Photo by Miranda Pederson/Daily News Instructor Hannah Slattery (left), 16, and Maggie Blair go through dance maneuvers Tuesday for an upcoming recital during Bowling Green High School’s Encore! Camp for music, dance, drama and art.

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Bowling Green High School choir students are generally the ones performing during most of their fundraisers.

But this week, they’re using 5- to 12-year-olds.

The choir is hosting its first Encore! Camp of dance, music and arts for primary children and pre-teens in an effort to raise money for its program.

Maggie Blair, choir teacher at the school, said the students saw the camp as a unique way to raise funds while sparking an interest in the arts in the next generation.

“It’s a cool foundation because it gives the high school students the opportunity to teach and the younger kids the opportunity to get excited about the arts,” Blair said. “And the relationship will help build Bowling Green city schools from the bottom up in the arts.”

Throughout the week, the 21 youngsters have been tapping and twirling to the tunes of such patriotic songs as “Yankee Doodle” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

But the camp isn’t all song and dance. In addition to learning the seven musical pieces for two performances Friday, the students also have been making their own instruments and costumes.

Sticking with the Fourth of July theme, Blair said the kids have made stars and stripes tambourines and sparkled up their own T-shirts for the performances at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. in the high school’s auditorium.

Blair said the high school students helping with the production are learning something, too.

“I think they are learning from having to teach,” Blair said. “And a lot of times, we get so wrapped up in perfecting our performances (at the high school level) that we forget how much joy we bring in performing. This brings it back to the basics and reminds us how much fun it is.”

Sixteen-year-old Natalie Rickman, a junior at Bowling Green High School, said she’s enjoyed teaching the kids to sing and watching them “latch on to” the older students’ legs.

“I’m a 16-year-old girl and I don’t have a lot of patience, but you have to have patience here because you’re working with kids,” she said. “I love how the little girls latch on to your leg and say, ‘Are you my friend?’ That’s my favorite part.”

While some of the tinier tots get a little teary around lunchtime, Natalie said it is usually a quick fix from the older kids.

“Usually a hug helps,” she said.

With her bright red curls bouncing to her tap steps, 9-year-old Chapel Tinius, a Potter-Gray Elementary School student, said she’s learned a lot about making sure she sings “every word clearly.

“I’m really excited about performing for my parents and showing them how much I’ve learned,” she said. “I’ve told them a lot about it and they’re probably really, really looking forward to it.”