Summer day camp Ideas needed

[daycampcord 10]

Hello I am the new Summer Day camp coord in our area this year. I have never done this and my program coord has never don this either. Our theme is Knights of the round table and mideval times. Do any of you have any ideads or suggestions or things you did in previous years that worked for your camps. We have a four week program at 3 different sites. I have never attended a day camp or has my son so we are all very new to this. Any Help would be so appreciated.

 

Thanks so Much!!

Ally

[ScoutersMom 10]

Hi There!!

 

First things first.... you need to come up with a theme for the camp. After that, coming up with activity ideas is gravy. Here's a link to our day camp info and registration form. You may get some helpful ideas from it.

http://www.doubleknot.com/openrosters/DocDownload.asp?orgkey=1143&id=40664

 

I'm also on the committee for another camping event in July. Our theme is Time Traveling through America's History. (a li'l wordy, I know)

Our activities are going to include BB guns(civil war), archery (indians), tie dye shirts(70's), building toolboxes(industrial revolution), building rockets (race to space).. etc. To tie it all in together, we're going to build a quick mock up of the Tardis from Dr. Who so the kids, for opening ceremony, can walk through the tardis and get their Time Passports as they line up for the flag ceremony. As each scout goes through each activity, the staff for each station will stamp the passport and sign it. We will also be doing leather work, will have board games, pinhole planetariums for their downtime activities.

 

Hope this helps

 

Best of Luck and Happy Camping!!!

 

 

[John-in-KC 311]

Welcome to the Forums.

 

Is your Council going to send you to National Camp School? There are many, many administrative details which you, as the Camp Director, are responsible for. You need to have them send you and your PD to NCS!

 

Remember that your Field Sports (ranges) require trained rangemasters... archery, bb's, even slingshots!!!

 

The games are all pretty common; it's naming them and theming them that makes the event. It's asking staff to costume up as they can, and to have songs and activities ready to help.

 

I'd look at the Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos books... find activities which have commonalities across the years of Cubbing... that way, each activity can count for advancement (it is a Method of Cubbing).

 

Cooking... foil dinners which the kids prepare and then cook on the fire can be leveraged many many ways.

 

Find yourself a detail oriented person to be your Registrar.

 

Good hunting

 

 

[ScoutNut 147]

WOW! 4 weeks long! 3 different sites! All at the same time? Or different dates? You must have one HUGE District!!

 

The longest I have ever heard of a Day Camp running is 1 week. Do you get a lot of Scouts to sign up for a 4 week long day camp?

 

Have you taken National Camp School training? If not, then get in touch with your trained Camp Director(s). They are the ones who are responsible for making sure the camp is set up correctly and the programing covers everything it should.

 

For a 4 week long program you are going to need a LOT of activities to avoid repeats and boring the Scouts. Depending on the amount of volunteers you have (you are going to need a lot of those too), you can pretty much repeat the same activities and timetable at the different sites. However, some of your activities will depend on what facilities you have at the different sites.

 

Do you have enough room at any of them to include archery? You will also need enough equipment, and trained folks, to cover the 3 sites. If you can swing it, archery is a great tie-in with the Medieval theme.

 

We did that theme in our District a few years back. Each group of boys was their own castle. They created their own Coat-of-Arms to describe who they were and to display at the end of their tables. We also got a bunch of cardboard pizza circles donated and made shields, and used plastic gallon milk jugs to make helmets.

 

I can't remember all of the stations we had, but we did have jousting with foam water noodles and making a compass using a magnet, cork and a needle. I think one of the crafts was a stained glass looking picture of a castle using plastic wrap.

 

The one activity the boys really liked (besides archery) was the catapults. We tossed bean bags at boxes decorated to look like castles.

 

 

[SctDad 10]

Here is a link to a post that we did some discussion on before

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=172198

 

If you look at some of the toy stores they have the cardboard blocks that you flod up and put together. They look like bricks and you can build a small caslte. You can make a catapult and use bean bags to knock down the walls.

 

I hope this helps with all the other suggestions.

 

Are you feeding them. You may want to look into a little research about how they ate in those times. I will see what I can find.

[SctDad 10]

Here is a link to a post that we did some discussion on before

 

http://www.scouter.com/forums/viewThread.asp?threadID=172198

 

If you look at some of the toy stores they have the cardboard blocks that you flod up and put together. They look like bricks and you can build a small caslte. You can make a catapult and use bean bags to knock down the walls.

