It’s summertime, and your troop wants to attend a summer camp. Maybe you’re a seasoned Scoutmaster or perhaps you are a first-time leader, but either situation makes you sweat bullets thinking about it.
The preparation isn’t just your responsibility. The burden should be shared across you, your assistants, your parents, and your scouts.
Getting a troop ready for summer camp doesn’t have to be difficult. But with some good planning and preparation, you can have the best summer camp experience for your troop every year.
Pre-Camp items
If your troop is going to do a summer camp, the planning should start months ahead of time. Depending on which camp you are attending, it may need to be planned a year in advance.
Camp Selection – For our troop, the boys select what camp we will attend. Once that is determined, then you need to reach out and see how far in advance you can reserve a spot for your troop.
Planning Meetings – Once you have a camp selected, you can now start scheduling planning meetings. I would recommend not doing these on your standard troop meeting nights so the focus can be on camp. In these meetings, you need to find a dedicated Summer Camp Coordinator. This person is responsible for making reservations, gathering required forms, and coordinating travel.
Required Forms – Make sure you have all forms done well before camp starts. A lot of times we give grace on this in our troop but it will make everyones lives easier to just have them turned in at least a month before camp. Once you have the forms in hand make sure and make copies so you can keep some with the troop and turn in the required forms to the camp you are attending.
Make sure all your scouts have copies of the forms provided by the camp also. Packing list, code of conduct, merit badge list, camp map, and any other useful details.
Swim Tests – Not really required but it makes camp go so much smoother. Try to get your troops swim tests done before you go. At camp there is always a backlog of trying to get swim tests done and makes for such a bummer when people are sitting around doing nothing.
Activity Sign Ups – Check early as to what activities the camp offers and get signed up early to give your scouts the best chance to get in. Several camps offer additional high-adventure or other non-merit badge activities that require a special sign-up. If you wait until a month before camp, more than likely, they will be filled up.
Merit Badge Sign Ups – Make sure and sign your kids up for Merit Badges as soon as they open. Most camps will have a limited number of spots for each merit badge, and being on a wait list will just give you more uncertainty that you can avoid.
Merit Badge Prerequisites – If there are any merit badge prerequisites, the scouts need to try to help the scouts get those done and provide notes that they are completed. Most of the time, these are items such as “watch the news for 5 days in a row” or “visit a national historic site”. Most camps will provide an incomplete and allow them to be done after but the feeling of having it all marked off and ready for summer camp is so satisfying.
Finish Rank – If you have any kids who are really close to a rank, try to get them over the finish line. Some activities at camp require the scouts to be a certain scout rank, and this avoids anyone missing out because of that one requirement that has been lingering.
Equipment Check Meeting – Dedicate a troop meeting to doing an equipment check. This meeting should be two-fold. The first thing is to have all the scouts bring their equipment they plan on bringing to camp. You need to make sure they understand the packing list and they have everything, or if items need to be purchased or borrowed.
The second thing to accomplish is to check your troop gear and make sure it is ready. For most camps, your troop gear isn’t needed as much as for a normal campout. But if you go to a camp that requires you to bring your own tents or other gear, make sure that your troop is covered.
I would recommend doing this meeting a month out. You can set it as the meeting to have all the stuff turned in, like swim tests and medical forms. This gives time to acquire gear if any is missing for a scout or for the troop.
Practice Basic Scout Skills – You may also want to dedicate a meeting just before camp to practicing basic scout skills. Practice common knots, review first aid, and make sure everyone has the oath and law memorized. Some camps will dedicate time to work on this with newer scouts, but almost all camps will have competitions or things that revolve around the basic scouting skills, so it helps give your scouts an edge when they have a bit of practice.
Assign mentors – If you have older scouts that have been to camp before, pair them up with younger scouts to review what going to camp is like and how to make the best of camp. The older scouts can share previous camp experiences and give tips to help the younger scouts who have never attended.
Parent meeting – The parent meeting should focus on explaining everything to any parents that will not get to attend. Encourage questions and layout how the week will go and if their is a dedicate family/visitor night then set details for those that would like to visit their scout in camp.
Emphasize to the parents that the scouts will get homesick, but contact with home will be discouraged. As a scoutmaster, you will have to address homesickness, and calling home will only make it worse.
What to do at scout camp
Establish patrols – If you have a small group of scouts going it may be better to have the boys work as one patrol. But if you have enough scouts make sure they follow the patrol method while at camp. It will make it easier on the SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) to get things done.
Establish buddies – Make sure every scout has a buddy and a backup buddy for camp. Typically when they go out for merit badges most of the scouts will be going in different directions. It’s ok while on camp property in between classes if the buddies get seperated. But when they are not going to classes they should always have a buddy.
Hand out schedules – If possible print out and laminate each boys merit badge/activity schedule along with meal times and flag times so the boys know where they should be at all time.
First day meeting – Usually when you get to camp the camp will have a troop guide that will give a quick tour of the camp. Right after this make sure to have a meeting and explain any rules you want followed and address any potential issues.
This meeting is a good time to review things like fire duty around camp, waiter duty in the mess hall, and protocol for opening and closing flags. The scouts will have to be reminded daily, but if you start it out right, you might be able to get them on the good path and avoid repeating yourself.
Collect phones – This one is a bit controversial for some reason. But I don’t feel the boys should need their phones at camp. It is only a distraction and a means to want to call mom or dad and be more homesick. But collecting them early removes that temptation and they don’t have to worry about how they are going to charge their device.
Establish a duty roster – You can do this precamp but I have found doing this at camp is the better way to go. The camp may have something that needs to be covered that you normally wouldn’t do on a campout. Here are a list of potential jobs each boy may need to do daily.
- Fire Duty
- Waiter Duty (mess hall duty)
- Latrine area cleaning
- Shower cleaning
- Camp gadget building
First day class check-in – On the first day, I would recommend that the leaders check on each boy in each merit badge class. Make sure they found the class ok and make sure there isn’t an issue with the class. On the first day of our last camp, it was full of class changes and lost kids looking for where their merit badge class was meeting.
Take pictures – Don’t forget to take some pictures of the kids while they are doing merit badges or participating in events like campfire or open swim. The parents who can’t be there will thank you for having some memories to share.
Take advantage of training – While the kids are out doing merit badges, don’t just sit around camp. If the camp offers some additional training opportunities for leaders, then take advantage of them.
Attend Scoutmaster meetings – Most camps will have a daily scoutmaster meeting to notify you of any program changes or just what’s going on in camp. These meetings not only keep you informed but are a good opportunity to network with other scoutmasters. Also, make sure your SPL is attending any meetings that may be for the SPLs.
Keep the scouts engaged* – This comes with a big asterisk. You want the boys to stay busy mainly because you want to avoid homesickness. If they are having fun and engaged they won’t have time to sit around and worry about mom or dad. But at the same time don’t exhaust them with activities. If your scouts say they want a break, let them have a break.
Post Camp
Court of Honor – Do a court of honor as soon as you get back, so the boys who earned merit badges can get quick recognition. Part of the lure of scouts is earning badges and if you hand out badges quickly after camp, they will want to go back for more.
Clean-up merit badges – More than likely, your scouts won’t finish up every merit badge, as some have some do at home requirements. Clean those up in meetings quickly so the scout can earn the merit badge they worked hard on during camp.
Do a post-mortem meeting – Within a few weeks of camp, have a meeting with all parties (parents, scouts, committee members, leaders). Review what went well with camp and what didn’t go well. Engage the scouts to get their feedback and make notes for planning the next summer camp.
As a Scoutmaster, it is your job to make sure the scouts in your troop have a great time and are kept safe. Your enthusiasm and demeanor for the event will help drive the enthusiasm your scouts show while they are at camp. But also remember it isn’t your job alone. Recruit leaders and parents to help plan and make it the best summer camp experience your scouts have ever had.
Do you have any tips for a successful summer camp for your scouts? Let us know on our Facebook page or drop a comment below.
