Set out a race course - starting at point ‘a’ and race to point ‘b’ and back. Put one camper in a canoe without a paddle, sitting at the front or bow of the canoe. Line up all the canoes on the starting line. Upon GO, the racers get up from their seat and go to the back of the canoe. Next they climb up onto the stern gunwales and start to bounce on the gunwales, propelling the canoe forward to point ‘b.’ At point ‘b’ they get back into the canoe, use their hands to turn the canoe around and head back to point ‘a,’ by continuing to bounce on the gunwales. The first canoe to cross the finish line wins.

Divide campers into teams of three. Two people are paddlers and one person gets a small pail. Put the two paddlers in a canoe, but put the third team member (with the pail) in another canoe, with two paddlers from another team. Each canoe has two paddlers and a person from another team, with a pail. Upon GO, the race begins and the person with the pail tries to fill up the canoe, in which they are a stowaway, slowing it down with the water weight. The first canoe over the finish line wins.

If you have a smooth, grassy hill, you have the perfect setting for ice blocking.

This is something I learned from our friends to the south…way south. In California where they are lacking snow, they still like sliding down hills. They just do it a little different.

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A very good investment for a camp is to make flags. I would suggest making them 1.5 inches, using colored webbing. How many flags will you need to make? Use 6 colors with 1 color equal to about 1/4 the number of campers. If your camp has 100-120 campers, then you would want to start off with 40 of each of the 6 colors. Each flag should be about 10 to 12 inches long.
If you want move your game to the next level, you can also make belts for the flags. To do this you will need:
1. Blue and white marine rope, or any small, easy-to-tie rope cut into pieces long enough to tie around a person’s waist. (Remember: campers come in all sizes.)
2. Tabs made from neutral colored webbing, the same width as your flags. Finished size of tabs will be about 2 inches.
3. 1 inch velcro squares

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Get 3 or 4 campers to get into a canoe and then all they get is their hands and they need to race from one point to another point and back. The first team to finish wins.

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