This-N-That

Battle It Out With Battleship 

I run a summer day camp and one of the activities we have added is Battleship. We have canoes, kayaks, and pedal boats. The campers have squirt guns and water cannons and paddle around “attacking” each other with the water guns. They use their paddling skills they have learned and maneuver around on the river. The kids love the activity and it is way more fun than just paddling around or fighting the wind and current. It is great for all ages and abilities. A lot of times, the older campers get the younger kids to do the shooting while the older campers do the paddling and plan the attacks. The campers love to attack the counselors, too!

Matt Reid
Director
Camp Barnacle
New Bern, N.C. 

Time For Teambuilding

Most staff training involves team building and what better way to do so than to play games? Get people up and moving and they will be sure to mingle and laugh their way through the awkwardness of those first couple of days. Here’s one to get you started: 

Odd Couples

On any team, you'll have people with different personalities. But sometimes, these different personalities actually have things in common. Getting these team members to appreciate their differences and similarities can improve team bonding.

• Number of participants: 6 to 20 people

• Duration: 45 to 60 minutes

• Objective: Improve team bonding and communication skills

How to play:

1. Create a list of odd pairs of objects that, for some reason, go well together. Like “peanut butter and jelly,” “chocolate and coffee,” “salt and pepper,” etc.

2. Write down the names of objects from each pair on separate sheets of paper.

3. Tape a sheet of paper to a participant's back. Do this for all participants. Try to tape opposing pairs on people with opposing personalities (though this is isn't necessary).

4. Ask participants to mingle with the group. Their objective is to figure out what's written on their backs. The trick is: they can only ask yes/no questions (“Do I add flavor to food? Do I make the food spicy?”).

5. Once participants figure out what's written on their backs, they have to find the other half of their pair.

6. After they've found their pairs, participants have to find three things they share in common with their opposing pair.

Strategy

In any teambuilding event, one of the biggest challenges is bringing different people together. An exercise like this can give participants a reason to sit down and share experiences with people they might not mingle with otherwise. The focus on yes/no questions also improves communication skills.

--Information compiled from https://www.workamajig.com/blog/team-building-activities. 

Lumber Is Out. SIPs Are In. 

High lumber prices are making it difficult for camps to expand with new cabins. But there's a building material called Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) that is providing a cost-effective, energy-efficient alternative to lumber. 

Building cabins with SIPs provides increased control over indoor environmental conditions, including indoor air quality. SIPs do not contain any volatile organic compounds or harmful chemicals. 

SIPs are constructed as a sandwich of Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and Encapsulated Polystyrene foam. OSB is a green building material that relies on a fast-growing, underutilized and often less expensive wood species that is ground into chips and then converted into board. A Golley House flat-pack kit is made of environmentally friendly SIPs that can be assembled into a cabin by three to four people in a matter of days. 

Whether you need to start a camp from scratch or are expanding an existing camp, cabins made from SIPS are providing a cost-effective, energy-efficient alternative to stick frame construction with lumber. For more information, visit https://www.golleyhouses.com/how-it-works.