hold a character development “tribal council” where kids vote for other campers who have shown the best of their nature (instead of voting each other out, like on the show). Kids vote for their peers who set an example. The goal for the campers is to work as a team and display their best characteristics individually. The goal for a participant is to receive votes at each tribal council. At our camp, we use a voting area and let campers videotape their votes, just like the TV show. The camper with the most votes by the end of the week wins the title of “ultimate character survivor,” and in some cases, receives a free week of camp or other prize. Harry Potter Harry Potter camps are still hugely popular and allow kids the chance to live out their favorite parts of the wizarding world. Campers sit around a camp f ire and discuss all aspects of the stories; they spend rest hours reading and re-reading their favorite parts; and days are spent bringing the books to life, which is what camps do best. “Potions class” becomes a fun science activity of mixing different ingredients or smoothie making. The nature center transforms into caring for magical creatures. Zip lining with a broom becomes flying training. Campers bring robes and wands, and they go on story-related quests each day. They compete house versus house in camp Olympics, a Quidditch World Cup, and challenges all week. Role-modeling staff encourage imagination and teach new skills wrapped within the theme. This experience drives kids to learn more, read more, expand their imagination, and even role play within the world of characters. Percy Jackson The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan is not only an incredibly popular series that has been made into two movies so far, 54 CAMPING magazine • March/April 2014 but it encourages the learning of Greek mythology and makes history fun for kids. It sparks their imagination with a world of demigods, monsters, and heroes. In fact, the story takes place at Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter. This is a perfect tie-in for converting Percy Jackson programming at traditional summer camps. The book has cabins arranged by Greek god names, which is also an easy conversion for camps. “Lava wall climbing” in the book becomes “climbing” at camp. The staff create Percy Jackson t-shirts and add in programming like chariot races and a version of capture the flag similar to the books’ version. Importantly, the story and the adventures teach character, values, and leadership, which are all the traits of campers’ favorite Percy Jackson characters. The most difficult part of transitioning a story or popular theme to camp programming is creating the big game or quests that kids need to participate in to feel they have become part of the story. Treasure hunt challenges that campers undertake with interactive characters played by staff are a good way to do this. For example, in Percy Jackson programs, create a few quest games based on The Lightning Thief where they must find and retrieve the lightning bolt. A quest game based on Son of Neptune could include the tasks of freeing the captured mythological god and defeating the evil giant. Quest games must use details from the stories to give the kids the true experience of the book they love so much. It is within these quest games that we can teach teambuilding and cooperation while enhancing the reading and story experience in nature with talented camp counselors. Star Wars Camps bring the world of Star Wars from the screen, books, and games to a camp experience for campers to live the dream of being a Jedi, doing the right thing, and Addi t ional R e s ou r c e s ACA’s Explore 30 Camp Reading Program: www.ACAcamps.org/explore30 Falling Skies toolkit: www.fallingskies.com/downloads Ranger’s Apprentice toolkit: www.rangersapprentice.com/camps Star Wars toolkit: www.starwars.com/camptoolkit defeating injustice. Camps strive to teach character and good judgment. They show how to communicate with others, work as a team, trust others, and learn acceptance of different cultures and backgrounds. With a Star Wars theme, these goals are achievable in a fun way. Coming to a Star Wars camp and training to be a Jedi while going on quests against the Sith and the Evil Empire brings the story and fantasy to a real setting. Kids wear Jedi cloaks and train like Luke Skywalker (climbing, light saber techniques, and quests to save friends, escape the Death Star, or find Obi Wan Kenobi’s home). Campfire programming becomes “Jedi debriefing” where campers discuss how they worked as a team and what is needed to make them stronger in their teamwork for the next challenge. Nightly quests with light sabers add to the night hike tradition of camp. Closing campfire becomes a Jedi graduation from the week’s adventures and training. Lucasfilm Ltd. has even supplied a camp resource to help camps program their Star Wars camps: www.starwars.com/camptoolkit. Ranger’s Apprentice and Brotherband Chronicles The books by John Flanagan (Ranger’s Apprentice and Brotherband Chronicles) also make for creative camp programming. Campers get the chance to nurture the characteristics of a ranger within themselves and learn skills like archery, horsemanship, camping, wi lderness survival, and tracking. Campers hide in the woods, go on missions, ride horses, learn archery skills, and discuss their favorite characters under the stars and around campfires with counselors. This is a great book series to convert into camp programming, especially camps that have horseback riding — it employs all the skills camp teaches while allowing kids to practice being a member of an elite group that saves the kingdom. John Flanagan and Penguin Young Readers Group Publishing are huge supporters of camps using the Ranger theme. There is a toolkit resource for camps available at www.rangersapprentice.com/camps. Falling Skies Dealing with an alien invasion is possible at camp with the help of Steven Spielberg and the people from TNT’s show Falling
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