Drop off and Pick Up

[Shrek]

At my Day Camp we provide a door side service of dropping off your child and picking them up. This 1 1/2 hours in the morning and the afternoon is our most unstructured time of the day and the only time parents really see what is happening at camp. Some of them are a little shocked by what I would consider organized chaos. In the morning the campers get to pick an activity but many just wander int eh pavillion area talking to freinds and the afternoon thier group is assigned a area so we know where to find them when their ride gets there. I guess my question is what do you do for activities durign this drop off and pick up time when you have some of your campers but not all of them?

[Dave]

We provide free busing for all campers and staff. We have a huge fleet of about 42 school buses. I personally think our bus is the best. Our bus driver is great, and I really like the kids on our bus. The bus will pick you up at the nearest corner/intersection from your house. Our bus driver is cool though. If he doesn't have to go out of the way to get to your house, he'll just drop you off right in front of your house. That's what he does with me. I guess that's why I like him so much. The parents apparantly like him too because they tip him (most drivers don't get tipped).

Anyway, once at camp (our bus is always one of the first ones), the kids can go play near where the bunks meet. Ga ga seems to be the most popular activity. Some kids do go play basketball or run-the-bases. There really aren't any set activities for this time before camp starts. The kids know what they can and can't do during this time, so it all works out.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I had a big problem with this my first year of day camp. I know as a director you need to keep the number of staff down due to budget. What we started in the morning the kids would have 3 things that they could choose from like Basketball, A&C and we would have a place were they could talk. We would have a counselor at each area. The big problem is that you end up with like 20 campers to one counselor. As you find out what time your campers all start coming to camp you can bring in more staff to cover.

I miss my 15 hour day camp days!

[Shrek]

I miss my 15 hour day camp days!

You can have mine!

Dave what is Ga-GA, I have heard it befoe but never fully understood the game.

[Dave]

You can have mine!

Dave what is Ga-GA, I have heard it befoe but never fully understood the game.
Here's a thread about it: http://talkcamp.com/showthread.php?t=68

[CAMPFRIEND]

Oh now I have 20 hour days. But it's all worth it to see campers smile and have a great time at camp!

[SWTexan]

Thanks for the idea! I've been trying to figure out what to do during drop off/pick up for two summers now. Now if I can just get the parents to understand that when they drop the kids off at 10 and pick them up at 2:30 they really aren't letting them get the full experience (our camper day is from 7:15 to 6:00).

[CAMPFRIEND]

Thanks for the idea! I've been trying to figure out what to do during drop off/pick up for two summers now. Now if I can just get the parents to understand that when they drop the kids off at 10 and pick them up at 2:30 they really aren't letting them get the full experience (our camper day is from 7:15 to 6:00).

You have a long camp day! What do you do now for drop off and pick up?

[SWTexan]

Right now we do "organized chaos" from 7:15 until 8:30 and then again from about 4 until close. We have a steady stream of kids leaving starting at 2:30 which impacts our programming. By 4, we don't have enough left to really stay in our 3 age divisions, so we try to do things in large group. Since our age range is 6-12, that can sometimes get complicated.

My biggest dissapointment is with drop off. If we can organize that time a little better, I will be able to justify the chaos of pick up time. My consolation at this point is that I don't allow "free time" during the day, so that we can capitalize on what programming time we have.

[CAMPFRIEND]

I am sure that your parents love it as much as mine did. After making changes to the 3 activities it mad a big differentc in hom many campers were getting in trouble as well as fights. I would make sure you also have you best staff at these times. The hard part is I could not be at all my day camp sites in the morning we had 6 different sites and I spent a lot of time driving from one to another. Well I hope that this help. If you have any questions about what I did to change my day camp just let me know. I hate to say it but I am happy I am back in overnight camping!

[SWTexan]

thanks for the help! I always get asked what I think the best thing we could do for the program is, and I always respond that we need to build a facility and make it residential. I know it won't happen, but I can dream, right?

As it is, I'm doing everything I can to infuse some of the uniqueness of residential camping into a day camp setting. It also hurts that since we're just a day camp, we can't always get the highest quality of counselor, especially out of the college age group. My staff has been great, but there is an intangible element to a veteran residential counselor that my staff just hasn't had the opportunity to experience.

[CAMPFRIEND]

Good Luck. I know that is what I did when I went to day camp. I took a lot of the things that I did at overnight camp and changed it to fit day camp.. I hope that someday you can get another building. I know it will help!

[YUrocks!]

I have also been looking for activity ideas for before and after camp care. We have an indoor space for this time period so our activities need to be indoor activities. In an attempt to keep things safe and minimize the chaotic look, the rules are that everyone needs to be sitting down and we don't give the kids access to balls or other throwables.

This time is unstructured in that kids can choose an area/activity they wish to play. Our most popular are legos, cards, bracelet making. We also have board games, drawing/colouring (banner making works well) ...

I'm always looking for other great ideas

[runrachrunn]

YuRocks - we had very good luck with Jenga this summer... Between the game itself, or making towers or other things, it kept the kids really occupied.

[Flukie]

Our big day camp is looking at starting a "book club" during extended care. They had a mini-one last summer that went over really well, so they are looking at expanding it this year. They've found parents LOVE the idea, the kids enjoy it, and you can do so much with it. (Make up biographies for the characters, write an epilogue to the book, draw pictures based on a description, etc.).

[Dave]

Our big day camp is looking at starting a "book club" during extended care. They had a mini-one last summer that went over really well, so they are looking at expanding it this year. They've found parents LOVE the idea, the kids enjoy it, and you can do so much with it. (Make up biographies for the characters, write an epilogue to the book, draw pictures based on a description, etc.).
That sounds like a good idea. If the kids do like it, why not give it a shot? They're having fun while they're learning (they might not even see it as learning), which is always a good thing.

[happy_camper]

I miss my 15 hour day camp days!

We have Day Camp weekly from May 28 -August 3, and only 2 weeks of Resident Camp! I wish we had Resident Camp every week, and not so much day camp! You can have my day camp hours!

[YUrocks!]

Our big day camp is looking at starting a "book club" during extended care. They had a mini-one last summer that went over really well, so they are looking at expanding it this year. They've found parents LOVE the idea, the kids enjoy it, and you can do so much with it. (Make up biographies for the characters, write an epilogue to the book, draw pictures based on a description, etc.).

What a neat idea - I run an educational camp so I'm sure my campers would love this! Could you tell me more about how it worked? Did you tell the kids ahead of time what book they would be reading? Did parents buy the books for the kids or did the camp provide them? Anything else you can tell me about this would be awesome

[love2hike]

We do organized chaos too at drop off and pick up:D Unfortunately parents only know what they see however and they don't see the structure of the actual camp day as they are not there for that.

I am adding a daily activity board to the site this year so that parents can read what we did during the day, as I have discovered that campers sometimes have short memories. There have been instances when parents were under the impression that campers were indoors all day because their camper only talked about the game they were playing when picked up and not the time spent outdoors in a scavenger hunt or making magic potions.

My first year as a camp director we ran structured activities right up to the close of the day. But that was a challenge as far as staffing and grouping. However I might be going back to that again this year as it was more reassuring for parents.