JAY — With more than 100 kids showing up each day, the Spruce Mountain Summer Recreation Program is alive with energy, creativity and adventure, according to Summer Recreation Director Emma DiPompo, who grew up in the program herself.

“I went through the program as a kid and then was a counselor in high school,” said DiPompo, who now oversees the entire program for the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.

This summer, 150 children signed up, and nearly all are from the tri-town area.

“We had 150 kids sign up, but usually we don’t have 150 every day,” DiPompo said. “Certain people go on vacation and we have a consistent group of about 100 every day.”

Two children from outside the area, one from Turner and one from Winthrop, joined the program by paying an additional fee to be with cousins already enrolled.

“We try to keep them as happy as we can,” she said.

Children are split into three age groups, 5 to 7, 8 to 10, and 11 and up, and rotate through a variety of activities each day at the gym, soccer field and playground.

“They each go to an activity, do one thing for an hour, and then they go four times a day,” DiPompo said. “Wherever they start, they end up back at the end of the day.”

But the gym remains the favorite, no matter the weather.

“If the 8- to 10-year-olds don’t end up in the gym twice, I hear about it,” DiPompo said. “I don’t know why, it is like a billion degrees and no air flow. They say they don’t care. It is so hot. Last year we had to close it because it was stagnant 100-degree days and the kids didn’t understand.”

The group has already been on several field trips this summer.

“We have been to the movie theater twice, we went bowling twice, Mt. Blue State Park, and we’re hiking Mt. Pisgah next week with a different age group,” DiPompo said.

Another upcoming trip is to the Viles Arboretum in Augusta.

“I was Googling things to do with kids, and arboretums are just cool places to walk,” she said. “They are going to plan a scavenger hunt for us.”

The program also features daily arts and crafts led by art director Kim Coate.

“Kim is amazing,” DiPompo said. “Every day she has some craft for every age group that is super fun and easy. She is like a walking Pinterest board. She has a great time with the kids.”

Each day brings something new, DiPompo said, pointing to one current favorite project: “Right now we are doing a cardboard cutting kit. It has enough stuff to keep them busy for years, I’m pretty convinced.”

They’re also working on an egg drop competition. “Next Monday we are going to take these little contraptions that they made and drop them on the concrete with the egg inside and see if they can survive,” she said. “The kids are like, ‘I am going to make a parachute.’”

There’s no shortage of energy.

“We had a musical chair competition with 60 kids in it — that was chaotic,” DiPompo laughed.

Even extreme weather doesn’t stop the fun. “Yesterday was too hot to do anything in the afternoon, so we got the face painting stuff out,” she said. “We had more painters than faces, so I volunteered my legs. My legs were every color.”

The program wraps up Aug. 1 with a final performance by the kids.

“Every day is something new for the kids,” DiPompo said.