Camp Counseling Ideas & Fun Camp Stories

[Gale]

So, I'm going to be a camp counselor this summer, and I'm basically just looking for any ideas you guys might have. Basically, any outdoors games, or games that can be played with simple materials. or, any interesting woodsy stuff... like orienteering or what have you. typical stuff... I'm sure you know what i mean. any interesting facts about nature that i can share with the campers... or any easy songs i could learn on guitar to sing and play at campfires, (tab or something would be needed for that of course...) erm... I've currently got a few games, and a few songs i remember from when i went to summer camp, but its not much, and i'd like to make sure i show the girls a good time. (its a girl scout camp btw... all girls...) i also know a lot about stars and constellations, and i thought i could point interesting things out to them. (anything interesting i could point out aside from major constellations, stars, star colors... would be cool...) any campfire stories or recipies... anything!

Also, feel free to share any fun camp stories! thanks yall!

 

[Moonbear]

I never went to summer camp, so don't know what the kids do there. I only went to a day camp one summer, and it was pretty boring.

But, for those who might be able to suggest stuff, what age girls are you in charge of? That might help get age-appropriate suggestions.

 

[brewnog]

Three words:

The Wide Game


Have a look at some of the 'English' types. Hours of fun!

 

[Clausius2]

I remeber those days of summer camp when I was 11...

I had a great stomachache, I was ill with "Apendicitis" (I don't know the translation in english, it is when a surgeon should cut you an appendix of the stomach...). But the camp boss (which was an horrible old woman) forced me to eat that terrible meals...

Also, there were dirty WCs, where one couldn't make anything due to that smell...

Anyway, you're lucky Gale, other people must remain near his computer to complete some work, instead of making impossible the life of those poor children...

 

[arildno]

Oh, you could study linear algebra, numerical analysis, trigonometry and geology; lots of exciting possibilities.

 

[JamesU]

I remeber those days of summer camp when I was 11...

I had a great stomachache, I was ill with "Apendicitis" (I don't know the translation in english, it is when a surgeon should cut you an appendix of the stomach...). But the camp boss (which was an horrible old woman) forced me to eat that terrible meals...

this sounds way too much like rold dahl's book about his life...(I forgot what it's called)

 

[Clausius2]

this sounds way too much like rold dahl's book about his life...(I forgot what it's called)

Who's rold dahl?

Maybe instead of writting a book, I could make a terror film with those summer camp days...

 

[brewnog]

this sounds way too much like rold dahl's book about his life...(I forgot what it's called)

Boy!

It's a fantastic book, I don't think anybody should go through childhood without reading it. Roald Dahl is probably in my top 50 list of heroes.

 

[1123581321]

i am working as a counselor this year at a boy scout camp. i would suggest something dealing with the local ecosystem, like a nature trail hike where you can explain the different plants and animals and how they interact. crafts are usually good for the younger ones. just about anything that is fun, but educational at the same time is good. i would have more ideas, but i work as a lifeguard, so i really don't deal with the nature stuff while i am there, just making sure kids learn to swim/don't die. also i work at a boy scout camp, which i would assume is different than a girl scout camp.

fibonacci

 

[Moonbear]

What about having them do skits around the campfire at night? They can spend part of their day (or days) writing their skits and rehearsing, and even use some craft time to make props to use. You could even give them themes, like scary stories.

And although I don't think arildno was serious, you still could use this as an opportunity to sneak in some physics stuff. Even if they aren't doing the math, getting them doing things that show the concepts might give them an edge many girls don't get in encouraging them to enjoy the subject. I'm just coming up with this now, so consider it a skeleton of an idea. They could have some team exercises with some sort of see-saw type lever, maybe with an off-center fulcrum, and they need to answer questions game-show style to earn buckets of water or something like that. Then, after each team has their buckets and their points for correct answers, then the final bonus round is that they have to put all their buckets on the see-saw and try to balance it. The first team to balance the buckets wins (both ends of the board off the ground; maybe they don't have to be perfectly balanced...you'd have to play with it a bit to make it work). If you use an off-center fulcrum, it makes it so they can't just put even numbers of buckets at either end (or, you can fill the buckets with unequal amounts of water). I guess you could also have a time limit in case it ends up impossible, like neither team wins enough buckets to balance the see-saw, even if they put them all on one end.

Aside from adjusting where they put the buckets, the might also try pouring water from one bucket to another to change the weight of each bucket. Either one seems okay, and then you can discuss whatever approaches they tried, and the other alternatives they didn't try.