Musts for Resident camp fun!

[TapTap5678]

Hi everyone,
This year I am beginning a small overnight program within our current day camp with hopes of having a resident camp in the future. The program will be Monday-Friday with overnights Tues-Wed-Thursday for girls entering grades 4-7. I have been doing a lot of planning, but was hoping some experienced res camp counselors and staff could offer advice on some of the must haves and must dos for resident camp fun. I would especially love info on campfire games and rituals, unit bonding, along with organizational tips. So much is riding on how this short program goes! Thank you in advance for any advice!

[Smudge]

Are they gonna be camping in tents?

Cos in my experience - everything related to puttineg up tents and cooking a meal etc seem to take twice as long as you would expect them too. Also it can be helpful to have time to practice putting up tents, bear bagging (if necessary), learning how to go the bathroom in the trees (if necessar) and lighting fires etc before you do the actual over night! If the overnight is gonna include a cook out keep to simple foods like foil dinners and banana boats etc - using supplies that can be eaten raw if there are problems with the fire.

[TapTap5678]

Thanks! We are sleeping in tent-a-lows (platform tents) that are already set up, we have recycling toilets and latrines. We are cooking out some meals, but I am used to that (as are most of the girls) because every unit in the day camp cooks out for their lunches on Wednesday.

[ARam_Kelp]

Opening and closing campfires are fun.Our camp does it so that counselors do skits on the opening night and campers perform on closing campfire. Also having all camps right after dinner can be fairly useful as it seems to cut down on homesickness. We also have milk and cookies (or some other snack) before bed. That time is usually used for unit bonding or for younger girls storytime before bed. It's also a way to have girls assembled already so getting them through toothbrushing and other pre bed time rituals faster.

[TapTap5678]

Thank you for the tips! Are there any special traditions units may have right before going to bed? I've heard about things like rose and thorn while gathered around the campfire, but never having been fortunate enough to attend res camp I'm not quite sure what it is. Any suggestions on that?

I am getting more and more excited as the days go by for this one week in the summer :)

[ARam_Kelp]

I've never heard of rose and thorn. Rose is the name of a campfire song?
Our camp does a giant friendship circle (holding hands with arms crossed right over left) while they sing taps and sometimes one or two other songs, then when kids are dismissed everyone uncrosses arms without letting go of hands so everyone is facing the outside of the circle.
Any skit in which a counselor gets wet is generally popular.
Sad songs are left for opening night. Songs at either campfire you want to start out up beat then get mellow, otherwise kids stay hyped up.

Also wishboats are an old camp tradition. Ours are made out of old kick boards, but they can done them with votive candles on styrofoam plates. Kids are each given a llit wish boat which they carry to a body of water. We have a lake, but on rainy days we have been know to use a couple of plastic wading pools filled with water. Either way it has a cool effect. The kids are told that the fire fairies are taking their wishes, or if the candle goes out or sinks that the air or water fairies are taking it. Have them move into the friendship circle or campfire area after placing their boats. While they are doing this have counselors mark out a pathway to keep things orderly and have them sing slow songs. It can also be helpful to have a person or two with a lighter by the body of water in case a candle goes out before the girl gets there.
It's fairly easy to gather boats with a canoe if your on a lake, it's even easier in a wading pool. Be careful of hot wax.

[TapTap5678]

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I really need to learn some more slow songs I think ;)

[Smudge]

We did something smillar with basic paper boats when I was in brownies.

We always have cool chat at the end of the day - which is a kind of daily debrief, circle time type thing which gives the kids a chance to get things off their chests without worrying about people/campers being offended. Sometimes in cool chat we would oranges and onions (which is prob the same as rose and thorn!) other times we would have specific things we wanted to ask them!

Then at night when we go round for lights out we do - Hug, Handshake, High five, ET touch or Lama Kiss (you make a lama shape out of your hand!) - thus letting the kids decide what they are comfortable with!

[Melk]

What type of training are the staff who are working this camp getting? I think there is a large difference between group dynamics when girls are sharing a living space. Also you might want to looking into procedures about bed wetting and homesickness.

[ARam_Kelp]

We did something smillar with basic paper boats when I was in brownies.

