Soon after my Klutz Press catalog arrived in April, my daughter's friend suggested they organize Camp Sunshine. They planned this week long adventure for their teachers' children at the end of the school year. We had a perfect match; their mission was to entertain a group of six year olds for long, hot summer hours and I was curious about some of the Klutz materials. So I bartered with these counselors-to-be; they promised assessment and I agreed to provide materials for them to evaluate.

Klutz Press has always been my children's favorite publisher. They produce books written with immediacy and playfulness which are loaded with hands-on activities guaranteed to involve children. You can usually recognize them by the interesting packaging, a vinyl bag loaded with goodies that dangles from a book's spine, or a bucket crammed with colorful contents. Everyone at Camp Sunshine loved Klutz.

I meet with the counselors and campers for a wrap up session and decided that sharing their comments and idea might be useful to parents trying to figure out how to amuse their young children, or other counselors looking for activities sure to please young campers. While the campers finished their afternoon rests, the counselors filled me in on a few general perspectives, remarking first on how the kits included almost everything they needed. "We had to buy a few extra paint brushes, some glue, and ingredients for cooking, but that was about it!" They also found the directions easy, the illustrations and diagrams helpful, and the ingredients of each kit superior in quality. From general comments we moved into a breakdown of each day's activity. The campers woke, trickled in, and added to the discussion, remembering the highlights of Camp Sunshine.

On Monday, they started with the Body Crayon Book which is assembled by the Editors at Klutz Press ($14.95) The kit comes with a 42 page, full color, wire-bound book of instructions and photographed examples of amazing designs. It also includes a sharpener and six non-toxic, water-based body crayons made by Lyra, "the leading cosmetic pencil manufacturer in the world". The kids were more interested in being painted than in painting themselves, or others, so the counselors painted rainbows with clouds, snails, and more. "The paints are somewhat sticky and can smudge," one counselor warned. "Because they wipe off easily, don't be offended if the kids wash them off right after you put them on," added the second. And while both noted that the stickiness bothered the kids a little, one child loved this project best of all because "it's like face painting."

On Tuesday, they opened up The Fantastic Foam Book by Laura Torres ($14.95). A bag attached to the book's spine contains 172 precut foam pieces in a variety of shapes and colors that fit together to make art, decorations for greeting cards, or even temporary pictures on the side of a pool. The counselors composed darling models. Their woods scenes had owls, trees, a bear, moon, stars, and a skunk. The campers' products were less conventional, they grabbed for the colorful bits and composed abstracts that were bright and fun. The counselors used this foam art as backdrops for puppet shows.

The puppets created on Wednesday came from another Klutz set, PomPoms Gone Crazy ($10.95). A huge collection of fuzz balls, wiggle eyes, and a thirty-six paged instruction book packed in a bucket led to the invention of space ships, snow men, and aliens. One camper told me she was a little frustrated that "the ones with sparkles were hard to glue", but t The counselors marveled at the fun they were having, and the silliness and the dramatic potential of the creatures they created.

Thursday was cooking hot outside. Inside, they baked Artist sugar cookies and covered them with icing. The children loved cooking and tasting the results of Klutz's great recipes in the small folded guide, Classic Cookies: The 13 Recipes That Have Shaped History ($4.95). "The plastic-coating on the recipes was great!" reported one counselor, "It protected the recipe and when the kids covered it with batter, I just dumped it in the sink to wash with the dishes." The head chefs suggested doubling the icing, or halving the cookie dough to make the amounts match better.

The last day of this week-long adventure, Camp Sunshine got into another bucket kit, Painted Zoo ($14.95). The kit is filled with 24 wooden animal shapes, bright paints, and a colorful, 40 page book that offers suggestions. One of the counselors bought additional paints, but discovered that "I liked the Klutz paints best." The set comes with wiggly eyes, but they liked the size of the eyes better in the PomPoms Gone Crazy bucket so they mixed and matched parts. Giraffes, tigers, and zebras were fun to paint, inspired more dramatic adventures, and gave the campers a final momento of Camp Sunshine.

Overall? The counselors were happy because the kids loved everything. The only thing they didn't use was the new Lip Balm Kit which they thought was too complicated for the young children. It has mini plastic boxes, directions, and flavored lim balms to create Chocolate Mint,, Cherry Vanilla, or Rainbow Sherbet. The last is the flavor that the temporarily retired counselors will experiment with this week.

The parents were happy. In fact, one teacher said she'd put together another bunch of campers for the week before school starts. So the counselors and I were inspired to return to the Klutz catalog and lined up a few new adventures. Beadimals ($12.95) allows children to make creatures with 800 colored pony beads. Soon to be released is Light Switches Gone Crazy ($14.95) with light switches that kids can paint for their rooms. The counselors were enthusiastic about the soon-to-be released Painted Rocks ($14.95) with acrylics, wiggly eyes, and ideas to transform the geologic world most campers know.

The kids may have been the happiest of all. The parents said they talked about camp every night and adored their counselors. When I asked one child to compare school and camp she said she loved the camp's art activities and "all the centers"as much as school. She was quick to note her limited experience, saying "I'm just gonna example this past school year 'cause I don't know my future!" She's hoping her near future includes another week at Camp Sunshine.