, the long weekend saw a group of young adventurers from Deira International School tackle a few more of the cool things to do around the UAE.
A three-day ‘Adventure Programme’ was put together for students to participate in a range of activities that catered for various abilities and skill levels. Professional instructors from the North Star Adventure Centre were employed to assist with supervision for the duration of the programme. Their staff are highly qualified and have a lot of experience when dealing with school groups. DIS have been using their adventure camps and staff for the past 11 years, and they make things super safe, fun and easy for teachers when taking learning beyond the classroom.
Day One of our ‘Adventure Programme’ included a full day of activities at the Umm Al Quwain Marine Club. Our large group was divided into four teams for the different activities which included kayaking, giant foosball, zip line and banana boat rides, with a yummy lunch in between! Upon arrival at the Marine Club we were greeted with a briefing and escorted to our designated area to keep our bags and gear under their huge beachfront barasti. The weather was perfect and the students were ready to get going! Kayakers spent time learning the basics of paddling before getting into their kayaks and navigating the beautifully calm waters off the beach. Playing games like tag and water polo really helped the students to become proficient paddlers before they moved on to their next activity; the banana boat ride. Those riding the inflatable banana towed behind the Marine Club boat came back with nothing less than a HUGE smile and plenty of belly laughs!
One of the other star attractions of the Umm Al Quwain Marine Club is the adrenaline fueled zip line where all are encouraged to give it a go. From around 12 meters high, children are placed in a harness and then fly down the line before throwing a ball into one of the goals for team points. Adding just a little bit of competition into this challenge really helped to get the whole group cheering each other on and created a great atmosphere. Rounding off the activities on Day one was Giant Foosball. Taking the popular table top game and making it ‘life-sized’ was a lot of fun.
Day two was packed with more adventures and the morning session was spent at Jump Boxx in Uptown Mirdif. A special programme was set up to cater for our group and the staff were fantastic at keeping up the challenge and pace to ensure that there was plenty of non-stop activity. Many adults would have a certain envy of the lack of fear some kids have when flinging themselves up into the air with such casualness. Our afternoon sessions were spent back at DIS where we had a Bubble Soccer tournament and pool party. We are lucky to have such facilities to be able to offer these types of indoor and outdoor activities as well as having a management team that supports and encourages kids to get involved with these sorts of outdoor education programmes.
Day three was a fun filled time at Dreamland Aqua Park. Often with fewer crowds and no long lines for the rides, our group maximised the time to race, splash and play on all of the attractions the park has to offer. Along with the rides and pools at Dreamland, there are also a number of animals to visit at the park. On days when teachers and parents aren’t supervising groups of kids, there’s also the added bonus of having a swim up bar available.
The success of any sort of camp or trip undertaken by kids is always measured by the sort of feedback provided by the kids themselves, and their parents. Judging by the positive reactions from this Long Weekend Programme, this won’t be our last and we will continue to find more adventures around the UAE to hopefully inspire others to get out amongst it and have a lot of fun! Watch this space for more adventures and places to check out…
Words + Photos by: Haydon Kerr
