The Rainbow of Camp Flags
In an attempt to reduce some of the inevitable camp chaos, each summer camp topic is assigned a color on the first day of camp. White = Bringing up Baby, Green = Adventures in the Rainforest, Orange = Garden Safari, Purple = All Sorts of Animals, and so on. The campers wear a colored wristband, to keep track of who belongs where, and the classrooms are labelled with their colors. By the end of the first day, the campers know their colors and can find their classroom with ease. Think air traffic controllers or naval officers, but with small children.
To make check in and check out easier, we’re using large fabric flags of each of the colors. Find the color to check in; find the color to check out! The kids may remember their colors right away, but sometimes the grown-ups have trouble remembering their colors, so we keep a list at the check-out gate, just in case.
The youngest campers check in and out in their room, so the flags can also serve a different purpose – to make it easy to sort them at lunch! It is simple to ask them to follow their flag, especially when we hold it up high.
With all this use, here’s keeping our fingers crossed the flags survive the summer!
Leigh, Education Specialist and Camp Assistant Principal
