Planning Great
Campouts
Kris Hoffman
[email protected]
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Introductions
Qualifications
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Den leader from Pack 556 (Sammamish).
Camping Chair – two years.
Camping committee – two years.
Created my pack’s camping program from scratch.
Figured it out on my own.
Went from nothing to a 60 person event in three years.
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What are you looking for?
• What do you expect to get out of this class?
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What will be covered
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Steps to plan your campout.
List of requirements.
Explore the four core elements in more detail.
Planning role play (time permitting).
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Why to take your Cub Scouts
camping
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75% of Scouting is Outing.
Kids love to camp – love to get outdoors.
Creates pack unity and identity.
Prepares scouts for Boy Scouts.
Helps with “Scouting’s Journey to Excellence”
Outdoor activities: The pack has activities in the outdoors.
Bronze: Have three outdoor activities during the year.
Silver: Have four outdoor activities during the year.
Gold: Have five outdoor activities during the year.
• Personal Satisfaction.
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Planning
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Need an organizer
• Someone to get the ball rolling
and keep it rolling.
• Campouts don’t happen on their own.
• Give yourself a title (you deserve it).
– “Pack camping committee chair”
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Camping chairmen required skills
None, really
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Should understand how to plan something.
Helps to be organized.
Really helps to be detail oriented and meticulous.
Basic camping skill a plus.
A little imagination and creativity.
Most of all
A willingness to Do Your Best.
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Your hired … now what?
• First things first, take it Easy.
• And remember …
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Golden rule of Scouting
Do only what you can with what you have.
– Volunteers are usually the limiting resource.
– Don’t worry about not doing something.
– It’s all a sliding scale.
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If you plan it they will come
• What ever you do, someone will come.
• They will have fun.
• It will be a success.
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Start Slow
• There will be lots of learning your first year.
• Expect that you will be inefficient.
• Start small and plan on growing.
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Start Small
My first year had:
5 families
15 people
2 minimally planned activities
Very poor quality campfire program
Second year
12 families
45 people
5 planned activities (2 earned belt loops)
30 minute campfire program by just me
Third year – run by someone else
18 families
60 people
5 planned activities (2 earned belt loops)
2 self directed activities
60 minute campfire program that included everyone
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Plan ahead
• Good campouts don’t happen overnight.
• Start as early as possible.
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Takes time to round up volunteers.
Some campsite book out months in advance.
Families need to be given advance notice.
Planning and arrange everything can take weeks/months.
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Setting up planning group
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Single person doing all of the work.
– Full Control; Lots of work; No diversity
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Small group of people sharing the load.
– More influence then control; Everyone shares work; Some diversity
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Full committee that meets regularly.
– Delegate work; Many hands make light work; Lots of diversity
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Job Assignments
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Single person
– Duh, you do it all
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2-3 People
– Administrative (and Logistics)
– Food
– Entertainment (and Activities)
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Full committee
– Campfire
– Activities
– Logistics
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Pick a weekend
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Late Spring
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Before school gets out.
Families still in town.
Weather should be good.
Competes with sports (Little league jamboree) .
Summer
– Families out on summer vacation.
– Camping overload (personal camping, Day camp, Resident camp).
– Good weather.
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Late Summer
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Around the start of school.
Families done with vacations.
Good weather.
Lots of advance notice.
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Types of campouts
Focus on Car camping.
Three basic camping plans:
1) Pack families going camping at same campground.
2) Pack camping trip with some schedules activities.
3) Pack campout with a scheduled day full of activities. (mini day
camp)
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Model after a BSA camp
• Go to camp to get ideas.
– Day camp
– Resident camp
– Scout camp
• Learn from the experts.
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Location - General
• Lots of Options
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Personal camping: Backyards, family farm, church grounds.
State camp site*: Hans Jenson, Dash Point, Deception Pass.
Federal sites: Middle Fork, Tinkham, Denny Creek.
City/County sites*: Tolt-MacDonald, Camp Long, KOA.
BSA sites*: Brinkley.
• Needs to be BSA approved
*Already preapproved.
• MORE LATER
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Reservations
• Each family reserves their own site.
• Pack reserves a block of sites.
• Pack reserves a group site.
Really depends on the effort you want to put in.
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Paying for the campout
• Several options.
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Everyone pays their own way: Pay as you play.
Pack charges a fixed cost for all.
Pack subsidizes the campout, attendees pay the balance.
Pack pays the whole bill.
• Need pack committee approval to use pack funds.
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Food - General
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Expect to plan something as everyone has to eat.
Be aware of different diets.
Beware of allergies.
Remember the 13th point of the scout law.
A scout is hungry!
• Put out snacks right away.
• MORE LATER
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Campout Theme
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Consider having a theme.
Makes the weekend more enjoyable.
Helps focus the planning.
Lets people know its being planned.
• Publish the theme early.
• Incorporate it into your fliers, email, signup sheets
and handouts.
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Split attendees into subgroups
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Breaks down cliques.
Gives sub-group identity.
Allows for friendly rivalries.
Makes work assignments easier.
• Incorporate them into the theme.
