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Camp Craft Ideas
First, the girls decorated canvas tote bags.
We bought the camper badges from the distribution center and ironed them
on. The girls used scrapbook stencils and colored Sharpies to write their
names. We also had some sponges in different shapes (heart, butterfly,
flower, etc.) and paint. They were just big enough to fit a camp manual
and a few other items. The original idea was that we wanted to give them
things for a "solo time." Things like a magnifying glass for observing
nature ($1.99/dozen at Zurcher's), and pamphlets about nature (from the
forest service), a journal, and a pencil. We thought the bag would just
be a useful thing. The girls had a lot of fun making them. We left the
markers out during the camp, and they continued to embellish them during
their free time.
We decorated small photo albums. They
were just cheap cardboard cover 4x6" albums, but our craft specialist found
some really beautiful paper at a local craft store. It had pieces of actual
flowers and leaves embedded in it. For the inside, she bought a picture
of Christ. Additionally, I made up "pages" to go inside. We had a title
page with the theme of our camp, and some journal pages with theme-related
writing prompts. I bought a picture to go along with the observation/journal
certification requirement for each year. For the creation, I bought the
Christus in the visitor's center with the planets behind it, for baptism,
I bought a picture of John baptizing Christ that said : I will make and
keep my baptismal covenants, a picture of the first vision, and a picture
of Christ in Gethsemane. I know the girls have plenty of room for writing
in their camp manuals, but we wanted to have more specific writing about
our camp. We had a really great speaker on the first night, and we wanted
the girls to respond specifically to her talk, among other things.