We always have cool chat at the end of the day - which is a kind of daily debrief, circle time type thing which gives the kids a chance to get things off their chests without worrying about people/campers being offended. Sometimes in cool chat we would oranges and onions (which is prob the same as rose and thorn!) other times we would have specific things we wanted to ask them!

Then at night when we go round for lights out we do - Hug, Handshake, High five, ET touch or Lama Kiss (you make a lama shape out of your hand!) - thus letting the kids decide what they are comfortable with!

My camp used to do it with paper boats and they were really pretty but they sank so they weren't as good for the lake.

Also we do the hug hand, handshake, ET touch as well it's really cute.

[annknee]

Rose and thorn is where you get all the cmapers together in a unit and each member shares there Rose for the day - something they really enjoyed, there thorn - something they didnt enjoy and we have a bud as well which is somethingthey are looking forward to.

[TapTap5678]

I know I am behind on replying... my "real job" has taken a lot of my time. In terms of training for the staff I am the main counselor... I attended several resident camp sessions at the ACA Tri-State conference and have worked at camp for 5 summers. Our camp has a weekly 1 day overnight built in so I have a smidgen of experience with girls sleeping over. I am one of the upper level staff at camp and spend most of my summer planning activities, supervising staff, and running around like a crazy person making sure everyone has what they need. This overnight week is the only week I will be a counselor to a unit for this summer. I have lots of experience with children and camp as a teacher and counselor, but am looking for those insider bits that I might not know about. In addition to there regular day camp training anyone else who is staffinbg this unit will be trained by me.

Thank you for the rose and thorn explanation. I will also be sure to research homesickness and the like. If it helps this unit will be who girls entering grade 4 and up.

Here are some more specific questions I have:

How long does it take girls this age to shower?
What about lights out? What time is it at your camps?
How much time is necessary to give girls to wake up before expecting them to get to an activity?
What is ONE thing you would want your staffers to know about resident camp before starting?


Another thing I am nervous about is the fact that this is an overnight program inside of a day camp. I do not want parents to be stopping by every morning to say hello to their girls. I think a big part of the overnight experience is the fact that it is away from parents. The girls become more independent. In a typical resident camp girls are much further away from their homes. In my situation the girls are in their home town or the town over. Any suggestions with how to deal with this?

Anything you can offer is appreciated!

[Smudge]

It depends on the group size and how many showers you have - but we usally block an hour for showers - but usually allow each girl about 20 mins actually in the showers.

We usually aim for lights out at between 9.30 and 10 depending on if there has been an all camp activity - then once we have turned the cabin lights out we allow them 15-30 mins of flashlight time (depending on the age) - this meant that those who had lanterns had to turn them out they were only allowed to use flashlights.

I have found that the younger girls need longer to get ready in the morning than older ones - but what we would do is ask them how long they think they need and give them that on the understanding that if they arent ready then the next morning they would be gotten up earlier - it usually worked out that they were woken between 7 - 7.15 - and then we would leave the unit at about 7.40 for the 10 min walk to the dining hall.

As a new staff at my camp last year the things I needed to know were dining hall procedures, check in and check out procedures and all the paper work we needed to do.

At one of the camps I have worked at we would have a parents meeting ran by the director - it was fairly informal so we would just direct the parents there once they had drops their daughters off - it gave the parents a chance to ask questions and for the CD to pass on any important info - maybe you could do something like that!

[ARam_Kelp]

How long does it take girls this age to shower? We usually try to get our girls to limit the shower to 5 minutes, older girls 6-7grades and girls with longer hair can have ten, but out hot water runs out fast so they typically don't take that long.

What about lights out? What time is it at your camps? Lights out is typically between 10-10:30. they have to be in cabins 30 minutes before this though.

How much time is necessary to give girls to wake up before expecting them to get to an activity? It depends a lot on the group. I would say 30-35 min. is probably safe then if they have time left over you can let them sleep more.

What is ONE thing you would want your staffers to know about resident camp before starting? Go with the flow, camp tends to be unpredictable and many times trying to stick to your plans will just get you stressed out.

[KiwiCRB]

How long does it take girls this age to shower? At that age I usually stop monitoring their showers and let them take as long as they'd like, to a point. That age group is usually amongst the oldest at camp so they're also the last to take showers except for the counselors so it's their own sleep their missing out on.

