Camp Counselor Training: Ice-Breakers & Team Building Exercises

One of the challenges facing anyone with a Culver Summer Camp Counselor Position is to create an environment within the unit or cabin in which people feel comfortable getting to know one another and are able to come together as a team to take on a common goal. Whether that be the Culver Communications Relay, General Inspection, Pegasus Drill, or whatever the heck Woodcrafters do (anyone care to tell me what the comparable Woodcraft activity would be?) it’s important to havesomething that brings the unit together.

Every counselor has their own style and way to try and get this done. In Company Two last summer we had an all-unit dodgeball night with 1st classmen and 2nd classmen against plebes and the counselors. It was a lot of fun, the guys worked off some steam and got to experience working together for a bit. I know last summer there was some sort of water balloon battle to end all water balloon battles between Company 1 and the Naval Band. The ladies units do some of the same things and have their own approaches too, some of which are closely guarded trade secrets (!).

While it’s ultimately up to the counselors and upperclassmen in each unit to sort out how best to help campers feel at home and to bring them all together here are some links to collections of team building exercises and ice-breakers that anyone involved in leading a posse of summer campers might find relevant:

Ice-Breakers:

• Top 10 ice-Breakers for Seminars and Meetings - The Polaroid idea has potential…
  
• Large Group Icebreakers - The Handshake one looks good
• “The Screamer” - This sounds like fun, loud fun
• “Pairs Tag” - fun for the whole family
• “Human Knot” - Yup, hard to go wrong with this one.
• Ice Breakers - nice list of Ice Breaker exercises sure to get people talking to eachother quickly

And a few Team-Building Exercises:

• Teambuilders - great collection of camp-themed teambuilders
• “Welded Foot” - sounds simple but effective
• “Frenzy” - hectic but fun-sounding game sure to tire-out even the most indefatigueable plebes
• Culver Ropes Course

There are loads more to be found online but these are a few that caught my eye as I was combing through Google tonight looking for ideas for this summer (and the best ones didn’t end up in this post I can assure you that!).

Take a look at these. Which ones sound like something you’d like to do this summer? For you alumni out there what did your units do back when you were at camp that helped bring you all together as a unit? Was it preparing for a competition? Something at a unit meeting? Let’s talk about it.

Discuss