This month Kaleidoscope Arts Foundation has resumed their annual peregrinations with 'trips' to Australia, Mexico and Egypt for campers aged five to 14.

With a trip to a different country each week throughout the month, campers have been able to explore the world's art, architecture, music and cuisine, creating their own souvenirs as they go.

Down Under, the youngsters created own a didgeridoo, bark painting and floor mat with aboriginal-inspired designs. In a truly mixed-media format, they created their own works inspired by the aboriginal stories of the Dreaming – recounting their dreaming stories as they displayed their drawings.

The campers also worked hard in the kitchen creating anzac biscuits, damper bread and lamingtons. And no camp would be complete without a field trip, so they visited the display of Australian aboriginal works currently hanging in the Ace gallery in Hamilton.

The next stop was Egypt, where the art of the ancient tomb painters stimulated the campers to create their own hieroglyphics carved in plaster, and design and paint falcon amulets and life-sized portraits of Egyptian royals in the "frontism" style, i.e., head and feet in profile with torso and eye facing forward. Couscous Pita bread with hummus and tabouleh Bbaklava were on the menu during that trip.

Our young 'tourists' finally touched down in Mexico, where they made and sampled guacamole and salsa and celebration cookies, and brought back with them Huichol Indian yarn paintings, ornamental tin mobiles, clay animals from Tonala, wall plaquesclay suns from Metapec and Amante folk paintings.

While some campers opted for a round the world tour in July and August, others stayed in Bermuda for July, taking a closer look at the Bacardi Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Bermuda National Gallery.

Held for the second time, the Contemporary Art Camp with KAF and BNG was deemed another success by the organisers.

Weekly field trips to the BNG, and visits from six of the exhibition's featured artists at the KAF premises on Jubilee Road, inspired the youngsters to create their own works of contemporary art.

During August mornings, there has been yet another series of workshops, these focusing on mosaics. Campers create mosaic mirror frames and treasure boxes, and incorporatinge a tiles-of-their-own design into a third piece. The teachers are clearly enthusiastic about their young artists, and, it seems, the feeling is mutual. Explaining why she enjoys the camp so much, nine-year-old Kayah Wilks stated, "It's a great camp because it lets people express their feelings in art, and all the teachers are cheerful."

"It's not something where you're told what to draw. You can draw anything," the Somersfield Academy student added. "We have lots of fun doing art."

Jackson McDonald, who is 'eight turning nine on November 8th', concurred. He's at the camp because, "I like art. It's fun. You get to make new stuff so you can make it over and over again, like origami."

Summing up the camp experience, the Warwick Academy student noted, "You get to meet new people and make new things."

An exhibition of the student's work will be on display at the KAF gallery from September 9 to October 9. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

For more information on upcoming classes and future camps call the office 542-9000 or e-mail at info@kaf.bm.