Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Program (Child/Tween) - Ready, Set, Go Camping

For the summer, I created a camping program based on the requirements for Girl Scout Try-It's/Badges Outdoor Adventurer, Camp Together, and Ready, Set, Go Camping. I will write down the way I had the program scheduled, and what actually happened, because with 30 kids I ran out of time. This program was for 6-11 year olds.
Program Put Simply:

Scheduled:
1. Learn:
~ What to take camping
~ How to pitch a tent
~ How to tie knots
~ How to make a fire ring
~ What "leave no trace" camping is
2. Play:
~ Kim's Game
~ Camping Bingo
~ Sleeping Bag Roll-Up
~ Human Knot Game
~ Rainmaker/Human Storm
~ Dress for the Weather Relay (Have large sizes of different outfits for different types of weather)
3. Make:
~ Binoculars
~ Kaper Chart
Actual:
I opened the program by asking the kids if they knew what certain camping items I had in a kit were. Immediately afterwards I explained to them what Kim's Game was and played this by removing the camping items we had just gone over from the table. Next, we did the same with a flannelboard kit. We played Camping Bingo, then showed the kids how to pitch a tent. I had as many helpers come up as I had pieces, and instructed them what to do to assemble the tent, then picked different helpers to take the tent back down. I divided the kids into two teams and we had a sleeping bag roll-up relay. Then, we tried The Human Knot game, followed by a pretend color hike. We are not allowed to take children outside the library for our programs, so I just went through the rainbow and asked the kids to tell me what they would find that color in nature. We ended by making binoculars out of toilet paper tubes.
The sleeping bag roll-up relay took much longer than I expected and I had to cut about half of the activities I had planned. If I were to do a program like this again, I would do it for three weeks during the summer (45-60 minutes each with a group of 30) and divide the program like this:
Day 1:
1. Go over camping kit
2. Play Kim's Game
3. Play Camping Bingo
4. Pitch tent
5. Sleeping Bag Roll-Up Relay
Day 2:
1. Teach how to tie knots (Make sure you know how to do this before the program!)
2. Play the Human Knot Game
3. Pretend Color Hike (Even better if you can do a real one!)
4. Learn how to identify animal tracks (Have pictures)
5. Make Binoculars
Day 3:
1. Rainmaker/Human Storm
2. Dress for the Weather Relay
3. Discuss how to make/care for a [safe] "Fire Ring"
4. Make Kaper Chart
5. Learn about "Leave No Trace" camping
6. Share camping stories!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Copyright http://www.ysprincess.blogspot.com/ 2009-2012.



Disclaimer: The views expressed in the blog are the sole views of the writer (me), and do not reflect the views and/or policies of PBCLS or any other organization.

OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets