How to Get Great Camp Activities Ideas
The best source for summer camp ideas will come from your own summer camp staff members. It is amazing how many unique camp ideas grow out of camp staff members building upon each other’s ideas. New camp activities develop as staff members take old activity ideas and try new things with them. Just give your staff members the opportunity to help develop ideas, and you’ll be amazed with their creativity!
For instance, one week in our day camp program we were having a camp theme called “Holiday Week.” We celebrated a different holiday each day. As the staff members were brainstorming ideas for how we could develop a game for our “New Years Day” at camp, one counselor came up with the idea of labeling large balloons filled with water with the names of different months for a balloon toss game. Another staff member took that idea and combined it with a camp treasure hunt idea. As staff members shared ideas, here is the fun combination hunt/balloon-toss game that they came up with:
Campers were divided into six teams. Balloons were filled with water and labeled with the names of months so that there were six balloons for each month. Then all of the balloons were scattered around certain camp locations. (Note: Water balloons broke too easily, so we had to use regular balloons that were larger and thicker.) They were not hidden in tricky locations, so they were easy to find.
Each team had to travel with at least two counselors as they went on our New Years Balloon Hunt. Whenever a balloon was found, one counselor would bring two campers from the team to a designated location where they would show the balloon to the judges for 100 points. One of the campers had to carry the balloon. A judge marked the name of the month on that team’s chart, and that team was not permitted to bring another balloon of the same month. If the balloon broke on the way to the judges, the team received no points for that month.
The teams could earn 100 extra points if the two campers could toss the balloon from one to the other, and then back to the first tosser, without the balloon breaking. There was a designated place to do this in front of a judge, at a designated distance. (Younger campers did not have to throw it as far as older ones.) If they succeeded in completing the tosses, they were allowed to throw the balloon at the counselor. Of course, that added to the excitement!
The game took about an hour to play, and both campers and staff really enjoyed it. Campers found it challenging to pick up the balloons and carry them to the judges without breaking them. Some of them managed to win bonus points as well. Several people got wet, but that just added to the fun on that hot summer day!
Two important rules were set in the beginning:
- If anyone intentionally broke a balloon to keep another team from finding it, that person’s team would be disqualified.
- If any camper left his/her group to look for balloons, a counselor would take that camper back to sit by the judges.
Why not tell your camp staff about this game and see how they might change it to fit your camp theme?
