Children’s classics for camp videos

How do you find camp videos to show children during quiet times? When running a summer camp, I like to give the children a relaxing time after lunch (yes, even high school age!) So if you have your grandchildren for a week, or the neighborhood parents are sharing summer activity duty, or you are running a STEM summer academic experience, these camp video ideas might be helpful to you.

Giving the children a half hour after lunch to chill out can go with the focus of your camp. For my STEM camps, I liked to look for camp videos with environmental or inventor themes. For a week long camp, I would split a feature video up into 4 chunks, for Monday through Thursday. It’s nice to spend a little extra time finding good spots to stop for each chunk.

As you plan a camp or any other activities with children, it’s important to remember that children have basic needs: physiological, safety, belonging, and esteem. Their growth needs include cognitive and self-actualization. (For more, research Maslow’s hierarchy of needs). Let’s make sure these needs are always in mind when planning summer activities for children.

You can search the American Library Association for recommended books for your age group:

• Best fiction for young adults: http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/408/all_years
• Fabulous films for young adults: http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/133/all_years

Another great resource is the Battle of the Books: http://www.battleofthebooks.org/book-list/traditional-standard-30-book-list-6-8-grades-2016-17.php. Next, look for films made from those books. You can search in iTunes store or Amazon, or your favorite video source. Of course, make sure to follow the rules of your venue for showing video.

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Here’s my top video playlists:

STEM focus

Classic literature

Resource links for camp videos

• https://www.adventurevalleydaycamp.com/7-classic-summer-camp-movies-watch-kids/
  • 7 classic summer camp movies from Adventure Valley
• http://www.ultimatecampresource.com/site/camp-activities/circle-games.page-4.html
  • Circle games from Ultimate Camp Resource
• http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/awards/browse/bpma?showfilter=no
  • More award winners from the American Library Association

What’s your favorite way to find camp videos to show for camp or summer academic experiences? Questions? Contact me at lisa[at]thecasabouquet[dot]com.