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Delivering CAMP CLUB Standards - For Managers

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Overview

In this document, teams can access guidance to support running amazing CAMP Club experiences.

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Additional Tools & Guidance

  • Link to activity Run-of-Show archives and videos
  • Link to Training Tools
  • Link to Operation Guides

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Planning & Safety

Planning

Delivering an amazing CAMP Club experience through thorough and thoughtful planning:

  • In the appendix of this document is a planning checklist that teams can print and use to plan each CAMP Club activity

Safety

When leading children in art and craft activities, tools and techniques should be managed very closely, especially when using tools that are not recommended for CAMPer use:

Counselors Only

The following items are never recommended for CAMPers, and always require hands-on counselor action:

  • Hot Glue Guns
  • Wood Clippers
  • Box Cutters/ Craft Knives

Any crafts that require these tools will list them directly, and remind teams that they are counselor-only tools.  If the tool is not listed specifically, counselors can and should use alternative tools to get the job done!

  • Instead of hot glue, try glue dots, school glue, or tape
  • Instead of box cutters, try starting with a hole punch and then using child-safe scissors
  • Wood clippers don’t really have an easy alternative - adult counselors should always precut wood pieces for their CAMPers
Safe for CAMP, with adaptation

Some items are okay for older CAMPers (7+) but not ideal for our younger kids without very close supervision:

  • e.g., Pencil Compass, Glitter, Small Beads, etc.

To adapt activities for younger CAMPers:

  • Instead of glitter, gems, or sequins, consider stickers, markers, or colorful tape
  • Instead of having to closely monitor your young CAMPers using a pencil compass or stringing small beads, consider making these activities part of the prep-work and simplifying the experience for our small guests so that all they have to do is focus on decorative elements.

We recommend that counselors partner with their supervisors to review the Run of Show and determine the safest ways to facilitate the class with a range of ages and skill levels.

Adapting the Run of Show

Ways to Adapt

Aside from safety adaptations outlined above, teams can also make other adjustments to the Run of Show in order to create an experience that is unique for CAMPers. 
Activities can be adapted by:

  • Considering the age range of attendees
  • Considering the time of year
  • Considering the location of CAMP

Adapting for Age Range

We know that kids in the 3-6 year range enjoy things like:

  • Pretending/ Make-Believe/ Imaginary Play
  • Counting Games
  • Drawing/ Coloring
  • Building
  • Singing/ Dancing

For this age range, counselors should find ways to incorporate these interests into the activity:

  • Incorporate imaginative storytelling (e.g.. “What is your dragon’s favorite food?”)
  • Start a counting game during any repetitive crafting
  • Encourage CAMPers to sing while crafting and make time for dance breaks throughout the crafting experience

Older kids ages 7+ also like those things, but are now interested in:

  • Learning about the ways the world works
  • Nature/ Science
  • Team activities as well as independent time

For this older age range, counselors should find ways to incorporate learning into the activity:

  • Research the top 3 fun facts about a topic related to the activity (e.g. jellyfish, trains, or jewelry) to share with older kids
  • Challenge them to think creatively about the activity and engage in some pretend-play
  • Group them together to make friends and share

Adapting for different times of year

The time of year can also help transform the space and activities into something fresh and new for CAMPers:

  • Decorate! Transform the craft cabin into a winter wonderland or a summer beach cabana

  • Provide access to seasonal colors some text
    • Winter is often represented by snowy white, deep reds, greens, blues, silver and gold
    • Spring colors are a rainbow of pastels
    • Summer colors are bright and cheerful
    • Autumn colors are warm and cozy

  • Add or replace decorative craft elements with seasonal shapes (e.g. snowflakes or beach balls or spring eggs)

  • Add seasonal ceramics or toys to the assortment

  • CAMPers visiting during the winter gift-giving months may be especially drawn to activities with a giftable craft.

