In this farewell episode of 'SCamp Life: The Programming Side,' Curt and Chris reminisce about the podcast's journey since 2019. They recount key moments, favorite episodes, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from over the years. Highlights include the origin story, the introduction of themes and interviews, the impact of the pandemic, and special segments like 'question of the week' and escape room ideas. The hosts also share personal memories, challenges, and amusing tangents, such as experimenting with podcast formats and integrating a third co-host. Despite this being the final episode, Curt and Chris leave the door open for possible future updates, signing off with gratitude to their listeners.

In their second-to-last episode (?), Curt and Chris dive deep into their rich history of camping experiences. They share invaluable lessons learned from their diverse roles, from being camp counselors to directors, across various camp settings. Highlights include the importance of staff training, cultivating a sense of family among team members, and seamlessly integrating new ideas into traditional camp formats. Their lively exchange not only reflects on their past but also explores the future of camping and leadership within the community.

Full Show Notes with Links

Curt and Chris discuss various puzzle activities that can be a great addition to your camp program. They share their experiences with puzzle hunts, races, and escape rooms, highlighting the appeal of problem-solving over narrative. Four distinct puzzle-based camp activities are detailed including Station Puzzle Races and Puzzle Hunts. They share insights on the ideal group sizes for such activities, the logistical challenges, and the potential for revising and reusing puzzles in different contexts.

L.E. Dubois guest hosts with the guys this week for an interesting episode about making day camp awesome with limited resources - really limited. Curt used to work at a camp on an island and they could only bring 2 carts full of supplies, so he challenges Chris and L.E. with coming up with ideas on what to put on those carts! If you have limited space or rent a location where you can only bring so much, this episode is for you!

Kelie Cook joins Curt and Chris again this week for this super fun episode! They play a game of Would You Rather! This isn’t the disgusting, gross choices you normally see in this game, these are all things that you would like at your camp. Would You Rather have a lake or pool? Would You Rather have go-carts or horses? Would You Rather have a zipline or high ropes? Would You Rather listen to this episode or get eaten by a bear? All great questions for you to consider!

Roz Buck guest hosts this week as Chris and Curt talk about how to keep your staff engaged pre-camp. Do you have a hard time finding staff each year? Is the number of returning staff pretty small? Do your staff complain that they don’t feel engaged? Well then, this is the episode for you!

The guys are green with envy this week as they chat with Danny Sudman about sustainability at camp. Danny talks about great ideas that any camp can start doing now. Whether it be as big as solar panels or as small as turning off lights, Danny’s got some excellent ideas. Each person at camp can do their part to help out our world just a little bit more. Check out some fun ideas on what you can do at your camp!

Curt and Chris give some great ideas for keeping your families and campers engaged with your camp all year long! This isn’t your grandma’s boring Birthday card ideas, these ideas are contemporary and awesome! From Weird Holidays to Virtual Escape Rooms, check out this episode for unique stuff!

Lindsey Sigler joins the guys to talk about things she has learned from her theater background that can be applied to summer camp, from stage binders to drama programs and more.

Our guest host this week is Samantha Townsend from Kennolyn Camps. Samantha helps the guys come up with fun ideas around using a book to come up with fun programming or a theme. Samantha and Curt share some great tried and true ideas that they did at their camps! If you run a day-camp or need some fun programming ideas for your overnight camp, check out this week’s episode!

Jason Levasseur is an award-winning performer, songwriter and speaker. He joins the guys this week as they talk about the Rock Star Project and how it can benefit your camp! Find out what Jason can do for your organization. Bonus: He shares 5 rock star tips that will help your staff out today! Listen to this week’s episode and then check out the Rock Star Project!

It’s hard to believe that Chris and Curt have been doing this for 100 years…uh, episodes! The guys have a blast this week discussing fun and crazy memories from the past 99 podcasts. Hear about their favorite episodes, funny moments, dumb things they’ve done, and even some things they didn’t like! This week’s episode will be a fun walk down memory lane as well as some behind-the-scenes shenanigans!

Curt and Chris had Kelie Cook on this week to guest host. The three of them talk about Chris’ favorite thing: Stealing Ideas from other Camps!!!  Give this show a listen for some super sweet ideas from programming to staffing to misc that our hosts have stolen! If you have a great idea that you would love to share with them, send Curt or Chris an email and they may just have you on to talk about it!

In this episode, Curt and Chris discuss a wide variety of topics for summer camps. This is their 10th magazine edition. This episode includes a special event idea, program idea, staff idea, new AI tool, some trivia questions, theme ideas, and more.

Links: 

• Pika.art 
• Stand-Up Paddle Boards
• ORTUR Laser Master 2 Laser Engraver

Mara from Camp Arowhon joins the guys this week to discuss ideas to help with the biggest camper complaints. Having an extra host definitely helps when it comes to discussing some great ideas to fix some of the issues that campers have with camp! Check out this episode to get some extra helpful ideas.

This special Friday Podcast has a great interview with Elliott Sprecher from JotForm! Curt and Chris learn how JotForm can be very beneficial for Camps! Everything from registration to payments, to forms to surveys! They also talk about some of the many widgets JotForm has available, too!

