Camp Help

[Make7upu101]

Hey Tip.it, long time reader rare poster.

 

 

 

I've always respected this community as an intelligent bunch (could be that most are gamers/ex-gamers) and I wanted to see if everybody could help me out with a sort of assignment.

 

 

 

In a few days, I'm going to be working as a camp counselor at an overnight camp for the next month. Part of my responsibilities as counselor will be to lead nightly devotions. Devotions are the time at night when both counselors sit down the campers in the cabin before bed and give some sort of meaningful activity or story to the kids. Character building stuff. The activity can range from serious stuff such as solving a group problem to group bonding like telling your most embarrassing moment. The first night usually consists of goal setting. I'm having trouble thinking of good, not too cheesy things so far. I'm thinking of having a different kid pick a quote out of a book and relate it to the the session so far.

 

 

 

I've never been good at thinking up things on the spot so I'm trying to write down a bunch of ideas a few days before I go. I really had a great time when I was a camper and am looking to make some sort of positive mark on these kids lives. Think back on when you were a camper (or participant in a program). Although I'm mostly looking for devotion ideas, any other advice is appreciated as well. Games, activities, or really just general advice is great.

 

 

 

I'll read everything and post my thoughts later on. Any ideas or examples are greatly appreciated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks

 

-Ethan

[Riku3220]

games? i can suggest games!

 

 

 

capture the flag is AWESOME in the woods

 

 

 

ultimate frisbee is great fun if you can find a clearing (keep away works just as well) :thumbsup:

[Make7upu101]

Capture the flag is pretty awesome. We usually do a camp wide game on a giant field. I have an idea for a game that a friend gave me. He got his idea from the John Carpenter movie "The Thing." It basically involves picking from a hat on the first day and one person becomes "The thing." The object of the game is for the thing to get himself alone with another person and "infect them" thus, them becoming a "thing." The game would continue until either everybody was the thing or the things were exposed. Imagine the paranoia.

[Happysniff]

Maybe you should watch Friday the 13th before becoming a camp counselor, yeah?

 

 

 

But in all seriousness, here are some cool games:

 

 

 

Capture teh flag

 

Spotlight

 

Sports like soccer or touch rugby or baseball and stuff. Really good for camps.

 

 

 

Also make shur pedobear isn't around. Be shur to set up lots of bear traps around the woods.

[Solidus_77]

Random activities? Let's see. The first day of the camp is a great moment to break the ice. There's a "game" (more of an introduction) where we all sit in a circle and pass a ball around. Each person who catches it says their name and an interesting fact about themself.

 

 

 

That, or do team relay races. I'll vouch for CTF though, that's loads of fun.

 

 

 

If you're having a hard time thinking of an activity, why don't you ask the kids in the group? I'm sure they're full of ideas.

[Make7upu101]

It's not really activities or games I'm that concerned about (I was a camper after all), it's the nightly devotions that I'm more worried about. I could ask the kids for ideas but I see it really as mostly the counselors responsibility to "bring the fun".

 

 

 

Great suggestions for games guys but what's spotlight?

[Range_This11]

A giant game of Kick The Can. It's classic and you don't have to be athletically talented to win.

 

 

 

Kickball is also good.

 

 

 

I really doubt you'll get many people that can help you on here with "devotion ideas". Not quite the majority here.

 

 

 

Good luck with your camp though!

[IGoddessI]

Pardon my ignorance (I think we live in different countries) but I thought camp counsellors were supposed to be trained in youth activities? Considering they're usually hired by community welfare organizations who ask for this as a prerequisite.

 

 

 

Anyway I think you will do a great job Ethan and if you're up for some homework I have some tips I can recommend to you for youth group activities. Seeing as you're in such a position, I thought it would only be fair that I give you tips and you research the rest. Obtaining the position you have only means you're more than capable of doing this yourself instead of taking the easy way out and asking other people to think for you. This is supposed to be a learning experience not only for the kids but also for yourself. Although, I will be kind enough to give you a few.

