Scout camp activities?

[goingtoexplodesoon]

It turns out that my Sea Scout (so we mainly do water activities) is having a camp. It's going to be split into three groups- Beavers, Cub Scouts and Sea Scouts. It just so happens that my DD might be going to this camp (we're applying to join our local group, where there's no waiting list). I'm a Scout leader. It's arranged that each group will have separate activities apart from the last day (it's a five day camping trip for Scouts, Cubs will have three days, Beavers will have two days, all ending on the same day) when we'll have team-building competitions and a talent show etc;

I just want some ideas about activities. How would you feel if you heard your kid could be doing-
Kayaking
Canoeing
Sailing
Water Zorbing
Shooting
Archery
Bushcraft/ Survival Skills
Denmaking
Zipwiring and Rope Course
Introduction to riding
Paddle surfing (this is where you surf on still water, like an almost still river or a lake, using a canoe paddle to push yourself along)
Campfire songs
Pond dipping
Hiking
Making and floating on a raft
Catch-the-flag through a forest
Orienteering
Treasure hunt through a forest
3D Maze (you climb up and down as well as through in a maze)
Climbing wall
Powerboating
Movie Night
Indoor Ski Slope
Horse and cart
Tracking
Bouldering
Circus Skills

We have four activities a day, apart from eating, and, because we're not counting the last day, that's 16 activities. There's about twenty five activities on offer. We go kayaking, sailing and canoeing every week, but I though one of each would be a good idea, which means twelve activities. Which ones would you want to do if you were 11?

That sounds like too much to be packing in to one camp, IME. (dh is a Scout Leader, ds now an Explorer, and has completed over 150 nights away with Scouts, dds also Scouts and done lots of camps too). If they are away for 4 nights, they won't need to be doing 4 activities a day - they need to have some 'down' time too.
From a Parents pov, I'd also be worrying about the cost or so many activities (I know obviously things like hiking won't cost, but horse and cart ???)

My nine year old DD is a cub and she would want to do them all! But I agree with Back four a day sounds too much. The last camp DD went on the did morning and afternoon activities.
And when she arrived home she practically fell through the door with tiredness.

Sounds fine. I'd be mildly curious about instructor qualifications, and pre-activity standards for the kids ( I assume there are swim tests in place as it's sea scouts, but do all of the beavers take them routinely, for example?) I'd also want to know about activity insurance - I'm sure sea scouts has different rules about power boating etc, but I'm pretty certain that shooting is only scouts. There's a projectile ban for cubs and beavers, at least here, so the scouts insurance would be invalidated for the younger sections. (obv same with archery).

It looks fairly standard, though. Ratio is a pita to work out for mixed age groups - are the teams on the last day still in age sections, or mixed up? Have you got enough adults to supervise beavers? Ratio will be higher for different activities etc. Quite often the little ones don't get much out of mixed ability /age tasks, as the bigger kids need a lot of adult encouragement to include them properly (and to slow down).

But most of it looks standard-ish. Hay ride is an interesting inclusion - it's a red level activity here (as are a lot of your other activities), and obv as a third party provider can just be a pita.

Is your stuff just approved at group committee level, or does it require area approval?

Instead of four, maybe two of those activities a day, and then a camp activity (like campfire, just relaxing generally, camp inspection). The instructors are all highly qualified. The watersports ones are generally from our local lake, and they often do courses and lessons with kids in holidays and help instruct the kids at Sea Scouts sometimes. Horse riding instructors come from the local riding school and the cart-drivers work at the local 'living museum' thing. Yeah, Cubs and Beavers can't do shooting, riding, powerboating, paddle surfing, bouldering or indoor ski slope. I'm just planning activities for the Scouts- the Cubs have a separate list as do the Beaver- two other people have to work out the activities for them.

Sea Scouts have to be able to swim 20m, but for all watersports they'd wear lifejackets/buoyancy aids. They have to if they want to join, but anyone who can't gets pointed to cheap swimming lessons and stuff. Beavers and Cubs doing watersports have to be able to swim 20m too. Beavers and Cubs will have it at a simple group committee. Anything which has a 'reasonable risk' like shooting, riding or watersports has to have district/area approval.

If that's the scouts stuff, then sounds fine. I don't think ours would be too fussed about the horse and cart, but the rest would go down well. I think I'd try to make a balance between 'team' activities, and individual.

I might be tempted to book the ski slope thing as a separate day/ evening activity and not include it in the camp, though. It's kind of an odd one out and logistically will be trickier? Any of the others would be fine though. (We are lucky enough to have real skiing for 7 mos of the year )

When is this camp, summer is nearly over, no?
DS-12 is a Sea Scout, though his troop just meets regularly all summer instead of going on camp.

I would have thought he'd vote for raft-building, air rifles, power boating, treasure hunt, zip wire, survival skills, orienteering and movie night.

DD is 10. She would love to do all of that. I would want to be very reassured about the safety of all the watersports - proper instructors, proper lifejackets etc etc.

And if I'm honest, the prospect of DD and her mates powerboating would scare me senseless!

My DD did similar stuff at Gilwell's Winter Camp last January (she was 10) and she's off for a watersports camp later this month aged 11.

I do think that 4 activities a day for 4 days is perhaps too much, even for the older Scouts. They will be exhausted! 3 physical ones plus a calmer one each day? Beavers will certainly struggle with that much on their 2 days (I thought that Beavers had a 24 hour max rule? Or have I confused that with Rainbows?)

I've taken my Brownie unit for an adventure pack holiday of zip wire, canoeing, raft building, bouldering, low ropes, archery and two different treasure trials over 2 days. It was too hectic. They loved it but the leaders all agreed that we needed more just-chill-and-relax time.

I would want to double check the activities against your POR. I know that Scouting is more relaxed on some things than others, but, for example - will the riding activity provider have hats and boots that are fitted by someone trained to fit them? Riding in wellies or trainers is not a good idea. Plonking the next hat from the box on a child's head is not good either, but that's what you normally get on a sit-and-have-a-go riding activities.