In this episode Curt and Chris welcome Christina Gibbs as a guest host. Christina is the program Director at Mount Shepherd Retreat Center in North Carolina. The three of them discuss different things that parents have complained about at camp. Most camp directors have heard these same complaints. They also dive into solutions and tips on handling these complaints.

It’s that time of year where Camp Directors start going crazy trying to find summer staff. This week, the guys have some interesting ideas to try out as you go out hunting. Be sure to listen to this week’s episode ahead of any of your college staff fairs and test out some of these to see if you can fill your staff positions fast!

Kelie Cook joins Curt and Chris on this week's episode. Kelie ran an in-person camp last year and has now switched to the director role at a different camp. Give this weeks episode a listen to hear about some of the craziness of running the various camps, being a part of the Camp Admin program at Touro,  and even get some fun ideas for a couple games (the name Mortal Poodle should entice you enough!).

The new SCamp Life Podcast name change is now official!!!! 

This is one of those episodes that you need to have your summer camp counselors listen to! It’s fun and silly, but also very thought provoking and will help those counselors remember some tips on being great counselors.  Be sure to download this one and make it required listening during your training week!

This week, the guys chat with Michelle Cummings of Training Wheels. Chris might have been fan-boying it a bit, but it was definitely an awesome episode with some really cool team building ideas! Michelle talks about a great staff training activity, how team building is going in a virtual world, as well as her new podcast, Ask Michelle and Chris.

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Curt and Chris talk about incorporating Gaming into your Camp with a whole theme! Get great ideas of what you can do as well as where to find some very helpful sites.  Since Chris is planning on adding this theme this summer, he, as always, has gone way overboard on out-there ideas! With everything from coding, to diy escape rooms, to giant board games, these 2 episodes will give you a ton to start planning yourself!

This is part 1 of a 2 part series. Curt and Chris talk about incorporating Gaming into your Camp with a whole theme! Get great ideas of what you can do as well as where to find some very helpful sites.  Since Chris is planning on adding this theme this summer, he, as always, has gone way overboard on out-there ideas! With everything from coding, to diy escape rooms, to giant board games, these 2 episodes will give you a ton to start planning yourself!

Curt and Chris interview Michael Garcia this week. Michael is the Camp Director of Camp Centerland as well as the host of the Youth Development Professionals Guidebook Podcast. Michael talks about what it was like to run in-person camp during a Covid Summer.  He also has Chris’s new favorite rules for camp: 1. Campers leave with same number of fingers and toes they came with. 2. They’re dirty (glitter counts as dirt). 3. They are a zombie at dinner when they get back home.

In this episode, Curt and Chris ramble on (as they do) about ways to thank the staff and celebrate the end of the summer camp season. From holding an end-of-summer staff party, giving unique gifts like rose quartz or a piece of camp land, to conducting fun activities like a slumber party, awarding gag gifts, or encouraging parents to share their thoughts on their child's counselor. They also highlight the importance of celebrating the accomplishments of the staff and the need for the staff to feel appreciated and remembered. 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! The time when Summer Camp Conference, better known as SCampCon, comes around! Never heard of it before? It’s only the greatest (online) camping conference ever!!! Hear how SCampCon got started and what it’s all about on today’s episode.

Maybe you have a CIT or LIT program or Jr Counselors or whatever you call it at camp, but it is essentially a teen leadership program. It seems that each camp does it differently, and Curt and Chris have definitely seen and run them very differently. Listen to the episode if you want some ideas on how they run them as well as great ideas to make your Teen Leadership Program even better.

If you’ve ever considered doing a podcast for your campers this episode has lots of tips that need to be considered before starting that fun idea! From mics to tech tips to show format ideas, Curt and Chris go through it all.

On this episode, the guys discuss something that probably has affected most camps this year: Revenue! Chris and Curt have a ton of great ideas, some that worked and some that didn’t work for them but may work for you! During a pandemic season, these are some great ideas to try, but even after we’re back to normal, this is a great episode for some extra revenue at your camp!

Keeping with the theme of 2020, Virtual, the guys discuss the where, how and what of Virtual Escape Rooms! There’s lots out there and lots of different varieties of rooms available and the guys talk all the good and bad of them. Even more exciting is Curt and Chris are building their own Virtual Rom that you can check out as part of the ACA Southeastern Conference!

Not sure where to find the best resources for your camp? Tired of searching endlessly on Google for something good? Well, Curt and Chris have the answer for you: This Episode! They talk about all the resources that they use (not just a Google search)! Check out this week for tried and true stuff that actually works! Got great resources yourself? Share them with us so we can share them with others!

With everything going virtual this year, it was only a matter of time before camping conferences did too. Curt has been doing a virtual conference for a couple of years now and is ahead of the game with ideas for it!  This episode, the guys discuss all the pros and cons of virtual camp conferences as well as talk about a few coming up that you can be involved in!

A serious, but needed topic this week. What if we can’t have Camp next summer? The guys give some great ideas that you and your Camp need to start working on now as a “Plan B”, just in case! With all the camps and directors Chris and Curt have talked to over the last couple of months, they have a slew of great options to stay open in 2021, if we are still quarantined. Check out this week’s episode for some ideas to keep on the back burner!