  • All year round, holidays create endless opportunities to celebrate and learn together! Build a calendar of inclusive holidays that may be celebrated by guests from around the world and find ways to customize projects based on these times of year! Find books or stories online to help bring these special days to life. Avoid sharing details that are overtly religious.

Adapting for your Brand

While these are tailored for the different brands, each of the adaptations would be great at any location to enrich and enhance CAMP experiences:

  • Marriott Hotels - Enriching, creative, and modern experiencessome text
    • Add storytelling elements to the projects - invite CAMPers to bring their art to life with creative prompts!

  • Delta - Simply funsome text
    • Lean into all the messiest supplies that CAMPers may not be able to use at home
    • Encourage silliness - have a silly monster puppet contest (everyone wins!)
  • Westin - Wellnesssome text
    • Find a mellow playlist of soft lofi or classical tunes 
    • Incorporate movement (and stillness!)

  • Autograph - Individual, unique moments just for me!some text
    • Help each CAMPer create their own artist signature to add to each piece
    • Inspire them to add elements to their work that helps celebrate their uniqueness
    • Invite CAMPers to share their own stories

  • Tribute - Community, colorful, and shared momentssome text
    • Inspire CAMPers to work together on a piece of art
    • Encourage CAMPers to create projects to commemorate their special visit

Hosting an Amazing Experience

Great Hosts

Each activity ROS contains the details that teams need in order to prepare to run a good activity.

The difference between running a good activity and hosting an amazing experience lies in the counselors’ abilities to enrich and improvise.

  • This operation guide is full of ways to enrich the experience - we recommend that counselors partner with their supervisors to brainstorm ways to build out the experience, adapting for ages, abilities, locations, and seasonality.

  • A truly excellent host also enriches experiences by remaining nimble and observant - activities might need to be adapted because:some text
    • They are going too quickly or too slowly
    • They are not capturing the attention of all CAMPers
    • They are not resulting in great quality take-home crafts (there are no mistakes in crafting, but we want CAMPers to have something that survives the trip back in their suitcase

Well-planned activities will have contingency ideas to help mitigate any of these obstacles.

Improvising

When working with children, a wise counselor is thoroughly planful and practiced.  The Activity ROS documents include all of the detail needed to plan the class, and in the appendix of this operation guide are two documents to help prepare further:

  1. As mentioned previously, CAMP has provided a planning checklist to align the team.
  2. CAMP has also provided recommended verbiage for key parts of the experience to help Managers and Head Counselors train and practice delivering an amazing experience.

But a great Counselor also keeps some ideas in their back pocket to fill any extra time they have with the group.

CAMP has a list of game ideas that can be found in the appendix of this operation guide.

APPENDIX

  • CAMP Activity Readiness Checklist   - 
  • Activity Setup Recommended Language -
  • CAMP Icebreakers and Group Games   - 

CAMP Activity Readiness Checklist

How to use:

Consider making blank copies of this checklist to use for planning every activity.  Keep this checklist in an accessible location to help your team stay aligned to deliver the best CAMP Club experience!

ACTIVITY NAME:

ACTIVITY DATE/ TIME:

Roles and Responsibilities

Manager Name:

The manager has overall accountability for leading the CAMP Club program.

  • Properly staffs each activity
  • Manages all parent communication and inbound calls
  • Maintains supply levels for all activities
  • Reviews activity Run Of Show in advance
  • Completes (or delegates) activity prep work in advance
  • Walks Head Counselor through activity details in advance
  • Helps Head Counselor plan for safety and age modifications
  • Periodically observes activities and provides feedback to the team
  • (optional) Periodically joins activity team as Lead or Support and helps execute

Success looks like: a well-prepared team and happy CAMPers

Head Counselor (HC) Name:

This Head Counselor has overall accountability for leading this activity and ensuring an amazing experience.

  • Arrives at least 30 minutes prior to activity start time
  • Ensures that all activity supplies are set up beautifully
  • Hosts an Activity Team Huddle prior to start time to discuss activity flow with the team and assign specific roles
  • Serves as the main day-of point of contact for parents
  • Primary time-manager/activity-captain/entertainer, making clear, fun, helpful announcements throughout activity
  • Oversees organization of CAMPers’ belongings, recap of each CAMPer’s experience to their grown-ups, and offering warm and welcoming goodbyes
  • Delegates and assists with thorough clean-up, ensuring the space is ready for the next activity
  • Documents notes and feedback to the Manager

Success looks like: an engaging, educational, and seamless activity with happy CAMPers

Support Counselor (SC) Name(s):

These Support Counselors are responsible for helping to create an amazing experience.

  • Keeps the space tidy, safe, and clean throughout activity
  • Offers an extra eye for safety
  • Observes and helps to manage and wrangle children
  • Is prepared with activity variations and extra ideas to keep all CAMPers engaged
  • Assists in timekeeping
  • Supports quick resets between activities

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Success looks like: a supported HC and happy CAMPers

Welcome

“Hi friends! Welcome to CAMP Club! My name is Counselor [NAME] and I’ll be leading our activity today. We also have Counselor [NAME] and Counselor [NAME] here to support. Everyone say hi!” 

Activity Intro

“Alright, now before we dive into our craft activity, does anyone know what we will be making today?” [PAUSE]

 “That’s right! Today, we will be making [NAME OF ACTIVITY]! And here’s what it could look like.” [SHOW COMPLETED DEMO]

“Who’s ready to get creative and have some fun?! [PAUSE] I SAID, WHO’S READY TO HAVE SOME FUN?! [PAUSE] That’s better. Let’s dive in!”

Group Game Intro

“Amazing work, everyone!  Now that we have made [NAME OF ACTIVITY}, let’s play a little game.”  {EXPLAIN GAME SETUP AND RULES}

“Any questions?” {PAUSE AND ANSWER QUESTIONS}

“Great - let’s play!”

Goodbyes

“Well, friends, we had so much fun making [NAME OF ACTIVITY] with all of you.  Did you have fun today?!” [PAUSE]

“We think what you created with us today is pretty wonderful and you should be so proud! - we are excited for you to show it off to your grown-ups who are arriving to pick you up soon!”

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“Remember, we have [OTHER SCHEDULED ACTIVITIES/EVENTS] scheduled this week and we hope to see you there!  Until we see you again, have so much fun during your stay!”

Ice Breakers & Group Games

“Ice Breakers” are games designed to “break the ice” or relieve inhibitions between people meeting for the first time. Taking the time to get to know new friends and Counselors will help create connections and set the tone for a fun experience. These are games to be played before diving into any craft. 

Nice To Meet Ya:

  • We use Nice To Meet Ya at the start of each activity - the CAMPer introduces themselves and shares one fact about themselves.  This Icebreaker can be adapted to include ANY topic.

Scavenger Hunt:

  • Instruct all CAMPers and Counselors to sit in a circle
  • Quickly review names 
  • Let CAMPers know we have a fun craft planned for today but in order to figure out what it is, they’ll have to go on a scavenger hunt around the CAMP Club to find clues and they will work as a team to figure out what they will be making
  • For example, hide the following materials around the room with a gold star sticker attached, so kids know they’ve found a clue:some text
    • 1 paper towel roll
    • A cup of googly eyes
    • A sheet of aluminum foil
    • Space-themed stickers
    • A pipe cleaner alien
  • Once CAMPers find all of the clues, instruct the group to come back to the circle
  • Add all clues to the center of the circle and have kids try to guess what they’ll be making….that’s right! Let’s BLAST OFF and Build a Homemade Spacecraft!

GROUP GAMES

Choose a group game to facilitate at the end of each craft activity experience. The chosen group game should tie into the theme of the craft in some way. 

