Boating

[Melk]

So I'm totaly determinded to make our boating program better this summer and I have a few problems that I hope you guys will be able to help me with.
1. most of the kids who take fun boating (fun bugs, fun yacks, and paddle boating) get bored and jump out of their boats and end up breaking them or just sitting and doing nothing for the skill period
2. Sometimes we have a lot of canoers and dont have enough time to do stuff. Or the staff teaching the class just dont know what to do.
3. Row boating is the most boringest class we have. The kids dont want to do it but they have to cause usually its the only type of boat they are allowed to go in. But the class just sits in their boats for the whole skill periods.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can fix these problems. Games or little tricks to make these activities fun?

[clarabelle1985]

you could try do games using the boats tig, or canoe soocer or making an obstacle course up in the water it gets them moving a bit. hope this helps
Claire

[Pooka]

Gluh. Problem three's tricky, isn't it? White swimmers (the least skilled ones who're only allowed in rowboats) tend to be the youngest and thus get bored easily. We sing a lot while boating-- stuff like the 'We Are Boat Number...' song, or sometimes loudness competitions with other boats like 'Oh Alaya' or 'Little Red Wagon.' Games like I Spy can also work.

With canoes and kayaks, we've done races to collect the most rubber ducks in the lake, and we'll sometimes race around buoys. It requires some setting up, but placing bags around the lake with items to collect inside can be a fun sort of race.

I'm eager to see what others come up with. We're always running out of things to do during boating.

[Melk]

oh oh I have an idea!!!!
a game of memory! black bags are anchored around the lake with and object in it and you need to find the matches

[Flukie]

My experience lies with canoeing mostly... I ran one of our canoeing units last summer for 10 girls. In addition, I'm a big proponent for breaking the program down into pieces so the girls can get the most of out it. These are some of the things we do:

1) Practice paddling: Stand knee deep in water and have the girls practice paddling. This allow the staff to check their grips and strokes.

2) Canoe Part Jeopardy: Staff gives description or points to part of the canoe and campers race to see who can name it first. Can add the paddle in for additional options.

3) Tippy Tests: Teach girls how to swamp their canoe and paddle to shore in order to empty it as well as canoe-over-canoe rescue in deeper water. Normally, we put one staff in the canoe and one in the water to help the girls haul the canoes up and to push down on the end of the canoe. Some of our canoes are heavy!

4) Canoe Games: We go out on to the smaller pond where there is limited wind and play a bunch of canoe games including tag (using a large, soft, floating ball), chase the balls (we toss out about 15 tennis balls and let the girls practice canoeing out to gather them up - you can specify strokes as a challenge as well), Simon Says (Spin 180 degrees to the left)... Our girls also love practicing swapping places, swapping canoes, standing up - we challenge them to get a feel for the stability of their canoe.

5) Funyak Challenge: Last year, I took them out in the funyaks and let them start by getting a feel for the funyaks. Then we had them tip and figure out the best way to get back in - some did extremely well, and some (including me!) didn't quite get it! :) We also gave them canoe paddles or no paddles and had them try manuevering around to see why a kayak paddle works best.


In addition, you might want to try these canoe games I've copiled:

Blowing in the Wind

Skill Level: Intermediate
Skill Learned: Maneuvering
Equipment: Ping pong balls, canoes, paddles, PFD's

Throw a number of ping pong balls on the water and let them blow around. Each canoe tries to collect as many balls as possible. To make the game more challenging, put different point values on the balls. Each canoe can try to collect as many points as possible.


Crows and Cranes

Skill Level: Basic
Skills Learned: Sideward displacement
Equipment: Canoes, paddles, PFD's

Canoes line up side by side. Half the canoes are "crows" and the other half are "cranes". When the leader calls either "crows" or "cranes", that group displaces their canoes sideways (using draws and prys) to try and catch the other group that are trying to get away from them, also using sideways displacement. The leader can call the other group's name at any time to reverse direction.


Enter/Exit Challenge

Skill Level: Basic
Skills Learned: Entering and exiting from a dock or beach
Equipment: Canoes, paddles, PFD's, an empty margarine tub per canoe.

The tub is filled with water and placed on the center thwart of the canoe. The canoeists are challenged to enter or exit without tipping the tub or spilling any water.

Pass the Ball

Skill Level: All
Skill Learned: Balancing
Equipment: One ball per canoe

Place 3 or 4 canoeists in each canoe. One by one they stand up with their legs spread apart, until everyone is standing. They then try to pass the ball over the head of one person, under the legs of the next, etc. etc., up and down the length of the canoe.

Caution: When having the participants stand up and sit down in the canoe, ensure they do so in the following order: stern person, bow person, middle person. This will help to keep the canoe balanced.


Tug of War

Skill Level: Any
Skills Learned: Team work; back paddling
Equipment: Strong rope per every 2 canoes; canoes, paddles, PFD's

Two canoes face each other (3 or 4 people per canoe). One person holds the rope while the others try to paddle backwards. One side needs to get past a marked point in order to be declared the winner.


I can't help you on rowboats though! That's a tough one...

[Shrek]

Thes are great activites, I love the idea of the memory game in row boats. Can you play other traditional games in a row boat like capture the flag or red light, green light?

I use to play a game in a canoe that we called Stinky Fish, it was basically tag but we had a "fish" (which floated if dropped) that had to be dropped (not thrown) into the other teams canoe to make them the Stinky Fish. When the Staff yelled "Fish out of water" all canoes had to gunnel up (get in a row holding on to each other) on the current Stinky Fish. The last one in the gunnel up became the new Stinky Fish. This rule help to keep everyone somewhat close so you didn't have any of the boats just stay way far away from the action, it was also good when one canoe was haveing a problem always being the Stinky Fish and never able to get rid of it.

[speedx5xracer]

Flukie took most of my ideas... my favourite game to do w. the kids in canoes is a game of flag football. Or a slalom course.

[CAMPFRIEND]

We used to do capture the flag during fun boating. You can also play battleship!

[Melk]

how would you play battle ship?

[CAMPFRIEND]

Have kids out on boats. Each boat is worth a set number of points. We need to have a bunch of water balloons and one of those launchers. You try to his the boats with the water balloons from the beach and that is how you get points. You will also need two teams for the game. If you have any other questions PM me!

What about great escape in boats?

[IceCube]

What we did last year with our rowboats was buy a couple of cheap tubes like you haul around behind a motorboat and tied those to the back of them...then we let one of the kids sit in that while the others pulled them around and let them take turns...it gave them something else to do and incentive to actually work to move the rowboats around a little bit more...if you can get the counselors in the boats as well to help it works better with the little kids since they aren't quite strong enough to go "really fast" in the rowboats.

Other than that we played battleship like someone else said, and also brought out the bilge sponges and pumps to soak the kids without them jumping out of the boats...and we let them practice their tippy tests in the kayaks a little more often than we should have too.

[happy_camper]

Learning to tip canoes and kayaks is always fun!

I highly recommend it for older girls who have been canoeing/kayaking for years. It cools them down during the summer, plus they love it! And if you are a girl scout camp, it's a requirement for the boating badges.

[gabor85_hungary]

I don't know how about the American culture, but here in Hungary smaller/bigger competitions are always very attractive and makes even lazier people do something: ) In the Hungarian culture team contest are more effective then individual ones.

But don't forget about recognition and maybe small presents for the winners are also important.