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so basically, i’m a head counselor this summer and i’m up to planning daily activities (ATT kids and parents: be GRATEFUL to head counselors for all the hard planning work they do!!! 🙂 ), and i really really need some main activities. some of the main activity slots are an hour long and we need to keep the kids involved for that long!! the kids are from going into 1st grade to going into 9th. any ideas?
Waterfights 🙂
I was headcounselor as well, and when we had long time slots, we generally prepared activities with a few steps. for example, we set up 4-5 different centers, each center had another activity/game. the kids would go to each aactivity for 5-7 minutes and then the hc would blow hteir whistle and everybody would move to the next center.
Another activity we prepared was a hunt with something atttached to it. EG we would hide watermelons- ( dress as a baby and p ut in a carriage) and have each bunk find them. once they were found, the bunks needed to create something with the watermelon, based on a theme…
Good luck!
With girls, waterfights are not so poshut, and some of the water will be salty.
Divide campers into groups. Give each the same amount of balloons and scotch tape. See who can build the largest standing tower in a given time.
Two great ideas given by my activity director:
1. Water balloon VOLLEYBALL (self explanatory).
2. Floor Bowling: Put up 9 pins or activity maps and use a basketball and bombs away.
Have fun!
another idea which worked really well was human board games. wed play human tic tac toe, and complicate it by asking question. whichever team answered the question correctly got to place one person on the board… We playe endless rounds as everyone loved it!
How about dividing it into 2 30 min activities with a break for drinks and bathrooms?
Another idea would be to assign this slot to something permanent- eg leaugues. Every day, this hour would be for leagues- each bunk would play a competitive sport/activity before this hour, and then all the winners would play against each other. This could add competitiveneess to camp, as it could be a full summer contest…
paper bag dramatics is another great game. You divide the kids into groups, give each one a bag filled with things like scotch tape, gift wrap tissue paper, streamers, etc. and then a paper on which is written something that they have to act out, making costumes using only what was given to them. The other team(s) have to guess what they are acting out. They are given a certain amount of time (15 minutes, for example) to make their respective costumes.
My favorite activity when I was in camp. Body painting. Basicly, get lots of water based paint, spread thick paper on the floor and pour on the paint and let the kids slide through it. The younger kids can do that all day. Now, whether the parents will appreciate the activity,…. we did this is sleepaway camp so their was plenty of time to wash the paint off the kids and out of the clothes.
A favorite of mine (way back when I was in overnight camp!) was using toilet paper to create dresses. We would use the rolls to make a dress on our counselors or someone and then we would have a contest where all the dresses would be judged and the best dress won!
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