– Name them after Tribes, Nations, Colors or Species
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Create a Schedule
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Create a schedule for the day.
Include meals, activities, and free time.
Publish the schedule early and post during event.
Stick to the schedule.
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Advertise, Advertise, Advertise
• Announce to the kids.
– Get them excited.
• Announce to the parents.
– Give them details.
• Send emails.
• Put it on the pack calendar.
• Have signup sheet.
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Requirements
• Two deep leadership – ALWAYS.
• Need someone Baloo trained.
• Camp site needs to be BSA approved.
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Questions so far?
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Lets focus on the details
Lets go deeper into these important topics.
1) Location
2) Food
3) Entertainment
4) Campfire
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Different grades of effort
• I’ll break all of the topics down base on effort level.
• Low Effort.
– The basics.
– You don’t have time/interest in arranging this topic.
• Medium Effort.
– More work.
– More reward.
• High Effort.
– If you have plenty of time or volunteers.
– Gets you the most out of the trip.
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Intermix effort levels
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Pick your effort level per topic.
OK to intermix Low, Medium and High efforts.
It’s your campout do what you want.
Focus your efforts on what you think is important.
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Location
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Location – Low Effort
Personal camping location.
• You pick location.
• You pick weekend.
• No reservation needed.
• No money involved; No reimbursement needed.
Things to think about:
• Finding one may be hard.
• Facilities depend on host.
• Need to get BSA approved; Liability.
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Location – Medium Effort
Everyone reserves their own site.
• You pick location.
• You pick weekend.
• Everyone reserves their own site.
• Everyone pays for their own site.
Things to think about:
• Sites may not be together.
• More work for each family = lower attendance.
• Less camaraderie .
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Location – High Effort
Group Site Reservation.
• You pick location.
• You pick weekend.
• You reserve group site.
• You get reimbursed by pack / families.
Things to think about:
• Group facilities.
• Pack unity.
• Easier to do group activities.
• Facilitates community meals.
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Food
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Food – Low Effort
Everyone brings their own.
• Each family brings their own food.
• Each family cooks their own food.
• Families eat on their own or together in a group.
Things to think about:
• No cost for the pack.
• Promotes family unity.
• Lessens communal feel.
• Consider sharing food (like a pot luck).
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Food – Medium Effort
Pack provides some community food.
• Pack buys and cooks some food (main dishes?).
• Families to provide the rest in a potluck style.
Things to think about:
• Someone plans out just one part of the menu.
• Need to coordinate potluck food.
• Costs the pack some money.
• Someone in kitchen most of the day.
• Promotes pack unity/camaraderie.
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Food – High Effort
Pack provides all of the meals/food.
• Pack buys and prepares all food.
Things to think about:
• Someone needs to plan out full menu.
• Someone needs to do all the shopping.
• Costs the pack money.
• Someone in kitchen most/all the day.
• Promotes pack unity/camaraderie.
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Entertainment
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Entertainment – Low Effort
• No scheduled entertainment!
• Take the kids to a local park or beach.
• Just let the kids play.
• No advancement.
• No belt loops.
• Kids likely to be bored.
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Entertainment – Medium Effort
• One or two scheduled and directed activities.
• Hike - bingo hikes add more interest.
– Find ways to include advancement like (web) Forester, (bear)
Family Outdoor Activities, (wolf) Outdoor Adventures.
• Group Games
– Make sure you do one that earns a belt loop.
– Find more obscure belt loops: Kick ball, Ultimate, Badminton.
• Learning sessions
– First aid, knot tying.
• Story telling
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Entertainment – High Effort
• Create a fully scheduled day of events.
• Couple of directed activities.
• Include self-guided activities.
– Provide the supplies and instructions.
– Crafts projects: catapults, snaps, masks
– Belt loops: photography
• Find topics that run through all ranks
• Display what achievements can be earned for each
rank.
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Campfire
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Campfire – Low Effort
Friendship fire
• Advance planning
– Announce it early in the day.
– Allow kids time to be prepare something.
• Running program
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Someone is simple MC.
Allow kids to go up when ever they want.
Politely stop skits that are NOT scout appropriate.
Watch clock: don’t let individual skits go too long.
Watch clock: don’t let program go too long.
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Campfire – Medium Effort
Scheduled friendship fire
• Advance planning
– Announce well in advance.
– Have people sign up on sheet during day.
• Running program
– MC is prepared with a couple of well practiced items.
• Focus on Song and Stories (boys tend to do skits).
– Arrange program to “follow the fire.”
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Campfire – High Effort
Fully scheduled campfire program.
• Need a dedicated group of people to pull this off.
• Completely run by staff.
• Create a plan that “follows the fire.”
• Practice individual items.
• Use costumes.
• Do full rehearsal.
• Make sure you have the 4 S’s:
– Songs, Skits, Stories and Showmanship
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Questions
1) This deck is available at: seattlebsa.org/resources.
2) Contact me here: [email protected].
3) Did you get your attendance stickers?
4) Don’t forget to complete the class evaluation.
5) FEEDBACK IS A GIFT!
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