by Karla W.
As told from the perspective of an Ember leader (girls ages six to seven years old).
One of the great things about Girl Guides is the opportunity to go camping. It’s like a birthday party times 100.
For those of you who have ever planned a birthday party for your own kids – running a Girl Guide camp is like that, except it runs for an entire weekend. Not just an afternoon or evening.
Just like a birthday party, parents drop their kids off. They help their kids unpack their beds, but then they say their goodbyes and leave. And now you’re staring down a group of kids eager to get started. (Isn’t it great we have this all planned already?)
As a Girl Guide leader team, you have planned a menu (with the girls), bought the food for the weekend, planned the activities (with the girls), and now you’re off.
Picking a theme also helps center the activities. But the most exciting time for the girls is bedtime and sleeping in the bunks with their friends. The first night is the hardest time for them to settle; but they get there eventually.
The next day is typically packed with activities. Most units will plan a hike around the property, as well as a combination of indoor and outdoor activities. At one of our recent camps, we had had a huge dump of very wet snow. The Embers had a blast playing in the snow, making snowmen, and using bottles filled with food colouring to “paint the snow.” At another camp it was fall and there were tons of poplar leaves on the ground, so the girls spent hours playing in piles of leaves.
Indoor activities can include things like learning to make a first aid kit, making friendship bracelets, or making Uranus out of a CD and foam balls. They also get to help with camp chores, which for some girls is a novelty.
By night two, the girls are typically exhausted. An earlier bedtime tonight. We usually plan an early evening campfire – roasting marshmallows and singing some campfire songs.
The next morning is spent packing up and heading outside for a few more activities.
Camps are one of the best remembered events of all year. Like one of our Embers said at spring camp, “This is the best day ever. I want to do this all day, every day, forever!”
