LeCastor 641 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 And if you bring a telescope with you on the camping trip you can do STEM-y things like astronomy! Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 You're not going to give up, are you? ( LOL ) 1 Link to post Share on other sites
jpstodwftexas 72 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 We only went Camping...but we had lots and Lots of Fun...No Activities planned...We Found things to do..and Hardly wanted to leave on Sunday evenings because we were having so much fun..We did 2 Campouts a Month when there was a Camporee because we went to them also. Link to post Share on other sites
JasonG172 244 Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 then it wasn't "just camping". A game with a purpose. Advancement is an excellent activity for an outing. Lash some poles together in the church basement, or make something for real out in the woods. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. Stosh YES...agreed Link to post Share on other sites
CNYScouter 46 Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 I would to get to the point our patrols go camping on their own. It's only since I have joined that we have encouraged the patrols to start doing things on there own. Personally I think there needs to be a combination of "planned" activities and free time. One thing I am seeing on our campouts that with any freetime they are sitting around playing "Magic" (the card game) last weekend we went to a camporee that had over 550 events offered. I found the Scouts sitting around playing cards. LeCastor - I have lived in the Syracuse ,NY area just about my entire life except for a couple of semesters in college. I have been to the Hillcourt museum at Camp Woodland mnay times. Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4342 Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 CNY, Suggestion: Ask the boys how they could convert "magic" into a wide game. E.g., a night compass course with cards distributed at control points, camp inspection where patrols earn points that enable them to bid on cards of higher value, etc ... Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 While it's not all that popular in the US, one might want to do a Rogaine event that would encompass (pun intended) the whole weekend. Excellent for compass work, team building, decision making, etc. Really worth the effort to at least try. Stosh Link to post Share on other sites
LeCastor 641 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 LOL...I was confused for a moment and thought you were talking about the hair growth medication, Rogaine! Rogaining DOES look fun: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogaining Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 My nephew is Aussie. They compete as a family. For the life of me I can't figure out why it hasn't become popular with American Scouts. Stosh Link to post Share on other sites
perdidochas 658 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 What is Rogaine? (oops, now I see the link) Looks like fun. Too bad we don't do that, I think it would be great fun. Link to post Share on other sites
Stosh 3452 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 LeCastor's wikipedia link explains it very well. Stosh Link to post Share on other sites
LeCastor 641 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 What is Rogaine? P, I put the wiki link up above because I didn't know either: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogaining Link to post Share on other sites
qwazse 4342 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Or, as my troop/crew seem to call it, the "shortcut" to our next campsite. Below's a description of a "mini-rogaine" that our local orienteering club puts on ... http://www.wpoc.org/raccoongaine2014.htm My SM used to challenge us with similar courses. It was pretty much routine for one or two camping trips a year to involve something like this. We'd come back tired, hungry, and happy to hang around camp. I foist similar challenges on my boys to the point that they think it's a necessary evil of having me camp with them. I have since realized that not every troop does this. This summer I swapped stories with a young man -- son of my former SPL -- who moved around a lot. At one point his dad was SM/ASM and I asked how that went. He said "Okay, but he made us do a lot of orienteering ..." So, start a tradition. You have no idea how far it will spread. Link to post Share on other sites
MattR 2659 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 Personally I think there needs to be a combination of "planned" activities and free time. One thing I am seeing on our campouts that with any freetime they are sitting around playing "Magic" (the card game) last weekend we went to a camporee that had over 550 events offered. I found the Scouts sitting around playing cards. We do a mix. Typically they have something organized in the morning and in the afternoon it's whatever fits within the buddy system. They like that format. It seems that an organized event just gets them going. We had a series of campouts where it was just show up and see what happens and they mostly did play card games. And the participation started dropping. I don't know if this was the right way to handle it but I reminded the PLC that they always mention having fun and adventure as things they like about scouts, so where is it? It wasn't too hard to get them to commit to having some form of adventure, skill, excitement, challenge, or memory inducing activity at every event. Sledding, skill competitions, canoeing, a service project, dutch oven cook offs, .... The last couple of years they go on an early spring campout and build a massive wood pile on a frozen lake and light it up at night. It's the boy scout version of burning man. Link to post Share on other sites
Eagledad 2777 Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 I have never seen a full free time campout go well because the boys simply get bored. Sometimes the Patrols try it and wish they had planned something. But then our campouts aren't advancement sessions either, they are usually doing something a lot of fun that has them wanting to be in the sack after campfire. Thats not to say they don't have free time, I believe campouts should be at least 50% free time. If a scout wants to work on skills for advancement, that would be the time. Barry Link to post Share on other sites
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