A Camping We Will Go. . .

 

"If you ask a Girl Scout or former Girl Scout what she likes/liked best about Girl Scouts, she will almost always answer with one word: camping.  Girl Scouts have gone camping since the very earliest days. Camping allows the girls to grow in independence and self-reliance, to learn to work as a team and learn to make plans and carry them out. They learn to deal with difficulty and overcome it. The most important thing about camping is that it is FUN!"  (from Camping the Girl Scout Way by Sarah Scott in Texas).

GSUSA shares Nine Reasons to Camp, outlines the Types of Camping and answers FAQ. Additional Camping Tips have been compiled by Blaine Norton from the Green Oaks Service Unit in Pinecastle, and by Becky on her Guiding Resource Centreıs Camping Corner page. More resources are provided below:

 

 

Camp Readiness

               ³How do you get a girl or boy excited about the outdoors? How do you compete with the television and remote control? How do you prove to a kid that success comes from persistence, spirit and logic, which the outdoors teaches, and not from pushing buttons? The answer is in the Ten Camping Commandments for Kids.²  (Adapted from Pacific Northwest Camping by Tom Stienstra)

               Camping Readiness and Camping Progression are important policies to review as you prepare your girls for each level of outdoor experiences. These can be reinforced with the Are You Ready For Camping? checklist (GSUSA archives). Begin early to introduce your girls to the Outdoor Skills they will need through a series of Learning and Applying Outdoor Skills activities at your troop meetings (GSUSA archives). Plan fun activities for Bringing the Outdoors In, complete the activities in the 15-page Camping Workbook by Emily Page (scroll down) as you prepare for the camping experience, and learn about the Eight Basic Skills (also see Girl Scout Program Links below).

Teach the girls to be prepared when out in the wilderness by using the Lost in the Woods or Hug-a-Tree (booklet) programs and review Survival Tips.

Troops who are just beginning to include camping activities may wish to send home the AGS Camping Handbook to parents. This short well-written booklet will help parents understand ³the Girl Scout way² and how to best support their daughterıs outdoor adventures with the troop.

Test your girlsı knowledge with a Campfire Fun and Safety Quiz (internet archives) or read the Letter Home from Camp and ask the girls to shout out ³oh no² when they hear something wrong. Leaders can use Beckyıs Camp Skills Evaluation Form to keep track of the progress they make as they develop skills and take on more responsibility. You could also have the girls make a necklace or bracelet, adding a special bead as they learn each one of the eight skills. Throw in a short or long word search, and a word lib just for fun. Download the following coloring pages as your younger Girl Scouts prepare for an outdoors experience: Roasting Marshmallows, Tent Camping, Backpacking , Nature Hike, and Hug-a-Tree coloring book.

               Older girls who have advanced to trip camping or high adventure activities in the outdoors may care to visit my Girls on the Go webpage for more resources on these topics.

 

Make-it to Take-it

               Get the girls involved by making Camp Paraphernalia to take on their campout, such as sit-upons, dunk bags, water bottle holders, a pretzel-can oven, etc. Throw a little science their way and make a mini hat flashlight, sundial wristwatch (pdf) or compass. Challenge the girls to construct a Perfectly Versatile Campsite, using sections of PVC pipe to make things like a food preparation table or dishwashing stand. Once at camp, girls could use the art of lashing several pieces of wood together to build Pioneering Projects.

               You could even make your own insect repellent by mixing the below ingredients in a spray bottle (from Craft Bits)

·         4 ounces of water

·         5 drops of eucalyptus essential oil

·         3 drops of lemongrass essential oil

·        3 drops of citronella essential oil

               Juniors could apply these activities to the Camp Crafting badge developed by GS of Virginia Skyline Council. Contact this council for permission and ordering information.

 

Camp Themes

               Ask your girls to choose a theme for their camping experience and plan your activities accordingly. Learn outdoor skills at a survivor camp, find the science in magic with Harry Potter, or plan a luau (internet archive) at your next campout. A wide variety of camp theme ideas are listed at: Best of Guiding UK, Holderness Rangersı Guiding Resources, and Camp Theme Books I & II by Dana in Canada.  Or, adapt party themes from these sites to meet your campout needs: Boardmanıs Party Ideas and Party 411.

 

Camp Traditions

A Kaper Chart is a management tool that can keep all the girls involved and sharing responsibilities at camp. This technique, which is useful at troop meetings, becomes even more important on a campout where you can give the girls the opportunity to stretch themselves.

