Campout Agenda

[ManyHats 10]

How much do you "schedule" your campouts?

This is the first campout since we've been involved that wasn't with the Boy Scouts. We are camping at a park where we can fish and visit an observatory - weather permitted.(This message has been edited by ManyHats)

[Lisabob 13]

How old are the boys involved, how many of them are there going to be, and will there be any other children (siblings, friends, cousins, whoever) present?

 

Generally speaking the more kids, and the younger the kids are, the more you need a scheduled environment. Same is true when you have many kids who don't know each other, or don't know the group's ground rules. On the other hand, if this is a small den of webelos, you may not need as much of an agenda. Either way, some time to play tag and search for bugs under rocks is always good even with a younger or bigger crowd.

 

 

[ManyHats 10]

We're hoping to have a head count by the end of the week. Our Pack currently has 28 boys. I don't expect the entire Pack to be able to come. I do expect some siblings, though. Our scouts range from new Wolves to 2nd year Webelos.

[SctDad 10]

Well here is some advice from me just coming from a campout this weekend.

 

BE FLEXIBLE

 

PLan things that the boys can do not only as a group, but with their family too. This will make it possible to not only have fun as a group, but for the parents to have some quality family time.

 

Another piece of advise, take several decks of cards. I found that the cards that I had the boys had a great time. They played games like go fish and war. It can be the little things that make for a good campout.

 

As for the adults, don't forget to break up the chores. Cooking, cleaning, building the campfire. Make sure that the boys are supervised if they are helping with anything.

 

Good Luck, and remember, enjoy yourelf too.

 

YIS SctDad

 

P.S. Don't forget the S'mores

[Novice_Cubmaster 10]

Hi ManyHats,

 

The one thing we build a campout schedule around is mealtimes. It's really hard to get a good sized group

together for games, hikes, etc., if everybody's eating at different times. Plus, it's more fun to eat together.

 

Once you've figured out mealtimes, you end up with breakfast, lunch & dinner splitting the day into two good-sized blocks of time. (Don't forget to include prep & cleanup time for meals too). The morning & afternoon chunks of time are big enough for two activities and a bit of "looking for bugs". It's also OK to have different activities for different age groups. Most packs cover quite a range of attention spans & physical abilities.

 

You can also include "camping duties" for the scouts in the schedule. Pre-dinner time is a great time for the younger scouts to gather tinder & kindling for the night's campfire, older scouts to fill water jugs for cooking. (By the way, if a scout has a whittling chip, he can chop carrots just as easily as carve a stick...).

 

Main thing is, keep'em busy & having fun.

 

NC

[Karen_216 10]

It depends on how long you are camping. for pack Family overnighters. waht we do- a hike, campfire lighting, marshmallow roast and making s'mores, campfire stories- this year will be ghost stories- songs. Next morning they are making fishing rods and going fishing an that's it really.Each den is given a task. If you are doign two nights there is time for doing some organized rope tying or other stuff.

They play frosbees and throw around footballs and other free time stuff. (well away fromt he fire).

[ManyHats 10]

We are just camping from 1:00 pm Sat to 10:00 am Sun. We're planning on the boys making their own meal packets to put on coals. So if the weather is ok, I think fishing, cooking and the observatory will fill in most of the time Sat. I just wanted to have a backup plan.

[insanescouter 10]

I would say you should have some kind of plan even if its just an outline of things to do but are not set for specific times. Remember control through activity if you give them enough time to tie there shoe you are giving them enough time to get into mischief. Anyway just my wacky 2 cents...

 

 

Scott Robertson

http://insanescouter.org