Pictionary:

  • Instruct all CAMPers to find a seat at the crafting table
  • Hand out a piece of paper and a writing utensil to each CAMPer
  • Let CAMPers know that you’ll read some riddles and if they think they know the answer, all they have to do is draw a picture of what you are describing
  • Some rhyming riddles, for example:some text
    • I am known as a king, The jungle’s where I reign, It is hard to tame me, And I have a large mane (Lion)
    • Some people are scared of this creature, Because it can have a big bite, So be careful out in the ocean, One of its kind is a Great White (Shark)
    • Some types slither on the ground, And some can live up in the trees, Rattles, vipers and cobras. What kind of animals are these? (Snake)
    • If you see one when you’re camping, It might give you a big fright, They can be black, brown or grizzly, And pandas are black and white (Bear)
    • This 5 ton giant lived in the late Cretaceous, And knew how to defend their Space. These herbivores at grass and leaves, And their Name means 3 horned face (Triceratops)
    • It might look like a white sheet. Covered over someone. But beware of this spooky thing. It might be best to run! (Ghost)

Draw, But Don’t Look:

  • Instruct all CAMPers to find a seat at the crafting table
  • Hand out a piece of paper and a writing utensil to each CAMPer
  • Let CAMPers know that you will tell everyone what to draw, but there’s only one rule - they have to draw with their eyes closed! 
  • Counselors can have CAMPers draw anything related to the craft activity. For example:some text
    • A rainbow
    • A train
    • A race car
    • A spaceship 
    • An instrument of their choice 
    • A bird
    • A monster
    • A unicorn
    • A tree
    • An octopus
    • A dragon
    • {ADD MORE IDEAS}

What’s In the Box?

  • Instruct all CAMPers and Counselors to sit in a circle
  • Let CAMPers know that you’ll read some riddles that correspond to the item or picture hiding inside each box. To make it extra tricky, use various sized boxes!
  • For example:some text
    • I am bigger than you!I have a long nose. I weigh over two tons. I never forget. (Elephant)
    • I am the Biggest Primate on earth today. A super sticky glue is named after me! You share 98% of our DNA with me. (Gorilla)
    • Some will say I have an ear, but not like an ear like yours. Some say I am a vegetable, some say I am a candy I can be popped! (Corn)

Name That Tune:

  • Instruct all CAMPers and Counselors to sit in a circle
  • Let CAMPers know you’ll be playing a short clip of a song and they’ll have to work together to figure out what it is. Once they guess it correctly, continue playing the song for ~30 seconds and encourage kids to dance along.
  • For example:some text
    • How Far I’ll Go from Moana - play 0:00 to 0:12, then hit pausesome text
      • Once guessed, instruct CAMPers to make waves with their arms/ dance along from 0:48 to 1:12
    • Into the Unknown from Frozen 2 - play 0:00 to 0:08, then hit pausesome text
      • Once guessed, instruct CAMPers to stand up and make magic ice castles together/ sing and dance along from 2:08 to 2:34
    • Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid - play 0:00 to 0:12some text
      • Once guessed, instruct CAMPers to show their best mermaid moves/ dance along from 2:25 to 3:00

Charades:

  • Instruct all CAMPers and Counselors to sit in a circle
  • Let CAMPers know you have a bowl full of fun things that correlate to the craft activity they just did. Our CAMPer volunteers will get to choose 1 action from the bowl and without using any sounds, they’ll have to Act It Out until the group can guess what it is. For example:some text
    • Cracking An Egg
    • Making a Pizza 
    • Eating an Apple
    • Putting on a Necklace
    • A Train Conductor 
    • A Race Car Driver
    • Blasting Off Into Space
    • Stargazing 
    • Playing an Instrument 
    • Making a Sandcastle 
    • A Puppet Show
    • Making Slime

Freeze Dance:

  • TKTK

Pass the Plush Around:

  • Instruct all CAMPers and Counselors to sit in a circle
  • Let CAMPers know we’ll pass the plush around and when the song ends, the CAMPer holding the plush is out. The last one standing wins!
  • The song goes like this:some text
    • Pass the plush around
    • Pass the plush around
    • Keep going until the singing stops
    • Pass the plush around…FREEZE!

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