# Traditional Summer Camp Experiences **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676 "2012-09-04T20:16:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/1 "2012-09-04T20:16:57Z")
If you were to design the most Traditional Summer Camp Ever, what sort of activities would you do? Some ideas: Archery Practice Canoeing Horseback Riding Writing Letters Home Making Lanyards Making/Eating Smores\* Roasting Hot Dogs\* Singing Songs\* Hiking/Orienteering Writing/Performing Skits Sleeping in Cabins Pranking other Cabins Communal Dining Having a Crush on a Fellow Camper Shooting BB Guns What else? I never went to Summer Camp, so I don’t have any experience with them, but these seem pretty traditional. \*These activities to be performed around a campfire ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/2 "2012-09-04T20:31:04Z")
I worked at a camp for many years. Canoeing and Archery are very boring for the kids. The camp I was at had many unusual activities,but if you want traditional stuff… Capture the Flag,water activities(other than canoeing) are very popular,nature walks,Six Square,fishing. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/3 "2012-09-04T20:31:14Z")
It occurs to me that I did all of those things at summer camp except for the hot dogs. Now I feel deprived. Also, we had some real .22 rifles for shooting practice. No lame-ass BB guns for us! I’ll add: Water balloon fights Squirt gun fights Bribing the crazed cokeheads in town to buy you beer to sneak into the cooler during canoe trips Color war Arts & crafts Did any other camp have an annual Rope Burn, or was that only a tradition at mine? It involves large bonfires, not skin grafts. Unless you get burned by the bonfires. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/4 "2012-09-04T20:49:04Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > It occurs to me that I did all of those things at summer camp except for the hot dogs. Now I feel deprived. I don’t but the summer camp that I went to had institutional food that rivalled most gourmet restaurants. The whole camp smelled like baking bread every morning. Mmm! Singing songs around the campfire was fun. Telling ghost stories was fun. But we had a game called Kill the Councillor that was fun for all! (Maybe not for the councillor.) ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/5 "2012-09-04T20:54:21Z")
I went to Traditional Summer camp (an Adirondack YMCA camp founded in 1928, don’t get more traditional than that) for 8 weeks each summer, from when I turned 7 to the summer before college, when I worked there as a counselor. We had Platform tents. Imagine a wooden platform large enough for 4 sets of bunkbeds and a small area for trunks. The platform supports a frame, with very heavy waterproof tents flung over. Sleeps 7 campers/1 counselor. Cabins get musty and are stuffy on hot days. Once things get wet they never ever dry out. With platform tents, you just roll up the sides and catch a breeze. Other than that, we had all the stuff in the list except BB guns. You forgot [ul] [li]“bug juice” [/li][li]tie dying[/li][li]boxball[/li][li]double dutch[/li][li]obstacle/ropes course[/li][li]the nature hike where you find edible plants [/li][li]the nature hike where you tell ghost stories[/li][li]petting a garter snake[/li][li]candlemaking[/li][li]required swimming lessons[/li][li]getting so good at swimming you test out of requierd swimming lessons (test is equiv to RC Junior Lifeguard) and get to lord it over the other kids[/li][li]swimming across the lake[/li][li]complaining both about the “gleep” in the lake and the chlorine in the pool.[/li][li]having a bathroom buddy so if either of you has to pee at night, you don’t have to go to the go down the narrow, wooded path to the bathroom/showers alone in the dark.[/li][li] reading inside your sleeping bag with a flashlight after lights out (as a counselor, I permitted this practice, as long as there was absolutely no talking)[/li][li]hanging your head out of the tent at night, and seeing a constellation you never saw before[/li][li] meteor showers on the hill, and looking at Jupiter through the Nature center telescope. [/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/6 "2012-09-04T21:08:23Z")
You also forgot some unsanctioned but vital camp experiences: Developing totally inappropriate crushes on the camp counselors. Developing totally inappropriate crushes on fellow campers. Developing totally inappropriate crushes on the townies, locals, or non-counselor camp staff. Practicing seduction techniques with/on your cabin-mates for use in the previously listed activities. And on the boring end of things: Ziplines. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/7 "2012-09-04T21:13:23Z")
Woo! This is good. Keep 'em coming. Disclosure - I’m thinking about doing some sort of “Summer camp for grown-ups” party for my friends. It would be a weekend-long party, people could drop in and out as they wanted to, and participate in activities in the back yard/neighbor’s back yard/local area (depending on where we were able to set up). I know a lot of the stuff isn’t going to be doable, but I’m brainstorming and trying to get the right “feel”. **takes notes** ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/8 "2012-09-04T21:43:08Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I worked at a camp for many years. > > Canoeing and Archery are very boring for the kids. I dunno. When I was working at camp, archery was always the one of the first activities to fill up. Admittedly a lot of it was kids returning to get more medals. Cookouts, including singing and doughboys (basically bisquick on a stick). Night time hikes to see the stars, with a star talk (telling some of the myths of the constellations). Sleeping out under the stars (we always did it one night, within view of the cabin. A few of the younger kids would get nervous and we’d tell them that if they got scared they could go to the cabin in the middle of the night. I don’t think it ever happened). Gorp ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/9 "2012-09-04T22:02:09Z")
