Who hath smelt
woodsmoke at twilight?
Who hath heard the birch log burning?
Who is
quick to read the noises of the night?
Let him follow with the
others.
For the young men's feet are turning,
To the camps of proved
desire and known delight.
-- Rudyard Kipling
| Scouting, including Cub Scouting, is an outdoor oriented program. Whenever you get the chance, take your Scouts outdoors for hikes and campouts. One very important part of the outdoor program is the Campfire. It takes some real effort to put together a memorable Campfire. Its not just the flickering flames, but the heat and light generated by skits, songs, readings, stories, and roasted marshmallows. After being involved in and planning many campfires over the years, I have learned some secrets to achieving Campfire magic: Gather close around the campfire, involve more people than just your unit, mix the impromptu with the well planned, mix the new with the old favorites, laugh, sing and be silly! |
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So,
starting at this point, you can plan a Campfire, with all sorts of
wonderful stuff. If you have any Campfire material that you do not see
here, please send it to me, and I'll include it here.
.
If you plan to download a document, you should first take a look at About Downloading Files for some tips on what the different file formats are, and how to use them.
The Campfire Planning Book
Every time I bring one of my Campfire Planning binders to a training session, Roundtable or Powwow, its gets lots of attention. People want to borrow it to make copies. I got the message -- I need to provide instructions on how you can build your own Campfire Planning book. So follow the instructions below, and you will have exactly the same book I do, with lots of skits, songs, stories, openings and closings, to create magic campfiresStart with a two inch 3-ring binder, preferably the type with the clear plastic covers that you can slip a title page into, and front and back inside pockets. You can get this at any stationary or business supply store for about $5. While you are there get some tab dividers -- 10 should do -- and a 3-ring pencil pocket. Label the dividers as follows, in this order:
| Planning Openings Songs Cheers Stories Skits Walk-on's Closings |
You can click on the links to the left and browse the various resources that will be part of the Campfire Planning Book. The whole book will be downloaded below. |
Put the dividers in the binder, along with the pencil pocket -- put a couple pens or pencils in the pocket.
Now, rather than going to a whole bunch of pages, as listed above, to get the sections for this book one piece at a time, download one of the files below, unstuff it, and print all the sections at one time. If you are on a PC and do not know about unstuffing, go to the Aladdin Systems site and check out Stuffit Expander for Windows -- it is a free utility.
- The Campfire Planning Book in MS Word format
- The Campfire Planning Book in Portable Document Format (PDF) for Adobe Acrobat
- The Campfire Planning Book in Rich Text Format (RTF)
When you have unstuffed the archive, you will have a directory of several files.
When you open the files and print them, it will be obvious which documents go in which section of the binder. Just in case, though, follow this map:
| Divider Section: | Insert these PDF files: |
| Planning | |
| Openings | |
| Songs | |
| Cheers | |
| Stories | |
| Skits | |
| Walk-on's | |
| Closings |
Print the file BndrCovr, which is the cover page to slip in the binder cover sheet. Print maybe 10 or 20 copies of ProgPlan, two-sided, and put that in the planning section.
Now, for those inside pockets. Get a copy of "Creative Campfires", 'The Cub Scout Songbook", or "The Boy Scout Songbook", and anything else you can think of and find to add to your resources.
When all is said and done, you might want to add to your binder some of the following:
- Scoutmaster's Minutes
- Patriotic Themes
- Scouting Deep in Our Hearts -- Tributes and Things Truly Scouting
- Ceremonies
Well, that's it. I hope this helps you plan some really great campfire programs.
