FERRIDAY &8212; Everyone hold up your piano hand.

Not sure if you have one? The children at Tuesday&8217;s music camp in Ferriday can help you with that.

The last camp of the six-week string of children&8217;s summer camps, music camp, was put on by area churches giving children entertainment and a chance to learn something new, said the Rev. Pat Roller of First Presbyterian Church.

Camps &8212; including outdoor, music, animal and soccer themes &8212; were funded through local contributions and volunteer efforts.

This week&8217;s music camp, offering children a chance to learn about piano, the recorder and vocals will conclude Thursday night with a dinner for the participants and their children to show their newly acquired music skills, Roller said.

Ben Perkins, opera performer and Georgia State University music major is volunteering at this week&8217;s camp teaching the children a &8220;new language.&8221;

&8220;Music is a universal language,&8221; Perkins said. &8220;The goal is to learn more about songs and the piano and hopefully it will spark some kids so they can use it their whole life.&8221;

Music camp offers children the chance to learn three chords on the piano, the chance to harmonize together and gives them direction on playing the recorder, Perkins said.

&8220;Kids can pick music up so quickly,&8221; he said. &8220;Exposing children to music when they&8217;re younger is better because they pick it up so much faster. It&8217;s sort of like learning a foreign language.&8221;

Children attending the camp all had different ideas of the things they were taking home from the camp, but there was one concept they all agreed on &8212; it was fun.

The camps offering soccer, outdoor, animal and cooking skills to over 130 kids this summer went through over 100 gallons of Kool-Aid and saw volunteers and animals from all walks of life, Roller said. Children attending June&8217;s animal camp got the chance to see an African hedgehog, a boa constrictor and a tarantula.

&8220;My favorite part was planting flowers because it was pretty, but I also liked singing songs on the piano,&8221; camper Conner Branton said.

Each week campers have conducted a service project for the community. This week they will be going to Camelot Leisure Living to give a concert to residents on Thursday.

&8220;It has been fun and I have learned a lot about piano keys, outdoors and dogs,&8221; 13-year-old camp member Candice Fortune said. &8220;I learned different sounds too and I hope to be able to do it again next year.&8221;

After six successful weeks, Roller said the camps will happen again next year, Roller said.

&8220;We have some adults who have put funding into place so that this will always go on as long as they want to do it,&8221; she said.

Roller said an account has already been started at Deposit Guarantee and is accepting donations into a fund to continue the camps in years to come. Banks and community businesses, among others put together funds for this year&8217;s camps.