> [@Silver\_Tyger](#): > > I dunno. When I was working at camp, archery was always the one of the first activities to fill up. Admittedly a lot of it was kids returning to get more medals. I was the Archery instructor for two years,trust me,they get bored.Though at regular summer camp,our kids had a schedule,there where no activity sign up sheets. I know a small % of the kids enjoyed it and shot arrows the whole time,but most of 'em lost interest very fast. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/10 "2012-09-04T22:10:15Z")
My summer camp had a bunch of Sunfish sailboats and a few Hobie Cats that we could take out on the lake. My last year there, as a member of the oldest group of students (the camp is actually operated by the local school system, so things were separated by grades), I could pretty much take a boat out whenever I wanted. I would spend hours just tooling around the lake. Good, good, good times. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/11 "2012-09-04T22:20:45Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I was the Archery instructor for two years,trust me,they get bored.Though at regular summer camp,our kids had a schedule,there where no activity sign up sheets. I know a small % of the kids enjoyed it and shot arrows the whole time,but most of 'em lost interest very fast. I’m just saying ymmv. Where I went, the kids signed up for an afternoon activity and kids who returned every year would take archery every year. I was an assistant instructor a couple of times (probably a third of the staff was certified to teach archery). But we handed out medals so they had a reason to shoot. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/12 "2012-09-04T22:27:11Z")
I really want to go rewatch [Little Darlings](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_darlings) right now. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/13 "2012-09-05T03:21:19Z")
Someone has to freak out and go home! ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/14 "2012-09-05T04:16:39Z")
I saw a series of documentaries that suggested teen campers/counselors that sneak away for sexual encounters will die horribly. So you should probably avoid that. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/15 "2012-09-05T04:29:06Z")
I went to camp every single summer for 8 years. We did activities in the morning; I always signed up for archery, if it was offered. My favorite all time camp experience was walking down to the river and spending the whole afternoon there. We had a rope swing, innertubes, etc. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/16 "2012-09-05T12:06:07Z")
My kids always talk about how Big Red the school bus always breaks down or runs out of gas on field trips. I think it’s original equipment from the 20’s. Not much has changed there, but they did build a new lodge full log construction, it’s freaking gorgeous, the bathrooms have copper sinks and there is slate and granite everywhere . BUt the kids sleep in platform tents still. My one kid won medals in archery, took home her passion and now is moving up in ranks at a local conservation club that sponsors a jr olympic archer div. (JOAD) ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/17 "2012-09-05T12:17:42Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I was the Archery instructor for two years,trust me,they get bored.Though at regular summer camp,our kids had a schedule,there where no activity sign up sheets. I know a small % of the kids enjoyed it and shot arrows the whole time,but most of 'em lost interest very fast. Its the most popular and most repeated activity at Girl Scout camp. Over swimming and boating and drama. If you ask girls who have been to camp (younger ones) which camp activities we should schedule for troop camp, you get archery as the answer. Either they like being bored, everything else is worse, or my experience doesn’t match yours at all. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/18 "2012-09-05T13:01:11Z")
Sneaking out of the tent/cabin at night to meet up with the inappropriate crushes. Maybe even go skinny dipping! ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/19 "2012-09-05T13:55:41Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Its the most popular and most repeated activity at Girl Scout camp. Over swimming and boating and drama. If you ask girls who have been to camp (younger ones) which camp activities we should schedule for troop camp, you get archery as the answer. Is that post-_Hunger Games_? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676/20 "2012-09-05T17:34:28Z")
About 45 years ago, archery was one of the most popular activities offered at the camps I went to. I enjoyed it very much, and most other girls seemed to be excited about it as well. Unstructured water activity was also very popular. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/traditional-summer-camp-experiences/633676.md?page=2)