What I tried differently at camp this year.

Every year I try a few different things at camp. Some of them become a part of camp others we NEVER do again. Here are a list of things that we tried this year at camp.

1. I used social media alot – The past two years I have had a hard time getting Mom’s and Dad’s to go to camp as councilors we also had a down year this year attendance wise so one of the tools I wanted to use to fix that was using social media to help peel away the mystery of camp. So parents who had kids at camp could see what was going on and parents who’s kids had yet to attend could build excitement and anticipation.

What social media did I use?

Facebook – Most parents I know have a facebook and know how to use facebook so this is by far the most helpful in getting the info out there. From face book I linked to my blog, because well I don’t like facebook and I can control the layout of my posts on my blog much easier than FB. On facebook I published updates from my twitter account and posted pictures for parents. I uploaded all my photos to facebook using pixelpipe for my iphone.

My Blog – This year I summed up each day with a blog post and video that supported and summed up what we did. I shot and edited all that footage on my iphone with iMovie for the iPhone. The reason for using my blog was two fold. 1. I could control the layout (have I told you I hate facebook) 2. So parents who didn’t know I have a blog could find it because I often write about stuff I am thinking for Uptown as well as things that could help other parents from what I am learning as a parent.

Youtube – I uploaded videos I shot and edited from my phone up to Youtube directly. Very stinking cool

Twitter –  to point parents to my blog and facebook.

Ustream – We used Ustream to put our evening services online for parents to view. I love the idea of parents spying on kids without kids knowing that their parents are spying. We had a couple of hiccups and will plan to do streaming better next year.

2. Journals – I made some journals for the kids – nothing elaborate but just got some notebooks from the dollar store and added bling to them that pertained to the theme of camp. Each morning I shared a few minutes and then the kids met with their councilors and talked through the assignment I gave them and wrote in their journal. This worked great we will do it next year for sure.

3. Partner with parents – This year I tried to include parents in on the process of camp through social media, and on the last day I made a video for parents summing up what we talked to their kids about each day and gave them some ideas for next steps after camp.

4. Movie night – For a night time activity we did a movie night I really liked it. We showed Pixar’s UP what an amazing movie. We had to do something indoors because of the weather but I really liked it we may do it again next year.

What should I do different next year?