Why use themes at summer camp?  Themes add interest and can make each week unique for campers and staff.  Weekly themes are especially useful at camps in which campers attend for more than one week.  They add variety so that campers don’t feel like each week is just a repeat of the previous week’s program.

Themes can add elements of fun and education that will be remembered by campers.  They’ll be eager to return to see what new camp activities will happen with different themes.  They will learn and experience new things because of new themes.

Summer camp themes can be integrated into standard camp programs in different ways.  Day camps can offer an afternoon program activity, and overnight camps can offer an evening program that is built around the theme.  Some camp themes enable camp staff to integrate other theme-based fun into meal times, chapels, electives, contests, etc.

Here is an example:  One of our favorite weeks of day camp is “Crazy Week.”  Within the Crazy Week theme we have daily themes such as “Crazy Olympics Day,” “Mix-Up Day,” and “Backwards Day.”  On Backwards Day, we might run our schedule backwards, have everyone walk backwards on the way to a couple of camp activities, have a backwards race, jump into the pool backwards and do the back stroke, and have chairs turned around backwards in the chapel or dining hall.   We might also have everyone wear their shirts and hats backward that day and give everyone name tags with their names spelled backward.  It’s really crazy to call each other by our backward names!  In chapel, we might tell the story of the time the sun went backwards.

By having your camp staff brainstorm ideas for camp activities that fit each of your weekly themes, you’ll come up with more ideas than you can possibly use for each of your weekly themes.  This will give your staff a sense of ownership of the program, which will get them to support and join in to each summer camp weekly theme.