Summer Camp Theme Ideas

[tadmaking 10]

Hi everyone! I am the Aquatics Director for a Cub Scout Camp in Bozrah, CT. I am in need of some ideas for a new year of camping. Recently we have decided to theme all of our areas of camp (Pirates - Waterfront, Cowboys - Fort, Huckfin - Rafts, Indians - Indian Village, Ninjas - Office) and I am in need of some ideas from everyone!

 

My staff (except when we are actually lifeguarding) are going to be dressed up as Pirates, unless in class A or B uniforms.. which sounds fun. So dress is not a problem. Here is a list of issues I face...

 

I want to make a sunken ship in the lake, with only the parts of the mast sticking out. don't know how...any ideas? was thinking of building a mast w/ a lookout bucket.

 

I am hosting a night under the stars weekly at my waterfront (camping without a tent). Any program ideas for such a night? How about food? I want to "cook out" or "bbq" something simple, but makes you think Pirates.

 

Besides a Jolly Roger Flag, palm trees, sand, & pirates...what else can I do to make my waterfront look like a Pirate Island.

 

What other ideas do you guys have? Please help...want to make 2008 a memorable year for all the kids!

 

Also, we are currently accepting applications for about 40 different positions, and if anyone is interested in coming from in or out of state to work at CT Rivers Council's Camp Tadma this summer. We are currently in need of lifeguards, cooks, commisioners, program directors, trading post managers, office managers, Please get in touch with me on here or jon@argonle.com ~ thanks!!!

[Karen_216 10]

Did you add finding a buried treasure??? Maybe give clues and a map as an on-going thing and then they have to submit their guess to find the "treasure" at the end of the camp week.(make a big deal that you followed their directions and come out all tired w/ a dirty shovel and the treasure chest) Give them some "booty"(gold coins etc.)

They can get a clue at the beginning or each day by a Pirate note and give them a Pirate map to lead to each activity.

At the campout maybe they have to chart their way by the stars and earn Astronomy beltloop. Don't forget the sea chants -- my boys from the pack had an overnight at a Seaport and they had to each pick pirate names by spinning a wheel or you can have them pick their own by using the name of their fav pet and last names as street (or something similar)-- makes for some funny names!!! My son sang the songs for months!!

Also each Den needs to make their own pirate flags.

Sounds like fun. Which I could go!!! you may known these sites for ideas or to order stuff-- Oriental trading and also S&S worldwide.

[Karen_216 10]

Food ideas-- some type of fruit punch concoction named "grog" and give out oranges so they don't get scurvy. I don't know if it matters hugely what you serve just come up w/ funny names!! Keep making a deal that these are their rations and that the cook is going to walk the plank!!

You can name your games "walk the blank" and similar pirate themed names and have pirate "wars". Play capture the flag but rename the game.

URGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MATEY

[OldGreyEagle 5]

Nothin' sounds like Pirates like cooking without utensils and eating without flat ware. A mess(literally)of single ribs slathered with sauces, bananas, small steaks, pork steaks, round "loafs" of bread a pineapple with only a "machete" to cut it up, (Wielded by a stuff member) are you feeling me?

[tadmaking 10]

AWESOME ideas guys! love 'em all! keep 'em coming!!

[Karen_216 10]

I love this theme. You can have a pretend "mutiny" in the beginning of the week to start things off and now the pirates are in charge of your area rather than an official BSA rep. If you have a pier or diving board make them "walk the plank" or make that into a game where the boys want to walk the plank-- that is the reward to get into the water. Don't know if this works for your setup but may if it's swimming every day.

For your crow's nest look at Home Depot for a huge flower pot. They make them out of some sort of light foam now-- may find one to be bigger than a bucket-- put a blowup parrot inside. They also have these toy parrots that repeat what you say that you can carry around on your arm (you can turn it off when it gets too annoying). I don;t know how deep your water is-- I'm guessing it's a lake?? Maybe anchor a small dingy to put your mast on it.

[John-in-KC 311]

I'm not sure about Karen's suggestion, I don't want kids when they get back home making others "walk the plank." That could go somewhere really ugly. Can you imagine kids playing that one, one drowning, and at a Coroner's Inquest, Johnny (who is established he can tell the truth in chambers) says "I got the idea at Scout Camp... THEY did it!!"

 

Ok.