A Brain Break is a short 2-3 min pause in whatever you are doing to give your brain a break and a chance to reset so it can continue on. In fact, if you are in classes or learning something new, you should take a break every 15 minutes! It actually helps you learn better and retain more. Chris shares some great ideas for Brain Breaks from his book on Patchwork Marketplace: Steal This! Ideas for Time Fillers and Brain Breakiness.

Finally, Curt has agreed to talk about Chris’s favorite thing: Pinterest!!!! The guys share some great finds, and some not-so-great finds. Also, did you know that Summer Camp Programming Podcast has its own Pinterest board? We have links for all of our episodes! 

In this festive episode, Curt and Chris discuss pool and water activities, including games that use plastic Easter eggs, tennis balls, and kitchenware. They also give ideas for games like pool tic-tac-toe, slip-and-slide kickball, and Protect the President. Chris also talks about his successful Christmas fundraiser and the art of roasting chestnuts on an open fire.

The guys talk with Matt Henry about the cool things his camp are offering families and groups during these challenging times. The overall program is called Take Two! and it involves mini camp days, pool rental times for family groups, dinner adventures, fresh air hikes and more. These are things most resident camps and some day camps can offer in the fall and even year round.

Curt and Chris (or maybe they should just be called the Virtual Camp Guys at this point) discuss all things online this week. Great ideas of apps, games, sites, etc. that can help with your Virtual Camps (or even your normal camps provided you have a decent internet connection on-site!)

Chris and Curt interview 10 different camp directors on the success of their virtual camps. The interviews are divided into 4 different episodes this week. The guys ask the same questions to each person in a 10 min time limit, so bring your notebook because these great ideas are coming at you at a rapid-fire pace. This episode includes Conor Murray from Camp Rio and Jessica Wexler from Girls Rock Math.

Chris and Curt interview 10 different camp directors on the success of their virtual camps. The interviews are divided into 4 different episodes this week. The guys ask the same questions to each person in a 10 min time limit, so bring your notebook because these great ideas are coming at you at a rapid-fire pace. This episode includes Isaiah Apfel from Between the Pages and Jordon Morris from Camp Indian Creek.

Chris and Curt interview 10 different camp directors on the success of their virtual camps. The interviews are divided into 4 different episodes this week. The guys ask the same questions to each person in a 10 min time limit, so bring your notebook because these great ideas are coming at you at a rapid-fire pace. This episode includes Christina Williams from Science Explorers, Guy and Sheila Siler from Mia Cake House, and Maureen Myrie from The Steam Generation.

Chris and Curt interview 10 different camp directors on the success of their virtual camps. The interviews are divided into 4 different episodes this week. The guys ask the same questions to each person in a 10 min time limit, so bring your notebook because these great ideas are coming at you at a rapid-fire pace. This episode includes Laura Kelly from The Hand Work Studio, Kaley Stephens from WorldSong Missions Adventure Camp, and Kevin Pettigrew from JM Feltner 4H Camp.

Curt talks about his virtual Harry Potter camp. He speaks about what went well and the changes he made along the way. Listen in to get some ideas as well as lessons learned from an already completed virtual camp.

Curt and Chris talk with the creators of Happy Camper Live, Allison Miller (Founder/CEO) and Steve Slavkin (Executive Producer). Happy Camper Live is the OG of virtual camp. They have been working on this amazing website for over 2 years!!! There are TONS of videos and shows and activities and more! If your camp is looking for a way to connect virtually and with an incredibly professional, already made site, give this episode a listen!

This week, Curt and Chris talk about how to look at programming through the lenses of each type of person at your Camp: First Time Camper, Returning Camper, Parent, Staff, Board Member, Marketing, etc. Thinking through each of your new programming (or even current programming) this way will help you determine how beneficial this activity actually is for your camp.  

B4….B4…..BINGO! This week the guys take a cool old-school program of Bingo and spice it up! Hear some great ideas on how to do Bingo at your camp. With both virtual and in-person suggestions, you’re sure to hear something that would be perfect for you!

This week’s episode is a remix from episode 13 way back in 2019. (The Pre-Covid days)! The guys give 8 great ideas for camp-wide games that you can play with the whole camp! This episode is a great listen to update some of your current games!

The guys discuss their thoughts and experience with the racial inequality of summer camp. They don't have the answers to tackle such a huge issue, but they understand that discussions are the first step and they hope that most summer camps take action to intentionally welcome kids of all races to their programs. Chris shares a very cool idea that he implements at his camp.

Another episode to help you out with your virtual camps. We talk about some great ideas that you can use to teach campers virtually how to make their own snacks at home! As well, the guys added a Pinterest board to link to all the cool stuff they talk about during the podcast! Caution: Do NOT listen to this episode on an empty stomach!

Curt and Chris have some VERY SPECIAL guest stars on today to be interviewed; themselves!!! The guys ask each other all the questions you’ve surely wanted to know! From personal lives to future dreams, this episode will tell you everything you’ve wanted (or likely really didn’t want to know) about the World’s Okayest Podcasting Duo!