Girls Camp Tips and Tricks

I've helped plan five girls camps in a row at this point and I have learned a lot of lessons along the way. Some of those lessons were learned the hard way. The first girls camp I planned was full of disasters and miscalculations. Let me share with you some guiding principles and helpful tips and tricks that I wish someone would have shared with me when I was first called to young women.

1. Bored Children Misbehave

I got my degree in elementary education and this is where I first heard the phrase, "Bored children misbehave." Turns out it holds true for teenagers too. One of my biggest tips for a successful girls camp is making sure the girls don't get bored because that's when fighting, mischief, homesickness and complaining happen. If the girls stay busy, they won't have time for any of that nonsense. This doesn't mean you can't have any downtime... we all need breathers. What it means is that you should plan a full schedule of activities with lots of time fillers and just-in-case activities so that your girls are never left with nothing to do for long stretches of time.

What are the other girls doing when one group is helping prepare dinner? What if you get back early from your hike? How will you fill your time if it rains? Bring the supplies for a few easy activities or have a few games ready to go just in case.

2. Table Crafts

A table craft is something simple you can leave out on the table for girls to work on whenever they need something to do. I have come to have a deep love for table crafts and here's why: 

• They are a great icebreaker for girls who may not usually talk to each other.
• They help ease social anxiety. When a shy girl doesn't know how to jump in to participate with the other girls, she can just sit down and start making something.
• Keeping your hands busy helps calm your mind.
• It's a great opportunity for leaders to connect with individual girls. When a girl sits down to work on a table craft, sit down next to her and chat.

3. Camp Cook

The first year we went to camp, the leaders and girls cooked all the meals. Oh man. It was so hard! We would get back from a long, draining activity and then have to start dinner. There was some miscommunication about gear and what to use to cook certain things, which ingredients were for which meal and lots of other issues caused by too many cooks in the kitchen. We had a lot of so-so meals and spent so much time cooking and cleaning up.

To add insult to injury, one night we came back from activities so tired and worn out, only to smell freshly popped kettle corn coming from the ward in a neighboring site, whose camp cook had stayed at camp to make dessert for the girls while they were gone. 

Right then and there we decided that we would call a camp cook the next year. And it was a total game changer. The next year, we had one person whose only job at camp was to be in charge of food. The girls still had chore assignments to help cook and clean up, but there was a clear leader with a plan. She stayed behind