"Total Chaos!" All-Camp

[Marzz]

Has anyone ever participated in this All-Camp? If so, how was it done at your camp? How was it received by campers, staff, parents?

[Marzz]

This All-Camp may be called something else at other camps, so let me expalin how it's done.

One counselor from each unit, plus a few other staff such as specialty, Ad staff, or kitchen are assigned to be the "dirty" counselors. All other staff and campers are "clean." Campers are divided into groups of 8-10 and are assigned to one "dirty" counselor. The "clean" staff are there to maintain ratios and be photographers. There are 6-8 stations of activities to go around to and the object is to be the first group to go to all of the stations. Each group rolls a giant dice to see where to go next, which means you could go to several stations more than once before completing the circuit.

Here are some activities:

1- carmelize your counselor - pour carmel apple sauce over your counselor's head, counselor takes a bite of a hanging apple
2- shake and bake - counsleors get in a garbage bag with flour and roll around on the ground
3- pictionary - counselor sits in a tub of ice water and tries to guess the picture drawn by a camper from her group
4- singing in the rain - counselor runs through the sprinklers and sings a song chosen by her campers
5- decorate your counselor - campers throw paint, feathers, and other "decorations" on their counsleor
6- pudding tug-o-war - campers and staff play tug-o-war against another group and the losing counselor has to roll around in a pool full of pudding
7- hairstyling - campers style the counselor's hair involves A LOT of hairspray

So, now that you know what I am talking about, please tell me if your camp has or has not done this activitiy or something simillar to it. How did it go over? Do the kids like it as much as the staff? Did you receive any calls from parents after the fact? Do you think this is "quality programming?"

ready, set, go!

[campCardinal]

We love this game at our camp! We play almost 4 times a summer.

We also have:
Human Hotdogs: Ketchup, Mustard and Relish all over the counselor.
Human Taco: Salsa and shredded cheese all over the counselor.
Pie in the Face!
Cracker Whistle!

In some games we have a 3 time rule, where after you've hit the station 3 times you can challenge out by singing a song, acting out something silly, etc as a cabin.

[YUrocks!]

We have done things similar to this.

Isntead of stations, once for a theme day we did Extreme Makeover: Counsellor Edition. The kids got to make over their counsellor and they loved it. Men were wearing tutus, staff had spiky glitter hair, etc etc. Kids and parents alike thought it was hilarious and the staff had a great time. The kids planned what their counsellor would look like all week and brought cool things from home (we're a day camp) to complete their counsellor's look.

[happy_camper]

We have all-camps every night, though we've never done this. But it sounds like a TON of fun! One question, when do you do your all-camps? We do ours at night, and if we did this as an all camp, our kids would NEVER sleep - they would be too rowdy from all the excitement.

Examples of our all-camps:
-Night Swims (our camp is TINY so we can all fit in the pool)
-Skit Night
-Campfire (last night)
-Song Night
-Movie Night (with popcorn and drinks)

[campCardinal]

I mean, it gets kids rowdy... but then after everyone showers there is time to calm down. We do our games every evening from about 7:30 to 9:30...

[facade1138]

We do things such as:
All Camp Swim
Ms. Ugly
Counselor Hunt (my personal favorite) :-)
Capture the Flag
Gold Rush
Scavenger Hunts
International Night
Counselors Choice

I think theirs more but I can't remember them all..

[KiwiCRB]

What is Gold Rush? We're always looking for creative new all camp activities.

[facade1138]

Gold Rush - http://www.campresources.co.uk/activities/All-Camp-Programs/51.html
Theirs a link that explains it.
We don't use painted rocks but poker chips.
We essentially cut the camp in half by using paint to paint a stripe on one of their hands. The kinds really get into and enjoy having their counselors chase after them to get the cold. We also have two counselors posted as the bank where you can turn chips in and they get counted then we put them back out , by having counselors hide them in places. Hope that helps...the website probably does a better job of explaining it then me.

O I just thought of another all camp we do. "Camp Name" idol...we just have the kids create or choose a song...cabins, programs or patrols however you want to break it up and then have three counselors "judge". The kids enjoy that as well.

[Melk]

The closest thing we have to this is low down and dirty day. There are different stations to go to such as counsleor painting, a HUGE slip and slide, pudding eating contest, car washing, and mud fights. The point is to get a dirty as possible, it also forces thoes kids who never want to shower to shower... The same day we do this is counslor abuse day when we have a counslor/ egg hunt. If a kid finds you they push you in the lake, if they find an egg the draw a name from a hat and get to put the egg on their hair, and if they find the golden egg they get to pour a goober bucket on a counsleor of their choice.

[facade1138]

oh my gosh...thats insane...sounds like fun though!

[Marzz]

The only problem I have with "Total Chaos" is the wasting of food and resources. It also seems to be more fun for the counselors who get dirty than for the kids. I think if everyone could get dirty without wasting resources and food it would be a GREAT game. :)

[Mouse...]

I see that as being fun but definatly look at what Marzz said. Although I think the girls could have fun too but probably with smaller groups of campers.