We all wear bandanas around the campfire for safety reasons, but thereıs a lot more to this little square of cloth . . . Check Kateıs Bandanas (internet archives) website for 101 ways to use a bandanna, cute poems and bandanna folding techniques.

               Daisy was the nickname of our founder, Juliette Gordon Low. Ask your girls if theyıd like to start this tradition and plan a special naming ceremony.  You could also make up a list of names that fit your camp theme or make silly new ones just for this event. Have each girl choose a Camp Nickname that she likes best or follow Lindaıs advise from Michigan:

All the girls in my troop have nicknames.  We decided to pick them after a couple of the girls had attended resident camp and got nicknames there.  We did it as a group effort and everyone had input into each otherıs names.  It really actually ended up to be a lot of fun as the girls all shared ideas and traits about to each other to help come up with a name.  One of the girls LOVES burned marshmallowsŠ every time we camp she has to have burned marshmallows at campfire. Her camp name is 'Burntmarshmallow'.  Another girl loves the moon & stars and summer rains, so her camp name is 'Moonmist'.  The girls had a good time talking about each otherıs favorite things. It really brought back lots of memories and laughs.  It amazes me how much they really know about each other and their likes and dislikes.

 

Making SWAPS to trade with other Girl Scouts is another fun tradition. Mary offers the history of swaps, swap etiquette, and over 800 swap ideas through her Swapaholic (internet archives) website. Suggest some of her ideas or set out a variety of craft supplies and let the girls get creative! Girls might enjoy making a Swap Sash, Swap Container, Swap Tree, or Swap Box to display and store their treasures. Another fun idea is to make a Swap Necklace like the one designed by Renee Sneakers Glover of Pennsylvania for her camporee on year:

                  Take left over plastic canvas & cut 4 holes x 4 holes (not inches) or 5 holes x 5 holes (different colors are great, but if not just use the white). Take bright lanyard (gimp) long enough for a necklace and thread a pony bead or two, a piece of plastic canvas (lace in one outside hole and then across and out of the other end hole - do not lace in and out of each hole), and a couple of pony beads -- continue this sequence for about 5 - 7 plastic canvas squares.  Knot to make necklace.  Viola!  You have a swap necklace to attach your favorite swaps to. The S.W.A.P.S. that you receive can be pinned or threaded through the holes of the plastic canvas. They looked great with all your S.W.A.P.S. attached. (For nighttime fun, throw in glow-in-the-dark beads, plastic canvas, or gimp.)

 

Creative Cooking

GSUSA offers a checklist to remind the girls of the importance of Eating Right when planning meals for a campout and offers information about Outdoor Cooking (internet archives). GSC of Kentuckiana has developed an outdoor cookbook that you can download from their website called, Going Camping? Look Whatıs Cookinı! (scroll down to #607).

Learn about charcoal chimneys, how to make a variety of fire starters, and recipes using over 8 different outdoor cooking techniques at Hints for Starting Charcoal Fires by Kathy & Bruce Jacobs from Arizona.

From American Chocolate Marshmallows to Ziploc Spoon Fudge, The WAGGGS-L Cyber Cookbook has something for everyone including many interesting variations for our traditional sımores around the campfire!   Check out this list of compiled recipes for fun meeting snacks or camp cooking. Hereıs a few leader-recommended ideas:

 

Check out this recipe thatıs tailor-made for us Florida girls - Peppermint Oranges:

     Roll an orange on the table to loosen the juice, being careful not to squish it so hard that the skin breaks. Cut a small "x" in the side and insert a peppermint stick. Squeeze the orange and suck the juice through the peppermint stick "straw" (you may need to wait 10 minutes for the ³straw² to widen).  It's great! The trick is finding sugar peppermint sticks that have straw-like holes through them. They are a little softer than regular peppermint sticks and hollow out easier (the Cracker Barrel Restaurant gift shop carries them).

 

Brighten up your camping experience by preparing Hot Dog Flambe at your next campout! This idea was shared by Lisa Modelski from Michigan:

     This is a "unique" way to cook a hot dog. You need a hot dog, bun, heavy-duty foil, matches and a rinsed & dried quart-sized paper milk carton. Place the raw hot dog in a bun and wrap in heavy-duty aluminum foil. (If using a 1/2 gallon-sized carton, wrap 2 hot dogs separately.) Place foil-wrapped dog(s) inside the milk carton. Light the milk carton. By the time the carton burns to the ground, the hot dog will be cooked and the bun lightly toasted. Much to the amazement of my camping club friends, this really works!

