Sometimes at a camp fire you get campers and staff that want to play in the fire. This can get very dangerous nothing is done. A good solution that I have found to fix this is to assign someone at the fire as a fire marshal for the night. This position means that out of the staff and the campers the fire marshal is the only one that can put wood on the fire. It is a very easy line to see and follow, so if a camper starts to play with the fire ask them if they are the fire marshal and when they say “no”, ask them why they are playing with the fire. Mix up the people that are the fire marshals so that different staff get a chance.

Instead of having the campers race from point A to point B with normal canoe paddles, give them brooms instead and see what happens.

This is not a recipe but it is a great idea. If you want to offer the campers ice cream cones and making them as the campers want them is to slow, then this is an idea that will save time. Get some of that puck board, that 1/8 inchish plastic board. Cut the board so that it will fit on those food/try carts. Take a drill and drill holes that are just big enough to fit the bottom half of the cones in. Make sure the holes are far enough apart that the cones do not touch. Then when it is time for ice cream the kitchen staff can take a 2 inch cookie sheet, rest this on top and make the cones ahead of time (the cookie sheet is to provide air space under the puck board for the cones to rest in). When the tray is full lift it off the cookie sheet and slide it onto the cart. After all the cones are done put the cart in the freezer and give the campers at the appropriate time

A good way of making teams that does not show any favoritism and surprises the campers is to get every camper to take their left (or right) shoe off. After that get them to throw it into the middle or off to the side (Note: all to the same place). Make a pile of all the shoes and then just start throwing them into smaller piles making the teams. After all the shoes are thrown, tell the campers to go to their shoes and that is their team.

One thing that I have found very useful at camp is the usage of a headlamp. I had a Petzl Zoom and loved it. You could focus the light for your current situation. If you were going through the woods you could have it tightly focused for a long shot of light and if you were building a fire for that night you could have a wide focus so that a lot was lit up close. I would not recommend getting a solely LED headlamp, they are great for doing things up close but LED’s do not throw their light very far or are as intense. I am looking into upgrading to the Petzl Myo 3. This is a headlamp that has both the focusable halogen and the LED’s. It is like the best of both worlds. Once I get it I will give an update on how I like it.