 

 

 

Character building, find games that relate to the following:

 

 

 

- Learning interpersonal skills

 

- Learning boundaries

 

- Learning organization skills

 

- Working in teams

 

 

 

Three examples:

 

 

 

* wording activities, that allow students to minimize defense. E.g "You always make me do the dishes while you sit there and do nothing!" ask them to come up with ways they could say the same thing but get better results. Answer being something similiar to "I'm having a bit of a problem. When I do the dishes I miss out on watching the simpsons which is my favourite show. I was wondering if you could help me so we could both sit down and watch it together." - The key being making students own their own problems and not push them on to other people.

 

 

 

* 2 lines of equal amounts of people, stand in a line opposite each other. The aim of the game is you are to be given an activity to arrange the people in your line according to instructions without speaking. Examples... height and age. Students will have to oraganise themselves from youngest to oldest, without speaking. First team to finish, raises all their hands, then goes down the line, says their ages and if correct they win.

 

 

 

*two groups of people. Send one group outside with no instructions. With the group inside, you tell them their job is to analyse 1 person each in their performance. Ask other group of people to come in, tell them to split in to even groups. They are each given, 3 balloons and 2 decks of playing cards. The team who builds the biggest house out of the materials provided in 3 minutes wins. Oh and they're being analyzed while they do it. After the activity, compare the houses to other groups and the analyzers give their findings. An example... in my community welfare class I was given the following analysis "Melissa doesn't talk very much compared to the other people in her team. In the final minute the other two people were panicking while she stayed calm and came up with a plan to share. My conclusion is that Melissa is a quiet person who stays calm under pressure, speaks in social situations when it's important and just gets the job done."

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

Some websites with group activities

 

 

 

http://www.funandgames.org/

 

http://www.youthwork.com/activitiessites.html

 

http://www.youthwork-practice.com/

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

I also recommend going to the library and loaning out youth work and games books. Also going to your local TAFE and speaking to a youth work, community welfare teacher or class. You could ask to spend the day with a class learning these types of activities before they go on to become youth group leaders and such.

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

You could also google "ice breaker" games - there's thousands of them.

 

 

 

Goal setting games and things you should be teaching your camp here's two examples, it doesn't take long to google others:

 

 

 

http://www.experiential-learning-games. ... games.html\

 

 

 

http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthT ... 368&np=287

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

There's a heads up and a few tips. If you've been granted this role you should be able to do some of this yourself. You should be prepared! As you said, there's only a few days to go and you should have finished your preparation well before today! After all, wasn't goal setting something you're supposed to be teaching?

 

 

 

Best wishes

[dragoonson]

^Based on that,a capture the flag which requires you to travel in at least pairs?If you want a story,I could come up with one for you...I'm just that bored...

[Make7upu101]

IGoddessI, thanks for the tips. The third website you gave has exactly what I was looking for. I had a little trouble earlier searching for devotion ideas that were separated from games and activities.

 

 

 

dragoonson, thanks for the offer but I'm a decent storyteller (once I get a vague idea).

 

 

 

In response to being unprepared, I have had light training in stuff like this. I had to miss a few days of the official training because of a family problem. The training I did receive seemed to deal mainly with safety issues and logistics. In Australia I guess camp counselor has more of a therapeutic meaning as opposed to in the USA, we seem to be glorified babysitters. I do think I already have some good ideas, I'm just posting this because I'm nervous. I thought posting a topic like this on a forum would be a good resource since I'm getting back the opinions of real people on what they like and remember about camp.

 

 

 

The camp I'm working for is a YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) camp and has that slight spiritual twist without being overbearing. What my parents liked about this camp was that the Jewish population was usually around 50% and they felt that the spirituality wasn't over the top (they caught me singing "Jesus in a box" at a different camp when I was younger). I think the main reason I'm nervous is because I have so many to do. Thanks again everybody for the help.

[Lenin64]

Teach them to march. Group coordination and all that. Also, if you have sort of an enclosed area, kind of small, you can set up a web of ropes and tell them that each person has to go through a hole in the web at least once, and that no hole can be gone trhough twice. Teamwork.

[destro3979]

MANHUNT!!!

 

you play it at night and the more people the better, also you need some good woods.