 

            Or, each girl can make and cook her own Personal Pizza in a reflector oven or on the grill as suggested by Janet:

     Roll out or press refrigerator biscuit into a 4 inch circle (or use English muffin). Use a little flour if dough is sticky. Put in pan or on individual pieces of foil. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of pizza sauce evenly over each biscuit. Sprinkle each with 1 1/2 tablespoons of shredded mozzarella cheese and topping of choice. Bake in a reflector oven until bottom is brown and cheese melts. If cooking on a grill, cook biscuit rounds 8 minutes on one side, turn over. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Cook 12 - 15 minutes longer until edges are brown.

 

Masters of the Campfire

               Beckyıs Campfire Songbook and MacScouter websites offer lots of ideas for putting together a fun campfire program. Include a meaningful ceremony, such as: Ashes of Friendship, Campfire Ashes, Spirit Campfire, the Magic Campfire Legend, or more Campfire Ceremonies. And, of course, it should go without mentioning that we always review Campfire Safety Rules, especially when doing Magic Campfires or carefully preparing a chemistry lesson on How to Color Fire. Also, remind your girls of Smokey the Bearıs motto that Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.

Making Campfire Wish Sticks is another fun activity, as one leader shared:

Have each girl decorate a 12-18² stick with all natural materials (or materials that will burn completely without emitting noxious fumes).  As each girl adds her stick to the fire, she announces a wish -- a wish for her troop, for her community, for the country or the world.  You may decide to have the wishes center around a specific theme, or have the girls say their wish silently to themselves.  Another leader added that her troop uses the inside roll from fax paper for the wish sticks.  These fax rolls also could be filled with drier lint and crayons/old candle wax and used for fire-starters.

 

               The essence of a good campfire begins with the proper selection of logs or the entire program could literally ³go up in smoke². Hereıs a poem to help the girls remember:

 

Old Woodburning Rhyme

 

Beechwood fires are bright and clear

If the logs are kept a year.

Chestnut's only good, they say,

If for long 'tis laid away.

Flames from larch will shoot up high

Dangerously the sparks will fly

But Ash new or Ash old

Is fit for a queen with crown of gold.

 

Birch and fir logs bum too fast

Blaze up bright and do not last.

It is by the Irish said

Hawthom bakes the sweetest bread.

Elm wood bums like churchyard mould,

E ' en the very flames are cold.

But Ash green or Ash brown

Is fit for a queen with golden crown.

 

Poplar gives a bitter smoke,

Fills your eyes and makes you choke.

Apple wood will scent your room

Pear wood smells like flowers in bloom.

Oaken logs. if dry and old.

Keep away the winter's cold.

But Ash wet or Ash dry

A king shall warm his slippers by

 

            Cadette and Senior Girl Scouts who enjoy campfire programs might be interested in the Master of the Campfire IPA developed by GS of Central Maryland Council.

               If you have a pond or stream near your campsite, have the girls construct little boats for a beautiful evening ceremony of Wish Boats I or Wish Boats II (internet archives).

               Do the science activity suggest by Robert Krampf in his Campfire Experiment #427 (message #228) to discover how to get your campfire burning brightly with just one match. You will need to join his yahoo group to access the file.

 

Take a Hike

               Girls are invited to discover more about the world of outdoors by doing activities along the Mailbox Trails available at each of our four program centers. Or, be creative and take the Jigsaw Trail, Humpty Dumpty Hike, or one of the other fun hikes that Colleen has compiled on her website.

               Girls love to hunt for that perfect walking stick in the woods. However, be aware that the ranger may restrict this tradition . . . picking up a branch in a beetle infested area and dropping it later down the path can help spread disease through the forest. Maybe your girls would like to make special walking sticks as Karen and Clellene share:

     Our girls made walking sticks (broom handles or dowels) which they decorated themselves with colored permanent markers. We drilled a hole near the top and put a piece of suede lacing through it for a handle and another one for the beads they earned through participating in a session. There are so many specialty-shaped pony beads that you can often find them to match your activity. For instance, if you do a star-gazing session, use a star shaped pony bead. Or if they do a jewelry activity, they can make their own beads! Just cut the dowel to the appropriate height for the scout. My girls are now 11th grade Senior Scouts and they STILL pack their walking sticks for any encampments or camporees!

