Adventure Race

On Sunday, Program Directors M&M and I created an "adventure race" activity. Based on every reality show that I have ever watched (which is MANY), it was pretty detailed.

Here's how it worked-

Campers 1 & 2 ran three-legged race style from the boys cabin area to the field. When they arrived a the field, they tagged off to Campers 3&4 who had to collect 9 puzzle pieces (of their team color) that were spread on the field and then complete the puzzle. Once the puzzle was complete, they ran across the field to the mailbox where they tagged off to Campers 5&6 who had to carry a canoe (and paddles and lifejackets) to the boating bay. At the boating bay, they tagged off to campers 7, 8, &9 who had to paddle out, around the lifeguard who was in a kayak and back to the swim beach. 

Once 7, 8 and 9 were paddling, Campers 1-6 had to run back to the welcome center where they retrieved an envelope with another puzzle, which, when put together was a map. The map led them across camp to find a box of matches, a ball of twine and two tent poles. Once they found those objects, they went to the fire circle to meet up with Campers 7-9, at which point, they tied the twine across the tent poles and had to build a fire big enough to burn the twine. The first team to burn their rope was the winner. 

We wrote the activity out and then drew a HUGE map of camp, labeled with each leg of the race and the numbered campers that would be running it. We hung it up in the dining hall so everyone could see it, talk about it, and get all the details worked out, as well as assign campers to each task. 

M & M were a little nervous. For the most part this summer, they've used programming that PDS and I wrote over the past 5 years. They haven't yet written their own programming and seen it come to life. It is scary to write programming- sometimes activities look great on paper and then are lame when you actually do them with kids. I've definitely had some failed attempts over the years. 

But the race was a HUGE success. The kids were really into it and running between stations, it was rewarding to see all of them engaged and excited. It was really fun to see M&M's faces because they were SO excited to see it work. It was camp magic in action!