With 53 days to fill with activity each summer, it's time to start thinking
about some great things to do in your specialty area or with your cabin. Your
ideas are a huge part of what makes each summer a unique and exciting
experience for campers.
Rainy days are a perfect opportunity to put some of your ideas in place, there
are plenty of indoor (and outdoor) places to enjoy spending some fun time with
campers.
Try to "think outside the box," when planning some of your
activities, suprise events and activities that take place outside of the
regular scheduled periods are incredibly popular with campers.
Ideas for Counsellors top
Imagine 53 straight days of rain and cold, or imagine Camp White Pine without
activities. As a counsellor, you should come to camp prepared with many ideas
of how to productively spend time with your campers when you have no activities
scheduled, or when weather prohibits you from participating in activities.Implementing a theme or project idea, and rainy day or free time program ideas,
will help your cabin group have a bonding experience during which they are not
dependent on activity areas.
A GOOD PLAN FOR A CABIN THEME SHOULD INCLUDE: (1) The length of time a cabin will be involved and the frequency of
involvement.
(2) Specialty areas to be involved.
(3) A list of books that will spark interest in the theme.
(4) A list of supplies needed.
(5) Campers should provide most of the ideas with help from their counsellors. Some examples of cabin activities:
A Theme for Younger Children: Holidays
Halloween: Create and distribute a 'trick or treat' poem, make costumes and masks, carve
pumpkins, trick or treat, have a party!Chanukah: Make latkes, dreidels, cover coins with foil, have a party!Christmas: Decorate a 'theme' tree, make and send cards to friends, have a section
postman, create a Santa Claus parade with other sections invited to make floats.Thanksgiving: Live like pilgrims for a day or two, go to Pioneer Museum in Haliburton, make
soap and/or candles, carve spoons, make home-made toys (e.g. corn husk or apple
dolls, potato puppets, wallets, games in woodwork or A&C, costumes, etc.),
have a square dance or hay ride, cook Thanksgiving meal, create a 'Town
Council' and discuss issues relevant to Pioneer Days.Holidays are a theme that an entire section can take part in over an extended
period of time, each cabin taking a different holiday and culminating the theme
by campers going from event to event. A Theme for Older Sections: A Newly Discovered Race in Space
In the course of space travel, we have encountered a race of people who have
three arms and one leg. They have asked for our help in creating clothing,
homes, utensils, tools, industry, songs, a written language code, children's
and adult literature, movies, plays, holidays, advertising, magazines,
transportation, cities, governments, an education system, community services,
recipes given the foods they grow, any condition to create the same challenge -
e.g. change the amount of gravity. Such a theme could generate sufficient
activities and discussions to keep a cabin or section busy all summer!
To submit your ideas, you can fill out the form below, or use the Counsellor's
Ideas sheetin our spring mailing and return it to the office by mail. You must
submit your ideas by May 15th. We look forward to hearing your ideas!
IDEAS SHEET
Ideas for Specialists top |
