How to Be the Star Coordinator of a Camp

So you are stuck with the job of creating an event or retreat targeted for pre-teens and teenagers? Don't know where to go for tips and ideas and the camp is approaching just around the corner? The pressure is on! Finding activities for teen-ages to do as a group that involves interaction with others to gain team, leadership, and communication skills is always hard to develop. The following activities have been done numerous times and are great for these types of events. The participants loved them; soon, you will too.

Breaking the Ice-Once all your campers are gathered; it is time for the "get to know each other session." Although, it's a tedious task to remember names and other information about fellow campers, it is very imperative to do so in order to develop common grounds. Thus, this article is dedicated to ice breakers and acquaintances activities. After all, icebreakers can and should be fun and relaxed. That's exactly how your students would feel when you present them with the following tasks:

Lining up: Have students line up according to several criteria. What I would recommend is to have campers line up five times. The first is alphabetically by first names. For the second time have them line up according to their hometowns; allocate half of the students the permission to communicate, the other half cannot speak during this exercise. Lastly, have campers line up by birth date, but this time no one is allowed to speak. This is a good opening exercise that let campers move around, maybe even mingle a bit!

Scavenger Hunt: Make up a worksheet with various "favorites." Some common "favorites" include: favorite music, movie, food, vacation, color, sports team, car, book, etc. Give students a few minutes to complete the worksheet individually. Then, allow campers approximately 15 minutes to go around the room to find others with the same interests. This is a great opportunity for campers to mingle, greet and start up a conversation.

I Have Never: Now, break up the big group into smaller groups. Sit in a small circle, as it allows for a more intimate, personal feel. Each person gets a 10 playing cards, Popsicle sticks, pieces of candy, or whatever object the coordinator desires, as long as there are enough that 10 can be given to each camper. The object of this exercise is to go around in a circle and each person thinks of an activity that one has personally never done before. If anyone from the group has partaken in this specific activity, he or she puts a card in the middle pile. This continues around the circle until one person runs out of cards. For example, if player one says that he or she has never traveled out of the country before, anyone within the group who indeed had been abroad must put down a card.

3's Company: Write a word on a card. This word must come in a pair of threes. For example, the coordinator might want to use Larry, Moe and Curly, or red, white, and blue. You pass out one card to each person, and allow him or her to find the other cards that may be part of his or her triplet. The goal is to have them walk around and interact to find their match. Then, the three can sit together for snack time and or the next activity.

In My Shoes: Make a Bingo Board and instead of numbers place tasks in the boxes. The tasks can be "find someone who is wearing brown shoes," "find someone who can play an instrument," "find someone who can recite the alphabet backwards," etc. The goal is to have campers navigate the room and find someone who can fit the description, then, see who can get bingo first.

Clothespin Tag: Hand out three clothespins to each student and have him or her clip them on his or her back. Then, have the students collect pins from each other's back and pin them on the front of their clothes. Designate a question to each to each color pin. Red pins could be about the most embarrassing moment. Blue pins could be about the most unforgettable vacation. Yellow pins could be about future aspirations and career goals. Get into small groups and have students discuss their questions.

On a (Paper) Roll: Pass around a roll of toilet paper and tell students they may take as much as they wish, but everyone needs a least a piece of toilet paper. Do not give any more instructions. Then, when everyone is done getting toilet paper, tell students that for every piece of paper, the student would have to relate one fact about him or her. This game becomes really funny when someone mistakenly takes loads of toilet paper and has to resort to general facts like "I have a cousin named Joe."