 

I hope this helps with all the other suggestions.

 

Are you feeding them. You may want to look into a little research about how they ate in those times. I will see what I can find.

[daycampcord 10]

These are all good ideas. I am registered for the schooling but it wont be until the first week of June and our camp starts June 23. We do have a ton of kids in our districts we have 4 districts that will be combined at this day camp. I have some people give me ideas here and there. I am very excited but scared at the same time. I do have people that are trained for archery. That is all we are doing this year no other shooting. The old director said they had specials that the kids always looked forward to? I am at loss as to what to do at specials? We contacted the police, fire dept to come talk to the kids. Game Commision, Fishing Commission, Park rangers? Any other people I could contact to come out? not all have responded to us yet. What do other camps do for nature and science? Arts and Crafts? Please keep the ideas comming.

 

Thanks so much

Ally

[daycampcord 10]

Also They are over four weeks at diffrent days it runs June to the end of July with a week for July 4 off. we do have some scouts that will be attending all 4 weeks but not may maybe a handful.

 

Thanks

Ally

[John-in-KC 311]

You urgently need to have a heart to heart talk with your Council Field Director. Being sent to NCS while your programs are running is a recipe for disaster. Your camp will be inspected; while most Day Camps are inspected by the local Council; I believe there's a percentage which get checked by National.

 

You're being asked to plan and operate without the key info you need. In a better world, you'd take training this year and understudy the existing leadership, then be ready to operate next year.

 

As Director, your responsibilities are to facilities, registrations, materials, health, safety and support... and that includes those staffers. Your PD has responsibility to put forth the program and staff it. Your Professional helps you handle the business end.

 

One of your key responsibilities is to the Trading Post (moneymaker). T-shirts for the kids are in your lane as well.

 

I hate to say this, your Council has not done you any favors at this point. Most Day Camps have been in planning for 8 months + now, and they operate in a single district. You have to take your travelling road show to 4.

 

Eamonn, this one is in your State. Can you locate resources to bear???

[ScoutNut 147]

I second what John said. There are very specific requirements that must be met for the facility and the program end of things. If your Program Person is not going to NCS (?), then YOU will be responsible for ensuring that all standards for programing are met.

 

You can't plan a program, especially one as big and complicated as yours, without knowing what to do, and how to set it up! And to do it all in a little over ONE MONTH! That's NUTS!

 

 

 

 

[scottteng 11]

The most popular special by far is bringing in the fire truck and hosing them down for some reason this is major thrilling especially if the front row gets knocked off their feet. A distant second is the snake and reptile guy. The most popular regular venue's are BB gun and Archery.

[ScoutNut 147]

Considering your theme - Medieval - You should contact your local Society for Creative Anachronism Kingdom. You can find them here -

 

http://www.sca.org/findsca.html

 

Although it is rather short notice, they might be able to do something for you. A Joust, or even a wandering minstrel would be nice.

 

 

[Sephrina 10]

I second ScoutNut on the SCA. My tiger son was very taken with both the knights battling and the calligraphy our local SCA presented at historical event.

[daycampcord 10]

I will be going to the training before the day camp goes on. No one stepped up to the plate so the program director( who is new) and I decided we would do it. I am just finding out in the 3 weeks I have started that there is so much planning. I was sold at this will be a piece of cake and it so easy. I do have a lot of exepence working with kids in the profession I am in. We have contaced the police to see if tey can come out and peak to the kids about safty, The fire co we are working on. Game and Commission to speak about wildlife, Fishing commission to speak and show proper fishing techniques, and The park ranger to show how to track animals. DO you think this would keep the kids intrested? I also have tons of crafts we will be working on to see if the kids will like them. We will try them out on our own kids first. I dont know what to do with science and nature? We will have archery no bb we dont have the proper place for bbs. I have some games we will be trying out and lining up. I thnk we are getting there but it is no walk in the park. I am excited about this We do have tons of support from our troop and from our council. After camp school we will have 3 weeks to be sure we are up to snuff. Any other hints or Ideas? We are open to pretty much anything.

 

Thanks so much for all your imput,

Ally

[Sephrina 10]

My GS service unit did a science day camp last year. They had a geologist speak one day, and a tv weatherman come in another. I wasn't able to attend, so I don't know if the speakers held the girls' attention. If you have a local hands on science museum, they may have somebody that could come. I know my tiger son always likes the soda and mentos experiment and has been begging me to do a sugar crystal experiment with him. http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/ might have some ideas for you.