In our council we have camporees which are a gathering of 3 or more troops together to camp! Generally a camporee is held every two years with all the troops in a Service Unit (some councils call them areas). This post is dedicated to those people that are up for some more challenges in Girl Scouting – planning a camporee!
I have been to a lot of camporees over the years. I hold those that plan camporees in high regard – it’s a lot of work. But as I found out recently – it doesn’t have to be!
Our service unit is in a fairly urban area (our city has over 250,000 residents). Many of our troops do not go camping a lot. The troop leaders aren’t trained with the outdoor skills needed to take the girls camping.
One idea that we are toying with for our next service unit camporee is “troop-centered”. This means that we will have 2 – 3 “events” that all the troops will take part together. The rest of the time, the troops will schedule their own activities. They can get a chance to cook outdoors, hike, do all the other outdoor camping stuff! We could even help troops “hook” up with some more experienced troops to work on some camping skills. This would be a great “laid back” planning camporee!
Of course, if you can’t help yourself, a lot of websites on the Internet with camping themes! Scouting Web has created a camp themes book. You can find it on their website. Summer Camp Program has a list of 100 Camp Theme ideas! Here is another website with a variety of theme ideas. The UK provides a lot of ideas for camp themes also!
The last camporee that I helped plan had a Medieval Theme. It was a lot of fun to plan! All of our activities had a “medieval” theme to them. There was “Ye Olde Boating” along with “Climbing the ‘Castle’ Wall”. Here is a website that has some ideas for a Medieval theme camp.
Another camp my troop attended had a Western Theme. Some of the activities included “roping a calf” (hula hoop & chairs!) and tie dying bandannas.
What was your favorite theme at a camporee?
Yours in Scouting!
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