A look at interesting ideas and creativity within the summer camp profession. Beginning by looking at creativity as a skill and ending with unique ideas borrowed and implemented at camps nationwide. This was presented at the 2012 Mid America Camping Conference

1. CREATIVE THINKING IN SUMMER CAMPS
Mid America Camping Conference 2012

2. Creativity
Creativity refers to the phenomenon
whereby a person creates something new (a
product, a solution, a work of art, a novel, a
joke, etc.) that has some kind of value. What
counts as "new" may be in reference to the
individual creator, or to the society or
domain within which the novelty occurs.
What counts as "valuable" is similarly
defined in a variety of ways.

3. Are You Creative?
How would you rate yourself?
How does that relate to your comfort with being creative?
There is never one correct answer, creativity requires many
divergent ideas.
Creativity is decreasing in the US.

4. Creativity
Engineering Majors and Music Majors, they score the same on
creativity tests. It is not about art, it is about creating many
ideas, and evaluating those ideas on the fly.
Luckily it can be taught
Divergent (no correct answer) and Convergent (find the single
best answer) thinking

5. Circle Activity
Take your sheet of paper
You will have 60 seconds
to turn each circle into
something different.

6. CULTURE OF CREATIVITY

7. Culture of Creativity
Campers
Counselors
Supervisors
Administration

8. Time and Space
Schedule must have time to allow for creativity to happen,
and to be implemented
Flexibility must be given to staff to allow for taking
advantage of creativity when it happens
So long as certain criteria are met (i.e. safety, schedule
priorities, etc
Spaces should be designed to encourage hanging out and
creativity

9. Start Small
Songs
Games
Activities
Themes

10. Fotay
Figure out the activity yourself. Give the
kids a pile of game things and tell them it is
for the game “FOTAY” but that you have
forgotten the rules. Have them help them
come up with the rules.

11. Leading
Games
How you train your staff is
important:
•On Stage/Off Stage processing
•Make it Magical
•Get into it

12. Creative
Outlets
Campfires
Talent Shows
Sheriff/Newsguy
Ceremonies

13. Creativity
Path
•From Michael Brandwein “Super
Staff, Super Vision”
•Question #1 What do people
expect?
•Question #2 How can we mess
that up?

14. Creativity
Award
Once a session award
recognizing creative activities,
problem solving, and staffing
solutions.

15. Make it Epic
Face paint/Colors/Team logos
Music/Anthems/Chants/Cheers
Secret Handshakes/Events/Tasks
Characters/Costumes
Story lines

16. Summer
Staff
Planning
Retreat
Annually invite them to your
camp to add their input to the
changes you are considering for
the summer.
•Brain Hurricane
•Story Boarding
•What If?

17. Facebook
Group
Don’t let it just be about staffing
needs. Post links to articles
about the importance of summer
camps, feed back from parents,
and links to new ideas and
activities.

18. Give Your
Facility
Character
Name things!
Show your depth and traditions!

22. Tradition
Takes 3 years

23. GOALS

24. Real World
Concerns
Can you afford it, is there a
place for it, can you staff it, is it
maintainable, etc.

25. Natural
Materials
We try to have activities that are
made with natural stuff rather
than plastic. It is not always
possible but it helps.

26. Group
Activities
Try for stuff that encourages
teamwork or group participation.
Not individual activities.
Minimize waiting, if there are
people in lines they should be
short, and people should have
something to do.

27. Non
Competitive
Non competitive or competitively
inconsequential. Cooperative is
better.

28. Educational
Why not combat summer
learning loss?

29. Unique to
Camp
If you can do it at home, why
come to camp?

30. FACILITIES

31. Game
Facilities
Facilities designed for one game
or another.

32. Human Foosball

33. Water
Balloon
Launchers
Just a couple of posts in the
ground and something to shoot
at.

34. Sling Shot
Ranges
Lots of creativity

36. Mole Ball

37. Ricochet

38. Mountain Golf

39. Giant Checkers

40. Derail

41. Up 9 Square

42. Fort Pawnee
Natural Play Area

47. Ring Game
Easy to pick up and play.

48. Analemmatic
Sundial
Make it Interactive

49. Solar System
Model

50. Slide
Drain pipe, sleds and a hill

51. Places for
Making
Friends
Ideas to bring people together.

52. Big Red Chair

53. Spiders Web
Hanging Out

54. The Pond

55. Gazebo

56. Living Willow Structures

57. Game Benches

58. Sleepy Hollow

59. Tree Climbing

60. Destination
Hikes
A reason to get out and move!

61. The Middle of
Nowhere

62. Seven
Wonders
A hiking guide. 7 destinations
around camp, each
corresponding to a cool place.
The signs have a “secret word”
if you fill out the guide with all
the secret words you get to
write your name in the book.

64. Wolf Den
Another reason to go on a hike

65. THEMES AND HOLIDAYS

66. Adventure
Trails
Low ropes courses with a
storyline

71. Ikatik Yad
A truly backwards day

73. Uhari Day
Color Wars with a twist

76. Big Fun
A theme for everything

80. BEG, BORROW AND STEEL

81. Conferences
Come to the MACC or any other
opportunity to get together with
Camp people.

82. Other Places
•Children’s Museums
•Pumpkin Patches/Orchards
•Theme Parks/Disney
•National/State/City Parks
•Anywhere else you go

83. Use the
Internet
Watch videos, look at pictures,
review games sites, and more!

84. Keep Files
and
Prioritize
You can’t do it all this summer,
and even if you could, you
shouldn’t.

85. That Won’t
Work at My
Camp
But it might if we do this
instead

86. Be Willing to Share

87. Never Sacrifice What is
Important