 

everyone hides in the woods and one person is the hunter

 

they usually stay at the campfire or w/e you want. you count for awhile and then go to find everyone. but you can "catch them" if you call there name or something to identify that you know there there (person with red shirt and blue pants). this is so you and just look some random direction and say i see you i win. also the people can move around, run away from you or do w/e to avoid getting caught. it can be so much fun when you get people really involved.

 

 

 

me and a friend one year brought black shoes, shirt, and pants, we covered our faces and hands with coal. we also have had people bring ropes and things and climb up trees.

 

 

 

ohh and make sure you know who's playing

 

there have been times i go back to the campfire and just sit there and he forgets that im still playing

 

 

 

good times.... good times....

[ThruItAll]

MANHUNT!!!

 

 

 

 

Saw this and laik :ohnoes:

 

Spin the Bottle and Dance Around The Campfire. The good stuff.

[baalboy5]

A really fun game that requires teamwork would be 'The Game'

 

The rules are simple.

 

-A square is made ( big enough for every1 to be plus room to run around), No one aloud out of the square. Remember that.

 

- The counsilor and 1 other camper are the people that have to tag the kids with the ball. This how it works.

 

----When the game starts every1 can move except the guy with the ball, the guy with the ball can't move and can only tag others with it by taping them with the ball without throwing the ball.

 

When others are tagged out it gets difficult because they become attackers, which mean those that aren't touched yet are going to be covered with everyone because they can move, and if the ball is thrown near him and a attacker gets it then he/she might tag him out.

 

 

 

Real fun imo.

[Ermy]

Rick roll the entire camp on the first night, that'll be funny, memorable and great way to start the camping. Unless some people don't know what it is....

[Tbfgraphx14]

Have them meet 1-3 people each, and then tell some good random facts about the people they met that day. Such as name, where they are from, favorite sport, etc... When I went to a Christian camp our cabin walked a half mile through dense woods to find a small hidden chappel on our last night, it was pretty neat.

[toast647]

A really fun game that requires teamwork would be 'The Game'

 

 

I just lost.

[Hevendor_Guy]

A really fun game that requires teamwork would be 'The Game'

 

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

[aquariusman]

A really fun game that requires teamwork would be 'The Game'

 

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

[ThurinEthir]

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost. Then I read your sig, and lost again. #-o

 

 

 

There are plenty of games for people to learn about each other, but to be honest, most of them are no fun at all. At first, you can try out some ideas...But later on, you could always ask the campers what they want to do. Within certain boundaries that is.

 

 

 

A good game (Heh...Lost again) could be "I never." Everyone holds up 10 fingers, then you take turns going around in a circle saying things you've never done. If you've done something that someone else has never done, then you put down a finger. Last person with a finger wins.

 

 

 

Or you could play the game (Ahhhhhhh) and keep track of how many times each person loses. :lol:

 

(Capture the flag is AWESOME by the way. There's a small wooded area near my school where my friends and I have played it against other groups of friends. Hiding behind a rock is FTW.)

[re4p3r1]

my club at high school goes to camp at the begining of every year and we play this game called elves, wizards, and giants. its basically a group version of rocks, paper, scissors but we make stupid faces and do things with our hands. elves>wizards>giants>elves

[Star_Fox]

i was once a host for a family camp night. playing games and activities can be fun but making sure everyone can participate is really important. try to be creative. the games ishouldn't be too competitive because people will start complaining :wall: . oh, and make sure the kids really know how to play the game...don't get fusterated if they ask you questions. one more thing, have fun at camp counseling! :thumbsup:

[re4p3r1]

i was once a host for a family camp night. playing games and activities can be fun but making sure everyone can participate is really important.

 

 

 

theres always some kid that hides in the corner afraid to interact, most of the time its me :lol:

[Furah]

A really fun game that requires teamwork would be 'The Game'

 

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

 

 

 

:| I just lost too

 

 

 

(for anyone who doesn't know 'the game' is a game where you must forget about the game and if you remember about the game again you lose #-o )

[nine naked men]

 

I just lost.

 

I just lost.

 

 

 

:| I just lost too

 

 

 

(for anyone who doesn't know 'the game' is a game where you must forget about the game and if you remember about the game again you lose #-o )

 

 

 

Baal you bastard.