Spiritual / Gospel Camp Ideas

Spiritual and Gospel-Centered Camp Ideas

Take a Walk With Jesus
(Walk outside, and find and place the following items in a bag. A great idea for CAMP or EASTER Sunday.)

A BRANCH – a week before his crucifixion, as Christ entered the city, the people waved branches from palm trees.

SOMETHING PRICKLY – his “crown” was made of thorns.

A PIECE OF WOOD – for it was out of wood his cross was made.

SOMETHING NO LONGER ALIVE – for the Savior truly died.

WHITE LINEN – Christ was wrapped in white linen before being placed in the tomb.

A STONE – it was a huge stone at the opening of the tomb that the angel removed.

SOMETHING LIVING – To remind us that Christ surely lives. He died and was resurrected.

Journals:

Journal ideas can include:

Keep a history of meeting a new friend at camp. Make a scrapbook page or other memory page for your journal that chronicles how you met, the interests you share and why you feel your friendship blossomed. You can make a page for your new friend too!
Take paper and a pen with you on your hike. During your break, take a moment to reflect on the beauty that you see in nature. Ponder the miracle of creation, and write down your feelings. Take a picture to add to the page.
Learn the words to "How Great Thou Art" (you can find the words on the Camp Songs Page), and take some time alone one night to look at the stars and hum or sing the song to yourself. Record your feelings in your journal.
Each morning, let your scriptures fall open and point to a random scripture. Read the verse and write it down in your journal. As you go through the day, reflect on the verse, and see how it applies to you in each thing you do. Record your experiences at the end of the day.

Good Deed Fish:

For our camp last year, we printed out fish in the value colors and cut them out. Each time one of the Young Women performed a secret act of service, they were able to take a fish out of the service bucket and hang it inside our cabin (yep! we had CABINS!! :)). As the acts of service added up, so did the decoration of our ward's cabin, and we were able to see the good things the girls were doing.

Unity Activities:

Have the girls break into groups for morning or evening prayers. Ask one of the YW in each group to offer the prayer, and ask a blessing or thank our Heavenly Father for each of the girls in her group by name, stating a specific blessing or quality in that girl she is thankful for.

“Labels” Game

Have 6 – 8 people sit in a circle. Place a label on each person’s forehead. The labels should have a way to relate to a person written on them. They are not to know what their individual labels say. For instance, “You think I am the smartest person in the world” or “Ignore me”. The people in the circle are to plan a camping trip together, following what the labels say. After about 15 minutes, see how many people know what their labels are.

Explain that each day we label people and treat them according to our perceptions of them. Sometimes the labels we give don’t fit the people, and we need to look deeper than the label they have to see who is underneath.

Ideas for labels:

Laugh at everything I say
Ignore me
Listen to everything I say
Agree with me
Interrupt me
Disagree with me
Stare at me

Plate Race

Give each person a paper plate (rocks, bricks, and boards also work well and do not blow away). Separate into teams. Give every team another paper plate. The teams race each other to a finish line while only stepping on the paper plates. This will require throwing a paper plate in front of the team and each team member moving forward. The last member picks up the last plate and it gets handed to the front where it is then thrown ahead and stepped on. Everyone moves forward a plate and the process continues.