When I was in parish ministry one of the things I most enjoyed was planning and leading the summer children’s camp. I doubt I have the energy to do that anymore, but it was a lot of fun. There are two things to keep in mind about planning a weeklong children’s camp: (1) you have to plan for 24 hours a day, and, (2) you need to plan for those rainy days when you’ll need to keep the kids indoors (and you can count on at least one rainy day!).
Attached is a rainy-day-programming-emergency-sanity-saving-backup-resource: “Icebreakers & Indoor Games for Rainy Daysâ€. This was part of the Children’s Camp curriculum I created and was a resource that came in handy many times. While most of the games and icebreakers are for children I’ve had success using many of these with adults and teenagers at retreats and workshops. With compliments from Educational Consultants.
You can download the file here (.pdf, 20 pages): galindo-indoor-games.pdf
I hope you get to go to camp this summer! Volunteer!
Boy, those games sure brought back memories! A daycare provider recently told me that they tried the Big Shirt game last summer and an entire group of kids came down with head lice! That goes to show you… it’s always something!
Heh, yes, the underbelly of day care and children’s camp—injuries! I saw some hairy things during children’s camps: stomach cramps and projectile vomitting from some kid drinking water from the pond, kids skewered on fishhooks, burns from campfires, broken arms, sunburns, twisted ankles, bruises, cuts and scrapes, hammered, cut, and punctured fingers during crafts, it goes on. Word to the wise: be sure to get parents to sign those liability waivers!!