What about lights out? What time is it at your camps? I think it's usually between 10:00-11:00 for this age group, depending on our activity for the night. Some take a lot longer so those nights it later than nights we just have a swim party. I usually allow about 15-20 minutes of whispering flashlight time unless they abuse it and get it taken away.

How much time is necessary to give girls to wake up before expecting them to get to an activity? The first morning of the session I tell them we're going to wake up early and it's up to them to prove to me that they don't have to wake up that early every day. If they're ready with a lot of time to spare I'll let them sleep in more the rest of the week. I'd say a good average was about 30 minutes.

What is ONE thing you would want your staffers to know about resident camp before starting? Oh geez, I was never very good at this one thing limit, but I'll say don't sweat the small stuff. It's very easy to get stressed over little things that go wrong but that just makes for a negative experience for you and eventually the campers.

[TapTap5678]

Thank you so much for all the suggestions! I am very excited about this program and want it to go well. Does anyone know any particularly good ways of getting a group of girls to bond quickly? Since we are only together for 5 days and only 3 of those nights, I want to do my best to have these girls bond and have a lasting memory of their experience. One thing I have planned is a project to redo the arts and crafts tables or the fence outside the pool. Both have been designed and painted in the past, but are old now and the designs are pealing off. I was thinking something like this would be good because it allows the girls the ability to work together and make a lasting impression on our camp that will be there longer than the week they are a camp unit.

Also should I assign tents or allow girls to choose? I know in other camps girls can make one request to be with a friend in their cabin, but no more than that. There is nothing in the paperwork about tent buddies or being in the same unit because this is the only sleepover unit. In my mind I think it would be good to assign tents, but I also don't want to create a bad experience for a girl because she ends up not sleeping in a tent with her friend. I do have the luxury of one day with the girls before they sleep over so I can see who clicks and who doesn't, BUT I also want the girls to make new friends. HELP!

I hope I don't seem like I am asking for all the answers or like I haven't prepped and planned for this camp. I have been working on this for well over a year, but I know there are many things I couldn't possibly know without having experienced resident camp before. The wealth of counselor knowledge here has already been so helpful!

[Smudge]

In my experience i HATE buddy lists. I think there is alot to be said for assigning tents (what we would do is then make little welcome notes/name cards so they knew which bed they had. The other thing we would do is create kaper groups which deliberately split up the buddy pairings. Sometimes it can be good to have girls sleeping with people other than their best friend cos it means that they have more opportunites to make friends. The difficulty is that if you put buddies together and then have someone in the tent who isnt part of that group it can be really hard for them. You could always assign tents and then if it is clear that it is not working out they could switch.

Service projects are definately a good way to get the girls to bond (but if is something creative if can also be devisive if they end up arguing over what design to use). Anther good way to bond is do team buidling games.

[Smudge]

Don't worry about asking questions - we are here to help and share all the experience and knowledge we have!

[TapTap5678]

I totally love the idea of a name card/note on each of the girl's beds. That is definitely something I could do.

[TapTap5678]

The beauty of both my project ideas is how much space they have so each girls design can be incorporated. There are 6 large tables and a BIG stretch of fence. :)

[ARam_Kelp]

As far as bonding I like challenge activities (human knot, challenge course, anykind of game where they all have to be involved.)

I am a big fan of assigned cabins. It causes girls to branch out, makes it easier for girls who don't have any previous conections to make friends, keeps friends from getting tired of eachother. For cabin buddies you may be able to let parents request one when they drop kids off.

[TapTap5678]

My overnight week starts tomorrow! Any last minute advice?

[TapTap5678]

Just wanted to let everyone now that the week was awesome! This year I get to run it two different weeks :) I did assign sleeping arrangements, tried to keep it by age and temperament and it worked out decently well. We got more bogged down in the cooking than we hoped, but next year a staff member is getting paid extra to stay late and begin our meals for us and someone's morning job will be to lay out our breakfast so that the girls can participate in more activities. We aren't completely getting rid of the cooking aspect (we'll do a lunch and breakfast), but we'll be able to do more crafts and boat more (our site is right on the lake) and we'll actually get to go to the Ropes course. I am definitely looking forward to it.