Are you planning to start a summer camp program? Here are the ways and means to make your summer camp program more fun and a successful one.
If you are planning to organize a summer camp or if you are the camp’s coordinator, you need to have a good plan of action. The location has to be finalized. You have to plan whether the summer camp is going to be an overnight program or a day time program. If it is an overnight program, then thousands of things have to be taken into consideration. Right from accommodation, to the daily meals, everything has to be taken care of. If you are planning a day time program, then the transportation service has to be hired, volunteers are required, and what not. Moreover, the amount to be collected from participants has to be worked out. Once you settle down with planning such financial and administrative details, it’s time for some real action.
Children look forward to attending summer camps. They want to enjoy, learn new things, and make new friends of course! So, your summer camp planning decides whether the kids are going to enjoy it or not. You would want to put all your creative and fun quotient into making this summer camp, the most memorable ever for the participants, and if you are wondering how to plan a summer camp, this ThrillSpire article will help you make the camp more fun and interesting. A few factors listed below, other than the financial and the venue part, can ensure grand success of the summer camp. Keep reading.
Tips on How to Plan a Summer Camp Program
Summer Camp Themes: When you plan a summer camp, you ought to have a theme. A summer camp theme will brief the participants as to what the camp is going to be like. For example, you can have a swimming summer camp. Here the kids interested in swimming would join your camp. If you are planning a lot of games, you could call it the ‘adventure land’ or something like that. Moreover, an art camp would have a theme like ‘paint the world’, and so on.
Summer Camp Games:If the summer camp is going to be an overnight program, then you have to keep the kids occupied with various activities, other than the main activity (as in the theme). So plan interesting and fun games. You can have a scavenger hunt, sack race, relays, and so on. Games act as one of the best and simple relaxing techniques for kids. They also help kids gel with each other and develop an ability to work in a team.
Allot Free Time:Kids on the summer camp need to be on their own for sometime. Make sure you schedule for some free time for them. This time may be utilized to make new friends, or explore one’s self. You could even encourage them to pen down their thoughts about the summer camp, or maintain a diary about the daily activities. Care should be taken not to forcefully ask them to do certain things; let them be on their own, in case required, a few words of encouragement would do.
Counselors: When you plan a summer camp program, counselors and doctors ought to be there. A kid could feel homesick or may be depressed if he is not doing well at the camp. During such times, a doctor or a counselor can make the kid feel comfortable. Counselors can also play a major role in studying the behavioral patterns of the kids, thus helping the organizers in bringing out the best in a child and improving the quality of the summer camp organized.
A Special Day: Your summer camp program can have a special day. Like you could have a party or something, like an annual day in school. You can also have a cultural day or a talent day, where the children get to exhibit their culture or tradition they belong to, and at the same time, get to know about other cultures too. A talent day would mean every child has to exhibit the talent they possess, like playing the guitar, dancing, singing or painting.
Art Day: How about planning for an art day? Children can be taught origami, pottery, painting and drawing. You could even have the camp decorated in a way that the children want. You can even organize an exhibition to exhibit the various crafts made by kids, or how about having summer camp gratitude wall/ string. Collect all the crafts and drawings, and tape them on the wall or you could hang them on a string, using colorful clips.
Adventure Sports: The most interesting part of a summer camp is adventure sports! Plan for sports like rock climbing, river crossing, snorkeling, paragliding, etc. Now, of course you have to plan all of these under the supervision of experts, and organize for equipment required for these sports. Make sure you do not force a kid to undertake an activity he/she is scared of. However, encouraging words to boost the kid’s morale are always welcome. Even better, provide them with an option of undertaking the task with an adult, this might imbibe confidence in him/her to enjoy these sports.
Science and Nature:You can devote a day or two to science and nature activities. Like conduct certain experiments or go around the camp location finding the scientific names of trees. Make sure you make this activity fun and interesting, so that the kids do not complain about it being a study activity. Wordplay is a good idea; it is both educational and entertaining as well. Moreover, if a fun element is associated with certain things, kids tend to recollect it faster than usual.
Just head on and put all the above things into execution. Make it the most fun and interesting camp ever, so that you have them coming back to you each time you plan for a summer camp in the future!
