CRAFTS .... WIDE GAMES .... SCAVENGER HUNTS .... TEAM GAMES .... CHALLENGES .... PIONEERING .... OUTINGS

Crafts and other quiet pursuits
Crafts are the mainstay of many a camp, and often the best means for the Guider to preserve her sanity. The girls are up and about from dawn until dusk, or even longer, so it makes sense to try to keep them quiet SOME of the time. We have a timetabled "rest hour" after lunch, during which time the girls may read, snooze, do crafts or anything else they choose as long as it is QUIET and they are not charging around. The fact that it also gives the Guiders a break is purely incidental(?)
In a themed camp, crafts can play an important part in setting the scene and developing the theme chosen : see the themes page for some ideas. There are also miscellaneous crafts on some of my other websites, Holderness Rangers Resource Pages and also on Traditions UK.

Whatever crafts you decide to do, for your own peace of mind prepare everything in advance. It is a good idea to make instruction cards for each craft you intend to do - if you can have them laminated so much the better - and list what each craft requires in materials and equipment; you can then use these cards to make lists for purchasing (or otherwise acquiring!) your craft materials etc. before you go to camp.

As a rough guide, whatever crafts you eventually decide on, you will need the following basic supplies :
Scissors - several pairs in different sizes, including left-handed scissors
Pens, pencils, crayons, felt-tip pens of different thicknesses - if you are using last year's pens, check that they haven't dried out since you last used them
Glue of different kinds - latex glue (Copydex) to stick fabric and ordinary STRONG glue (eg. UHU) for paper; impact adhesives (Evostik) may be useful if you need to stick difficult objects/substances. Don't use Superglue unless you also have the special solvent handy!
Sellotape
Paper - white and coloured, different sizes according to what you have/can get
Card ditto
String, wool, thread, elastic in different thicknesses and colours
Needles with eyes big enough to thread - tapestry and darning needles are particularly useful
Pins - straight and safety
Oddments of trimmings - lace, ribbons, sequins, silk flowers, let your imagination run wild, if it looks decorative someone will use it up!
Scraps and larger pieces of fabric - anything you have to hand
Empty boxes, cartons, tubs etc.

More specialised materials such as beads (and fine wire to thread them on,) plastic "canvas," quilling paper, art straws, lolly sticks etc., can also be taken to camp to use for craft work if you have them.

If your girls are not the "100% crafty" type, or simply want a change, puzzles, board games and playing cards are always a good standby for quiet moments, and they can always fill in their odd moments by doing their camp challenges.

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Wide Games
Wide Games are usually special to camp - many units simply do not have the space to play wide games at their weekly meetings. Essentially, a wide game is one which is played out of doors over an extensive area and with a number of players, and which usually (but not always) involves an element of role-play. Everyone joins in - Guiders included - and a lot of imagination is needed in many wide games!

Besides the comprehensive lists of games to be found on The Best of GuidingUK there is an excellent selection of ideas for Wide Games on Lyse Edwards' website too, so I see no point in duplicating them - other games can be found at Scouting Links - all these sites are well worth a visit (but do come back here, please!)

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Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a very useful activity for camp if only for the simple reason that they need no advance preparation and no equipment! Divide the girls into patrols, pairs, threes - whatever grouping you like, it really makes no difference but it is probably more fun with several smaller groups than with a few large groups. The object is for the girls to collect - scavenge - items from a list you have provided and bring them back to you within an alloted time or when they have collected all the items; it is advisable to set a boundary as well as a time-limit or this can get well out of hand! Give points for each item correctly collected and the winning team is (obviously) the one with the highest points.

Items to be scavenged can be things starting with a given letter e.g. G - guide, glasses, girl, grass, etc., or spelling out a given word or phrase - g-u-i-d-e-a-s-s-o-c-i-a-t-i-o-n : grass, underwear, ink, dixie, egg, ankle sock, shoe, spoon, orange, cup, apple, teabag, ice, opener, nail - you get the idea? You can be as strict as you like in enforcing the rules (which you have set yourself!) or allowing ingenuity for difficult letters; we always ban the use of living creatures apart from human ones, and scavenged items always have to be returned to their owner after the game is over.