 

How about making a treasure chest, and placing it on the Reservation? Each day, staff helps campers hunt for it? It gets found Wednesday or so of camp week. Then on Friday, you get to say... "Argggh, ye mateys, now you get to help me place treasure for the next crew of scurvy scalawags who come to my beach!"

[SctDad 10]

Here are some Ideas for the food.

 

Remember that they had to eat food that was easy to preserve. Salted meats, hard tack (Biscuits), and things like that. Maybe think about some potatos for a soup. Now after looking they said at some websites that they would drink wine and beer. Well that may not go over too well. Maybe you can have scoutwine. Grape juice or orange juice. Or maybe mix several juices together to amke the GROG. Don't forget the oranges.

 

Check out this link for some pirate jokes.

 

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070626163203AAfob1u

 

I will see what else I can find.

 

Here are some other links

 

http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/Pirate_Food.html

 

http://www.nmm.ac.uk/TudorExploration/NMMHTML/html/on_seas.html

 

http://www.cindyvallar.com/bepirate.html

 

Hope those links help you out(This message has been edited by SctDad)

[tadmaking 10]

Guys thanks so much! Everyone's ideas are magnificent! I can't wait for summer time so I can put all of this in action. I was thinking about half burying a treasure chest on the water front's beach with some gold coins and such! Everyone here is very helpful and keep the ideas coming!

[frank10 12]

needs a skeleton. Also needs an X to mark the spot.

 

Dry ice in the lake at some point.

 

Each buddy check ends with a bad pirate joke... I don't know any off hand but hey, this is the internet (thank you Al Gore!)

 

Pirate names.

 

 

[Karen_216 10]

What's a Pirate's favorite letter ??

RRRRRRRRRR

[tadmaking 10]

hahaha! love it!

[John-in-KC 311]

Line 'em up like the British Navy did for their daily ration of Lime Juice (ok, limeade). After all, that's why the Brits were LIMEYs...

[SctDad 10]

Have you heard about the new pirate movie?

It?s rated AARRRRGGH!

 

What's a pirate's favorite mode of transportation?

A cAARRRRGGH!

 

what's a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet?

arrrr

 

what's a pirate's favorite kind of socks?

arrrrgyle

 

what is a pirates favorite study subject?

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.

 

what's a pirate's second-choice job?

an arrrrrrchitect!

 

how much did the pirate pay to get his ears pierced?

a buccaneer

 

what's a pirate's favorite kind of cookie?

ships ahoy

 

what do you call a pirate that skips class?

captain hooky!

 

A pirate walks into a bar and the bartender says, "Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. What happened, you look terrible!"

"What do you mean?" the pirate replies, "I'm fine."

The bartender says, "But what about that wooden leg? You didn't have that before."

"Well," says the pirate, "We were in a battle at sea and a cannon ball hit my leg but the surgeon fixed me up, and I'm fine, really."

"Yeah," says the bartender, "But what about that hook? Last time I saw you, you had both hands."

"Well," says the pirate, "We were in another battle and we boarded the enemy ship. I was in a sword fight and my hand was cut off but the surgeon fixed me up with this hook, and I feel great, really."

"Oh," says the bartender, "What about that eye patch? Last time you were in here you had both eyes."

"Well," says the pirate, "One day when we were at sea, some birds were flying over the ship. I looked up, and one of them dropped in my eye."

"So?" replied the bartender, "what happened? You couldn't have lost an eye just from some bird droppings!"

"Well," says the pirate, "I really wasn't used to the hook yet."

 

 

why does a pirate's phone go beep beep beep beep beep?

because he left it off the hook!

 

 

What has 8 arms and 8 legs?

8 Pirates!

 

Why do pirates make excellent fishermen? They know how to hook the big ones.

Where do pirates find their birds? Parrots Without Partners.

 

Did you hear about the pirate's parrot that fell in love with a duck? The bird kept saying, "Polly wants a quacker".

 

Why couldn't the young pirate see the R-rated movie? There was no parrot-al guidance.

 

Why should pirates work for FedEx? They have the fastest ships in the shipping business.

 

What's it called when a pirate's sloop runs aground? It's ship out of luck.

 

Why don't pirates use a safe deposit box? They put their valuables in Davy Jones' Locker.

 

Who's the pirate's favorite actress? Diane Cannon.

