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Cub Twilight Camp?


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We are interested in partnering with 2-3 local packs to offer a 2 evening Twilight Camp this summer.  What kind of activities would be good to offer all ranks?  Maybe portions of adventures / elective adventures?

If you have experience with this - what worked well?

we’d love our pack to attend council’s cub day camp but it’s to far for parents to drive daily from our part of the state.

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We call it "Sniffing Spiders!!"

Kids love this trick.  Put a strong flashlight up next to your eye, pointing out to the ground.  Scan slowly until you see a very small green, red, or purple light.  Hold the light next to your eye steadily, and slowly move towards where the reflected colored light, keeping the flashlight shining on it so you can see the colored light coming back at you.  Follow it all the way to the ground, and you will find a spider!

Don't let on anything about the light at first... play it up that you have a special talent... you can smell spiders!  Show them the first one or two, and then reveal the secret.  

If it is warm enough where you live, this is easy.  Of, course, tell Scouts not to catch or handle the spiders :)

Fair warning!  Teach with discretion 😜 If you don't like spiders, you will get creeped out because they are EVERYWHERE! 

When there is a heavy dew, this becomes much more difficult, as dew drops can reflect colors back as well.

https://thehappyscientist.com/content/spider-spotting#

When they learn this, even the adults have fun with it!

Enjoy!

Edited by InquisitiveScouter
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@Momleader  I concur with @RichardB.  I would work with council to create a smaller twilight camp in your area. There is a lot of liability involved, and you do not want that on you, that is what councils are for. In my neck of the woods, the districts are so large now, that each district has multiple day camps/twilight camps that correspond to the old district boundaries. We only have 3 packs remaining in the area.

 

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I guess partner is the wrong word  - council will help facilitate but they don’t really supply staff for day camp unless it’s on their property - our council used to do community Cub Scout day camp and they supplied insurance and a few materials (shooting sports stuff) otherwise it was all run by volunteers with a staffer there at check in and a nurse for the day

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14 minutes ago, Momleader said:

I guess partner is the wrong word  - council will help facilitate but they don’t really supply staff for day camp unless it’s on their property - our council used to do community Cub Scout day camp and they supplied insurance and a few materials (shooting sports stuff) otherwise it was all run by volunteers with a staffer there at check in and a nurse for the day

The council is responsible for day camps meeting standards, on or off property.  That includes requirements for staff registration, qualification and training (day camp director, camp health officer, aquatics or shooting sports staff) , program, etc.    Having it run by volunteers locally isn't an issue.  Just pulling it together as a group of units is.   

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  • 1 month later...

So how it works is that any "camp" even day camps need an NCAP certified Camp Director and an NCAP certified Program Director, a CPR/First Aid certified Health Officer, and ratios of staff to scouts and toilets to scouts. You will have to prepare a camp NCAP standards book, and that book and your camp will be inspected by an NCAP inspection team sometime during the camp. Additionally anytime units not chartered by the same CO do things together it has to be authorized by your council. 

If you decide to move forward with a twilight camp I suggest you just come up with a theme, plan your activities around that theme, and then at the end figure out which advancement items are met during the camp. That advancements list will have to get cleared through your council advancement committee.

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