Typical Day at Camp as a
No day at camp is typical…but each day does follow a similar structure. Here is a sample of what a day at camp as counsellor might look like.
7:00am – 7:20am – You wake up and start getting ready for another fun filled, adventurous, and rewarding day with some amazing campers. Some staff members will grab a coffee in the dining hall, while others go for a morning run or dip in the lake, while others will sleep until the last possible second… Counselors have to be in the dorms before 7:20 in order to check in with dorm duty (the 2 counsellors that stay up all night long to provide any care for campers and to do 20 minute checks on the rooms).
7:20am – After checking in with dorm duty, you meet up with your buddy counselor and burst into your group’s room singing a song. You’ll find some group members very eager to start the day in order to save Peter Pan from Captain Hook. You start to get your group members ready for the day by providing the necessary personal care and assistance. If your group is ready early, you could always entertain them with a game, or head out for an early bounce on the trampolines.
8:30am – You and your group stroll into the dining hall for another delicious breakfast. Today is waffles with all the trimmings..mmmm! You grab your camper’s food from the lovely kitchen staff and start to serve your group (making sure of any food allergies or dietary restrictions!) …when all of a sudden you here your name being called by the whole camp… “Jessica Jessica strong and able get your hat off at the table…”. You’ve been called on for a song and dance! You get the tired dinning hall up and pumping by singing ‘Oh Banana’- a favorite camp song. After some more songs, a waffle eating contest that your campers destroy you at, and yet another juice chugging contest, 5 silly dressed people (the programmers) march into the dining hall saying they have an announcement! Yesterday Peter Pan was kidnapped by Captain Hook and to save him they are doing pirate training this morning. This morning they are planning to do various pirate training activities in order to save Peter Pan. You and your group decide what type of training you want to do in the morning (ie. Regular programs).
10:00am – In the morning, your group decides what they would like to do. Today the options are learning to climb the sails on the rock wall, ‘water’ training in the pool, ‘pirate hockey’ on the tennis court, making pirate hats in the Arts and Crafts Shack or canoeing at the lake. You try and make magic happen for each of your campers!
12:00pm – 12:30pm – Between the Regular Programs and lunch, you and your group go on a secret treasure hunt around camp looking for the clues that Tinkerbell left for your group (which were actually created by you and your buddy and hid around camp early in the morning).
12:30pm – At lunch time, you enjoy more songs and juice chugging contest. All of a sudden Captain Hook comes in (Oh my goodness!), and declares he is going to take over camp! Once he leaves, everyone makes a plan to meet up at 2 pm at the Big Tree to save camp!
2:00pm – The whole camp meets up at the Big Tree for an all-camp activity. Your group rotates through various stations and participates in different fun activities. At the end, the whole camp comes together and builds a big trap to fall on Captain Hook. Sure enough we catch him! Hooray! The campers and staff celebrate with a juice break of juice and cookies!
4:00-5:15pm – Once everyone has had some juice and a snack, the campers stay in their room, and chill out with some low-energy activities or head to the movie area to watch today’s feature presentation. The majority of the staff go and take an hour break to relax.
5:30pm – To celebrate catching Captain Hook, it is spaghetti night in the dining hall! Yum!! (Some lucky groups will be eating dinner at Camp Out in a different part of camp where they will have camp fire, smores, play games, go on nature hikes and spend the night in tents or cabanas).
7:00pm – Regular programs are open once again at night. This time the pool is open, the big swing is letting campers reach new heights, there are drama games at arts and crafts and a chill canoe trip at the lake!
8:30/9:00pm – Juice Break – Depending on whether it’s a kids week or teen week, the program will end around 8:30 or 9:00pm. The campers get a bedtime snack and some juice, and then start getting ready for bed. The counselors provide any necessary assistance. Storytelling, serenading, reminiscing about the great day you just had….as campers drift off to sleep…
10:00pm -12:00am – At some point in this time frame, your campers will drift off into dreamland. Once everyone in your group is asleep, staff sign out with dorm duty and can meet up in the staff lounge for some tasty treats, unwinding and sharing funny stories about the day.
Dorm Duties
We have a dorm duty system provided by counselors on a rotating basis. In the evening, two counselors will be relieved by the float counselors for a couple of hours of rest. These counselors will come back on duty at 9:00pm. They will stay up in the dorms until 7:30am the next morning, at which point they will go to sleep for the day – joining back up with their group just before rest break. Most staff end up really liking dorm duty!
Days at camp are long! At the end of the day you might wonder how you will possibly do it again tomorrow – but at the same time you wonder – how could you possibly not!! The days become a blur…but you will never forget those absolutely magical moments!