 

Why did the pirate refuse to say, "Aye, Aye, Captain"? Because he's only got one eye.

 

What's the pirate's favorite restaurant? Trick question because it's either Jolly Roger or Long John Silver's.

 

How could the pirate acquire the ship so cheaply? Because it was on sail.

 

Why did the pirate not learn how to bowl? He had a severe hook.

 

Who was the pirate's favorite musician? Carlos Bandana.

 

Why couldn't the pirate stop thinking about sailing? He had ship for brains.

 

What has 12 arms, 12 legs and 12 eyes? A dozen pirates.

 

When boxing, what's a pirate's favorite punch? Left hook.

What's a pirate's least favorite animal? Beaver.

 

If Blackbeard played sports who would he play for? Either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Pittsburg Pirates.

 

How does a pirate, wearing a patch, say "yes" to the leader? Eye Eye, Captain.

 

What do you have to watch for when sitting down on a wooden toilet? Long john slivers.

 

What does a pirate put on toast? Jelly Roger.

 

YOu might want to check the rating on these before you use them at camp

 

[SctDad 10]

Some pirate phrases

 

Pirate Phrases

-Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! - exhortation of discontent or disgust

-Ahoy! - Hello!

-Ahoy, Matey - Hello, my friend!

-Ahoy, me Hearties! - the same as saying "Hello, my friends!"

-All hand hoay! - comparable to all hands on deck

-Avast ye - stop and check this out or pay attention

-Aye - yes

-Batten down the hatches - put everything away on the ship and tie everything down because a storm is brewing

-Bilge-sucking - insult

-Blimey! - exhortation of surprise

-Blow me down! - expression of shock of disbelief akin to "Holy Crap!"

-Blow the man down - command to kill someone

-Booty - treasure

-Buccaneer - a pirate

-Bucko - a buccaneer

-Cat O'Nine Tails - a whip with nine strands

-Corsair - pirates in the Mediterranean Sea

-Crow's nest - small platform atop the mast where the lookout stands

-Cutlass - short heavy curved bladed sword used by pirates

-Davy Jones' Locker - fabled, mythical place at the bottom of the ocean where the evil spirit of Davy Jones brings sailor and pirates to die

-Dead men tell no tales - phrase indicating to leave no survivors

-Doubloons - other coins or found in pirate hoards and stashes

-Feed the fish - will soon die

-Hang 'im from the yardarm - punishment of those captured in battle

-Head - the pirate ship's toilet

-Heave Ho - give it some muscle and push it

-Hempen Halter - a noose for hanging

-Hornswaggle - to defraud or cheat out of money or belongings

-Jacob's Ladder - the rope ladder one uses to climb aboard a sloop

-Jolly Roger - pirate's flag including white skull and crossbones over a black field

-Keelhaul - punishment in which a person where dragged underneath the pirate ship from side to side and was lacerated by the barnacles on the vessel

-Lad, lass, lassie - a younger person

-Landlubber - big, slow clumsy person who doesn't know how to sail

-Letters of Marque - letters issue from governments during wartime to privateers endorsing the piracy of another vessel

-Man-O-War - pirate's ship outfitted for battle

-Me - my

-Mizzen - third mast from the bow of the ship on ships that have three or more masts

-Old Salt - an experienced sailor

-Pieces of eight - coins or found in pirate stashes

-Pillage - rob, sack or plunder

-Poop deck - the part of the ship farthest to the back, which is usually above the captain's quarters. This is not the bathroom.

-Privateer - government-sponsored pirates

-Rum - pirate's traditional alcoholic beverage

-Run a shot across the bow - warning shot to another vessel's captain

-Savvy? - do you understand and do you agree?

-Scallywag - mild insult akin to rapscallion or rogue

-Scurvy dog - the pirate is talking directly to you with mild insult

-Scuttle - to sink a ship

-Seadog - old pirate or sailor

-Shark bait - will soon join Davy Jones' Locker

-Shipshape - cleaned up and under control

-Shiver me timbers! - comparable to "Holy Crap!"

-Thar she blows! - Whale sighting

-Walk the plank - punishment in which person walks off a board jutting over the side of the ship while at sea. The consequence is drowning and a visit to Davy Jones' Locker.

-Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! - pull up the anchor and the sail and let's get going

-Ye - you

-Yo Ho Ho - cheerful exhortation to demand attention