Camp Journals

[prettysocks]

Do you have journals for your campers, and "highly recommend" that they write in their journals every night? So that they don't forget what happened by the time they go home? Or do you just do that in the form of letters sent home? :p

At my camp, a lot of campers either: can't write, so we would sit with them before bed and quickly write down their day as they dictate to us what to write; OR they can't tell us how their day is, so we go by the sticker they were given, and by asking other counselors how their day was, what they did at each program, etc. A lot of these campers also might not remember what's been going on for the past 10 days, or, like I said, wouldn't be able to tell their parents if they can't speak. It also serves as a forever memory of camp for both the parents and camper. :)

What about your camp? :D

[Fleur]

At my old camp we had paper bag journals. Each day we had to draw something (we were an arts camp) related to that day somewhere on the bag. Then for the last day of camp we had to find something small that would remind us of camp that would fit inside of the paper bag. People put in cool looking rocks, a bracelet a friend had made for them, a note from someone, etc.

[Sparkes]

We don't do anything like that. Though our kids have to write home twice a week, so that kinda facilitates a journal writing idea in a way.

[audur]

Fleur, I love the paper bag journal idea!

We don't do journals, or even obligatory letter-writing, but most campers are only at camp for a week anyway.

[Pooka]

Most of our campers don't keep journals; few even write home: like audur, we're almost completely a one-week camp. The CITs are made to keep journals of what they do and observe, but they've been largely unpopular in past years.

I tried to keep a journal last summer: it contains a single pre-camp entry and a bunch of daycamp schedules. I never really had writing time!

Paper bag idea is really cool, Fleur.

[drink the wild air]

I LOVE the paper bag idea too. I'm not going to camp this summer but I would definitely use it if I was!!!

[Melk]

I'm not going to camp this summer but I would definitely use it if I was!!!

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbboooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Who will be my "camp mom" now????

[camper]

our oldest girls almost always make scrapbooks after the summer, and what they love to do is print out blank calendars that just have the dates on them and then write down what happens in the little squares each day and decorate them. that way, if something particularly fun or funny happens, they have it documented so they always remember it. then they put the calendar pages in their scrapbooks after camp. usually, something will happen to fill in each day. if nothing particularly exciting happens, they'll just write down the evening activity.

[who_stole_my_loofa]

our kids dont make journals, but its a good idea!

i however have always used a journal at camp. never ever at home though. for some reason at camp i feel the need to write more. i guess its because at home i get caught up in the hustle and bustle of things but at camp during a free moment i dont have technology to distract me and i can write down what im feeling

[Sparkes]

I keep a journal at camp too. Sometimes things can be overwhelming, and I find it helpful to write my thoughs down. Plus, you know a jornal won't gossip about what you say, but there's a pretty good chance co-counsellors will (a lesson I learned)!

[AshleyJane]

This is a fantastic idea, I always did "good bad good" with my cabin at the end of the day, where they'd tell one good thing, one bad nad another good about the day, so we could keep on top of how they were feeling, but i really like the idea of incorporating a journal into that time. Great Idea!!!

[CAMPFRIEND]

I am going to be doing somthing new this summer called a Faith Journal. IN our cabins we have 24 campers and while one half of the cabin is taking a shower the other half will work on their journal. It's fun little things for the kids to do so that they can remember their time at camp. I think that it's great for campers aged 5-10.

[Buster]

I do a lot of scrapbooking, and I used my papers/stickers to cover a composition book and turn it into a running/exercise log. I have decided to use campy-themed papers/stickers and make each of my campers a camp journal. (I'm a teacher, and I had 7 empty, extra compo books in my classroom, so I'll only have to buy 5 on my own!) I'll have the same 12 girls for 6 weeks. I'm going to attach tabs to the side of some pages so there can be different sections for addresses, yearbook style messages from friends, and ???

I love the paper bag journal idea, too! And, maybe I'll print out a calendar page and stick it in the inside covers for a 'quick reference'