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.