     We started with broomsticks and put a rubber stopper at the end of the stick without the hole in it.  Then we used paper-clay (papier-mâché that is used like clay) and made a totem on the top of the broomstick at the hole end.  These had to dry overnight.  We macrame'd a handle by throwing half-hitches over the top and using them to wind string around the handle.  Then we fed large loops of string thru the hole in the handle, securing with a half hitch and then macrame-ing a wrist strap attaching bear bells, beads and generally being creative. The following day, we wood-burned, decoupaged, stickered and generally decorated the stick.  We also painted our totems.  We had ducks, snakes, bears, foxes, owls, etc. That evening we put a coat of varnish on the sticks to dry prior to taking them home the next morning.

 

               Hike one of Floridaıs Historic Trails, part of the Florida National Scenic Trail, Seminole County Trails, or Orange County Trails. Participate in a local volksmarch with the Mid-Florida Milers, or earn the GSUSA-American Volkssport Association Master Program Patch.  Hike 30 miles to become a Preserve Trailblazer at the Tibet-Butler Preserve or join the monthly guided day or night hike through Seminole County Natural Lands.

³Orienteering is a recreational and competitive sport, a kind of hiking/running game, which involves using a detailed map, and a compass, to find one's way through unfamiliar terrain.² The Florida Orienteering Club organizes local events for all age and skill levels. GS 11-17 could earn their Orienteering IPA.

 Girls might also like to learn about letterboxing or geo-caching, then head out on an treasure hunt to find the hidden boxes in our area. Your troop could add a Groundspeak Travel Bug to a box and follow itıs travels online. Older girls can earn their Hi-Tech Hide and Seek IPA. A Geocaching try-it, badge, and IPA was developed by GS of Erie Shores. (If interested, contact this council for permission and ordering information.) Letterboxing and Geocahing patches and pins are also available through Little Awards.

 

Mother Nature

            ³Help girls learn more about protecting the environment by teaching girls the seven principles of Leave No TraceŠ As a Girl Scout volunteer you can help protect the environment by reminding girls that while they are there, they are visitors. And as visitors, they always leave the area the same or better than they found it.² (Previously called ³Minimal Impact Camping²) The ³Leave No Trace principles are guidelines to help us make a difference in preserving our natural outdoor resources for future generations.² Another program called PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) educates ³children about the outdoors and responsible enjoyment of our public lands.²

            Contact Sahuaro GSC in Arizona for permission and ordering information if interested in their Leave No Trace Daisy GS badge, Brownie GS try-it, Junior GS badge and GS 11-17 IPA.

            Smokey the Bear and Woodsy Owl offer ideas on conservation and safety in the forest. See my Making the World a Better Place webpage for more resources along this theme.

            Check the Florida Wildlife Calendar to find out what wildlife are up to this month. Discover who made the tracks around your tent with the help of Beartrackerıs Animal Tracks Den and learn about the forest by asking What Tree Is It? Online eNature Field Guides can help. It may also be wise to review local poisonous plants and venomous snakes with your girls before heading into the woods.

 

Nocturnal Adventures

When the sun heads towards the horizon and stars peep out, the real adventure begins! Explore the darkness with fun Night Games (ages 9-12), Night Maneuvers (ages 12-17), Night Skills & Games, or Games to Play After Dark. Your girls might like to take an adventurous Night Hike or plan Night Hikes and Other Night-time Activities. The Eyes Have It is a fun activity that requires you to secretly plant glow-in-the-dark animal eye patterns along a Catıs Eye Hike. Spark-in-the-Dark is another fun activity that could be linked to a discussion of science & crystals.

 

Girl Scout Program Links

GSUSA Resources for Beginners (internet archives) includes a list of try-its, badges, and handbook references that will help enrich our Brownie and Junior Girl Scout outdoor experiences. Older girls can refer to their book for the following interest project awards: Camping, Backpacking, High Adventure, Orienteering, Outdoor Survival, and Wildlife.

If interested in the below council-own programs to enrich your girlsı outdoor experience, contact the council first for permission and ordering information :

 

Each of the four GS of Citrus Council program centers has their own camp patch, as well as an ecology patch program. And, GSUSA offers a Polar Bear Camping patch. A variety of special camping patches are offered at other councils. Iıve listed a few for you below. Contact the council in advance for permission to use their program and to obtain ordering information: