Color Wars - Summer Camp Programming

Color Wars

This is totally new idea for me. In fact, I have had to do some research to find ideas to submit so that I, too, can reap the benefit of the knowledge from all of you. So, I hope that I have found some new and innovative ideas for everyone. Wow, I have discovered that there is a plethora of Color War ideas. I am excited to add A Color War to my summer arsenal of ideas. I hope that this can become a tradition for the kids that I have the privilege of playing with each summer. I hope that each child have war , fuzzy feeli g whe s/he thinks about their camp memories. Ca p does that to you. (Rheuban).

I work in an all-day; Day Camp Summer Activity program where I have the same 30-45 kids' each day (We provide summer care for the working parent's children and summer fun for the kids.). The schedules vary, so I will plan my Color War to happen in one day.

Not sure about this next part, but I will build in some kind of anticipatory set; so that the kids know that something exciting is going to happen at Camp. They just don't know what it is, but they want to be at Camp on this day. My desire is build a day rich with tradition and fun; where the campers learn to work together as a team, to use their creativity and strength to win competitions; and complete an assortment of activities.

The night before, while all campers are at home sleeping, parents will place a bracelet is placed on the wrist of their camper (like the Livestrong bracelet). In the morning, the first thing each camper would see when they woke up is a colored bracelet. There was no more wondering something is going on.... Parents will then hand their Camper an invitation that is color coded and includes instructions to wear the designated color, the wilder the outfit the better!

It is set to take place from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; the unique event will feature a standard Color Wars itinerary of group activities and contests among the rival red, blue, yellow and green teams. A barbecue dinner @ 5:00 pm will the day's events and the camper & parents can come and celebrate with everyone. The Color War will represent the pinnacle of the summer camp season.

The winning team won 4 points, with the second place team winning 3, the third place winning 2 and the last place team earning 1. We had a large dry erase board that held the score of 4 different games that were played, and the team with the highest score was the winner of the Color War.

Unravel a ball of yarn Pitch a tent Cup parade: Both teams lined pass cups up and down their line to fill a bucket Silent Meal: The teams ate on their designated sides of the Dining Hall, and had to be completely silent Teams were also graded on cubby cleanliness Egg Spoon Race. For this game, we dyed the eggs to match the team. The eggs were hard boiled, so they

could be dropped and the team with the least damaged egg was the winner. If an egg was dropped, the team member had to return to the starting point. If the egg split open, that team was out. Balloon tower building contest: Each team was given a pack of un-inflated color coded balloons and a roll of color coded duct tape (Green team got green balloons; red team got red balloons, etc.) The teams were instructed to build a tower as high as they could using the balloons and duct tape, with a time limit of 10 minutes. The team with the highest tower won, receiving points in the same manner as the last activity.

 Balloon pop: teams were then instructed to pop their balloon towers, but were not allowed to use their hands or feet to pop the balloons. The first team to win gathered 4 points, with points decreasing with each team that finished.

Melt the Ice: Each team is presented with ice cubes on a paper plate. The ice cube has been colored with food coloring and in the middle of it is a penny. The object of the game is to retrieve the penny by melting (not breaking) their ice cube the fastest. This game gives the camper a chance to be creative and come up with a strategy together. You do not have to color the ice cubes, this is done to make the game more visually fun.

Bob for Donuts: For every Camper you will need one donut. Hang each donut from the ceiling or a tree branch using string or ribbon. Make sure each donut is hanging low enough that each child can touch it with their mouth. To Play: Each participant takes their place in front of a hanging donut and places their hands behind their back. On the start of go they each try and eat their donut (without touching it with their hands) as fast as they can without dropping it.

Gummy Bear Pie: All campers sit at the table with their hands behind their back. Whipped cream pies are placed in front of each camper and the fun begins on the start of go. Everyone dives head first into their pie to retrieve the gummy bears buried underneath all the whipped cream. The first one to pull out and eat all gu ies WIN! TO PREPARE: You'll eed e ough pie tins so that each participant has one (you can also just use paper plates). You'll also eed te gummy bears for each pie, and enough whipped cream to fill each pie tin.

Sporting competitions such as dance knock out (basketball game), softball, soccer, Frisbee, horseshoes, arm wrestling, rock climbing, cartwheels, walking the beam, etc.

Races: bicycles, relay races, three-legged races, sack-races, 50-yard and 500-yard dashes, speed stacking, hula hooping, etc.

Scavenger hunts can be an exciting and challenging activity. Each team gets a list of several items they must find and the team to complete their list first is the winner. Items can include a variety of things that can be found all around camp such as acorns, pine cones, bird feathers, bird nests, sunglasses, swim goggles, camp brochures, colored socks, band-aids and even specific types of leaves or bugs.

The teams also design and create floats, scrapbooks and banners. All events are judged and points are awarded for success, participation and sportsmanship.

For an added touch a color coded menu, including things on a buffet style table like large pitchers of lemonade (yellow), hamburgers (red), salad (green), blue corn chips (blue) with salsa (red) and o dip (yellow), corn dogs (yellow), etc. For dessert, vanilla ice cream with sugar sprinkles in each team color.

Very cool website that I found:

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