What to do with the children in the camp? Tips for counselors

Today, almost anyone can be a counselor at a children's health camp or at a summer day-stay site at a school. But most often they are still students of pedagogical universities who want to earn extra money on vacation and gain experience. It is for them that this little article is written about what to do with children in the camp. Despite the fact that there are general programs, the guys often remain idle, which is fraught with various incidents. Organizing the free time of their wards is one of the main duties of a counselor.

Summer is not only a time of vacations and vacations, but also a time of active work of counselors and educators of children's camps. And while the children are gaining strength before the new school year, the camp staff spends all their efforts to ensure that the children's rest is as interesting as possible. But, as in any work with people, not everything in the children's camp always goes according to plan.

Suppose you have brought the children to the dining room, and lunch has not been set yet, and the cafeteria workers refuse to let you inside. Or all the children have already gathered and are ready to go to the sea, and the bathing time has not yet come. In this case, your task is to quickly occupy your time with something. What'll we do?

So, let's get started. What to do with the children in the camp?

1. Sport. Play volleyball, badminton or football. Everyone knows these sports games. Those who do not want to take part should be fans or judges.

2. Creation. It all depends on the age and gender of the children. Younger students will be happy to sculpt, draw and make applications. It's more difficult with older children. Girls will only like to weave baubles from beads, and guys can be interested in a complex constructor. That's just where to get it in the camp?

3. Decorate the premises of your squad: draw posters, a wall newspaper, paste a photo of each child, writing something about him.

4. Hide the treasure, and spread out the notes on the territory of the camp. Each of them should indicate the location of the next one, and the last one should talk about where the "treasure" lies. This is a great option for what to do with a child on vacation at the camp!

5. Excursion or hike. Before taking the children in the camp with this interesting kind of leisure, get permission from the educator or the director for this. They need to know when, where and what composition you will be and how soon you will return. You can go to meet the dawn, to the nearest forest or to the shore of a river or sea. There should be several adults with children. Come up with the purpose of the hike - to shoot a video, collect material for crafts, hang bird feeders, etc.

Recommended

Do you know what date Youth Day is in different countries?

In almost all civilized countries, there are various public youth organizations that represent the interests of girls and boys who are actively involved in social life. Of course, the State is the guarantor of their rights. Or, more precisely, the le...

JBL's portable Flip audio system: speakers for the soul!

JBL is one of the leaders in the global speaker market. Speakers from this manufacturer have been for many years delight fans of high-quality sound. The JBL Flip wireless portable speaker is one of the most prominent representatives of its model ran...

How to swaddle children: tips for young mothers

"Swaddle tight, otherwise your legs will be crooked!"; "Swaddle tightly so that you know who is the boss in the house!" - these tips from our grandmothers seem to us, young mothers, remnants of the past. There is also a diametrically opposite point o...

6. Make a video about the camp or your squad. This can be done even on a mobile phone. The main thing is to then mount it on a computer in one video sequence. Or maybe you can make a whole movie by writing a script for it?

7. What distinguishes a summer camp for children from a day playground? Events that take place every evening! Prepare a dance, a scene or a cheerful song for the whole squad!

8. What else to do with the children in the camp? Games! It can be both board games like lotto, chess and checkers, and mobile: relay races, fun starts. Below we will give some examples of such activity:

- Participants stand in a circle. All are assigned a number clockwise: from one to... After that, everyone starts simultaneously clapping their hands twice, twice on their knees, without stopping. The first player calls his number twice when touching his knees, and the number of the other child when clapping his hands. Without losing the general rhythm of the claps, the person whose number was called calls his number and the other participant. The main thing in the game is not to break the rhythm and not to stop.

- Divide the squad into teams of 3-4 people and give a list of tasks. Set the deadline by which they should be done. The team that completes everything first receives a prize or is relieved of some duties. The main thing here is to come up with funny and interesting tasks.

Hide-and-seek, bouncer, "The sea is worried once...", "Broken phone" - all these games are also a great option for what to do with children in the camp! Go ahead!

Prepare for the event

If your squad does not need to dance a mass dance today, then it will obviously need to sing in chorus tomorrow. And the day after tomorrow there will be a competition for the best squad corner, although the clouds that the children were supposed to draw yesterday are still not ready. Anyway, it's time to start developing your general creative skills so that competitors from the sixth squad won't take all the first places for anything.

Talk about student life

What teenager doesn't want to learn about the harsh life in the dorm, away from dad and mom, but with roommates? Or to hear a heartwarming story about the dean's office, which always changes the schedule at the most unexpected moment?

Even if you live with your parents yourself, and people who are exceptionally punctual work in your dean's office, there will certainly be at least a couple of similar stories. Remember yourself at their age. What would you like to know about the university before admission?

Answer questions

Younger children may not be as interested in your stories about the university, but this does not mean that you will have nothing to tell them. Invite them to ask you questions. Why did you decide to become a counselor? What was your favorite subject at school? When will they let us into the dining room? The questions may be different, the main thing is to try to give them the most detailed answer. After that, not only the children will learn something new about you, but you will also look at yourself from a different, childish angle.

Consult with colleagues

This is not only your squad, but also another counselor and educator, so you should solve the problems that have arisen together. If you don't have ideas, they should have them. Brainstorm - maybe you will accidentally make a scientific breakthrough in the field of children's leisure.

Ask children

Involve children in brainstorming as well - don't underestimate them, they may know what they want to do with their time. Maybe they want to do a certain thing or discuss a specific topic. Or maybe they are tired of the abundance of activities and want to rest for a couple of minutes, and you don't even guess about it? After all, while you are deciding what to do with your free time, that time may already have passed.

Find the deepest puddle in the park

Fighting bad weather is useless, so use it. Entertainment for younger students: take rubber boots, a stick, a marker and a ruler. Put the markings on the stick and go to measure the depth of the surrounding puddles. Write down the results in a special notebook. At the same time, each puddle should be sketched.

If you take measurements every day for a week, you will get a ready-made project that will be useful at school. This will help to look at the slush from a different angle and spur interest in research.