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Team Games
If you have a decent sized field which you can use, you can play any of the commoner team games : football, cricket and rounders are perhaps the easiest to organise, but make sure everyone is playing by the same rules! You don't need "proper" equipment, just a bat and a ball; Guide sweatshirts make perfectly adequate goalposts or bases for rounders, and if you want to play cricket, you can improvise wickets with gadget wood, boxes, tins etc., or mark a "wicket" on the trunk of a tree. Teams can be of unlimited size - just divide the campers into two teams by whatever method you favour - and it's always a bonus if the Guiders join in too (think of all the calories you'll burn off!) Don't worry too much about accurate score-keeping unless your Guides are VERY competitive - they'll get most of their enjoyment just from playing and won't worry too much about who wins.

Besides the standard team games - cricket, football (i.e. soccer), rounders, volleyball - there are many other old games suitable for playing at camp - checkout here for some you may well remember from your childhood, or go back to BoGUK or Scouting Links again!

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Individual and Patrol Challenges
As part of the planning process for camp, I always produce a series of "challenges" for the girls to carry out while at camp. These are related to the theme of the camp (which makes it easier to think them up in the first place) and vary from five minute tasks to challenges which may take the whole camp to complete, and challenges for individuals as well as patrols.
These challenges are made into a sheet or booklet, one for each girl - click here for a sheet of challenges you can copy and use if you want to.

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Pioneering
This is exactly the sort of activity which you can do best at camp and which the girls absolutely LOVE. Pioneering is the name given to the building of large-scale constructions using only ropes and poles of varying sizes - you can build bridges, swings, platforms, ladders up into trees - only constrained by the equipment available, your imagination and of course your skill in handling ropes and poles and tying knots. Let them "bivvy in the woods" - build a makeshift shelter by fastening a rope between two suitable trees, use a groundsheet as a roof (let them work out how to peg it down at the corners) and sleep under it. Make sure YOUR shelter is secure, even if they are about to learn from their own mistakes!

If you are new to pioneering, consult your Outdoor Activities team - your OA Adviser will probably be able to point you in the direction of someone skilled and experienced in pioneering and who would love to visit your camp for the day and "show you the ropes" (pardon the pun.) Otherwise, and if you can get some strong wooden poles and plenty of good quality rope, brush up on your knots (clove hitch, half-hitch, figure-8 and reef knots as an absolute minimum) consult the Guide Handbook for ideas, and have a go! It will be FUN. Keep to a fairly low level off the ground, so that when they fall off the rope bridge you have strung across a bramble- and nettle-filled ditch they will not be seriously damaged and you will all have had a new Learning Experience.

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Trips and days out
If you are planning a long camp - a week or so - it is often a good idea to get off-site at least once. This provides a welcome break from routine and can offer the chance to do something different. If you go to the local swimming baths you may even get them properly clean!
You can go off on a day's hike into the surrounding countryside (don't forget to take your OS maps) or you may want to plan something a little more ambitious: depending on where you are camping, you may decide to go to a local sports centre, bowling alley, or even the cinema, or you may decide to visit local places of interest (museums, stately homes, zoos etc.) Whatever you decide on, you need to plan transport and food.

If you are going off-site on anything other than a walking trip, transport will need to be booked before you go to camp - if you are arranging for a bus to take you and your equipment to camp in the first place, try asking the bus company about taking you on your day out too, they may well give you favourable terms. Otherwise you will just have to shop around for the best deal. Likewise, you will need to decide whether you are picnicking or "eating out" as this will have to be catered for, whether in the food bought and taken to camp, or the cost of fish and chips, pizza, a meal out etc. Don't forget to include the cost of food, transport and admission charges for your chosen outing when you are working out your initial costs for camp. If you are planning on visiting the swimming baths, don't forget to put "swimming costume and towel" on the girls' kit list!
AND - finally but most importantly, let everyone know when you are going to be off - site : put it on your A/A camp form with times off site, where you are going and how, and when you are expected back - and don't forget to take a first-aid kit and the girls' health forms with you when you go.