Campfires For All Ages
As you read through these campfire plans, you will notice numerous songs are hyperlinked. Clicking on a link will bring the song up in a new window. Just close the window to return to this page.
"Oh, The Places You'll Go!" Campfire - Ontario Provincial Annual Meeting, April 22, 2006.
This is the plan for the campfire that I ran at the Provincial Annual along with my friends and fellow Red Team members from Camp Woolsey - Vicky (Thumper) Wallace, Jen (Eco) Langley, Mandy (Siesta) Gorski, and Andrea (Baboo) Huyghebaert. The plan for this particular campfire was inspired in part by a campfire run by Mike Pearce from Camp Tawingo that Vicky and I attended earlier in the year at the OCA Conference in February, 2006. Thanks also to Shelagh Walsh, who gave me the idea of using the storybook as a theme for the ceremony. Her original "Oh, the Places You'll Go" campfire can be found on my "Leaders Only" campfire page.
Equipment Needed:
sound system: we used 3 remote microphones and two stand microphones
speaker's podium
indoor campfire
screen, LCD projector, picture of a sunset (the Woolsey beach, of course!)
6 Ikea lanterns with tea lights
storybook: "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss
a set of coat tails and a white wig, conductor's baton, and various noise makers (for the "We're From Camp Woolsey" skit)
sunglasses for all singers (for "Shake Your Foot")
miscellaneous musical instruments (for "Ach Von Der Musica")
stuffed toy frog (for "Tom The Toad")
tripping tent (for "Zum Gali Gali")
Opening: the five campfire leaders processed throughout the banquet hall carrying lit lanterns, and singing Light The Wood. Eventually all of us ended up on the stage, except for Vicky, who ducked behind the scenes to change into the coattails and wig. As she changed, we led the participants into singing Light The Wood as a round.
Woolsey Quartet Skit: Vicky stepped up to the stage in her conductor outfit, and introduced the rest of us as the Woolsey Quartet. As a quartet, we sang "We're From Camp Woolsey". At the end of the song, one of us would miss a note. Vicky would take that person off stage, and use noisemakers to make it sound like something dreadful was happening behind the scenes. She then returned to the stage and re-introduced us as the Woolsey Trio. Again the song was sung; again someone messed up, again they were taken off stage and banging noises were made. When we were down to one person left on stage to sing (me), and I messed up, we left the stage for a final time. More awful noises from behind the scenes, the wig was thrown out into the audience, and then I returned to the stage dusting my hands together triumphantly!
The rest of the team returned to the stage slowly as I introduced the book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss. For the sake of brevity here, I've only included the start and end of each bit of the book that I read between songs.
Read from "Congratulations! Today is your day!" to "...you are the guy who'll decide where to go."
Buddies and Pals - sung as two-part harmony
Shake Another Hand - song leaders leapt off the stage and into the audience, to show the actions and share the fun with the crowd.
Read from "You’ll look up and down streets. Look ‘em over with care..." to "You’ll head straight out of town."
Read from "It’s opener there, In the wide open air..." to "You’ll start happening too."
Shake Your Foot (we did this song with "Attitude", including the sunglasses!)
Read from "OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!" to "Wherever you go, you’ll top all the rest."
At this point, Vicky was out in the middle of the audience, staring up and pointing at the ceiling. When asked by Andrea what she was doing, she claimed she was pointing at the "banana in the sky". Andrea replied that there are NO bananas in the sky - and then we proceeded to sing the song "No Bananas In The Sky".
Read from "Except when you don’t, because, sometimes, you won’t..." to "You’ll be left in a Lurch."
Mandy, meanwhile, began looking very, very sad, as she cradled the toy frog in her hands. When prompted, she began to lament the sad passing of Tom The Toad.
Read from "You’ll come down from your Lurch/With an unpleasant bump..." to "For a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind."
Since at this point we were all so "confused", we decided to add to the confusion with a round of Good King Wenceslas.
Read from "You can get so confused..." to "Or a wig with curls, or Another Chance./Everyone is just waiting."
Read from "NO! That’s not for you!" to "With the whole wide world watching you win on TV."
Ach Von Der Musica - led by Vicky, accompanied by the rest of us on various musical instruments to go with each verse!
Read from "Except when they don’t, Because, sometimes, they won’t..." to "‘cause you’ll play against you."
Game: Simon Says - led by Vicky
Read from "All Alone!" to "...that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on."
Song/Skit with Zum Gali Gali - led by Jen
Read from "But on you will go/Though the weather be foul..." to "...and your sneakers may leak."
Land of the Silver Birch/My Paddle - sung together
Read from "On and on you will hike..." to "And never mix up your right foot with your left."
Read: "And you will you succeed? Yes! You will indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.) KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!"
Read the rest of the story.
Vesper: Peace I Ask of Thee O River - performed in Woolsey tradition - all participants are asked to stand in circles with their arms linked, left arms crossed over their right.
Magic of Guiding Campfire - Prince Edward Branch, Royal Canadian Legion - January 14, 2002.
Thanks very much to Barb Wright, who shared this awesome campfire plan with the Guiding Mailing List! It was preformed for her Division AGM and her Provincial Council.
Note: Songs are written LIKE THIS - and wherever possible, I've hyperlinked them to the words.
Riverview District Campfire - Guelph, Ontario, April 30, 1999.
This is the plan for a campfire I was asked to lead for Riverview District in the spring of '99. At the campfire we had girls from Sparks right through to Pathfinders, and lots of parents singing along too!
Joint Thinking Day Campfire with Scouts and Girl Guides - Guelph, Ontario, Feb. 21, 1999.
This plan is for the campfire which I helped to run for the Scouts and Guides in Guelph to celebrate Thinking Day 1999. My co-campfire-leader was Scout Leader Randy MacPhearson. One of our goals with this campfire was to find songs that both Scouts and Guides knew!
"Water, Water, Everywhere!" - Blueridge District Campfire, April '98
Thanks very much to Shelagh Walsh, who e-mailed me this campfire plan!
This Campfire takes place near a big bonfire for roasting marshmallows. Each group of girls leaves on cue to roast their marshmallows & make s'mores, which makes the continuity & ceremonial aspect of the music a challenge! The skill level of the songs can go up as the younger girls leave the Campfire.
Tonight's theme is "Water, water, everywhere", though fortunately it isn't falling from the sky right now! Water is all around us, it's part of us; we're even made of water. Water can be gentle like a pond, or powerful like the rain was to the "Eensey Weensey Spider". We will sing it all together once, then twice as a round.
We're always going somewhere. It's like we're on this big river, rowing like Michael. Everybody has their job to do, like sister trimming the sails. Let's sing "Michael Row the Boat Ashore".
Is that a cloud up there? Does it look like rain? I think we're going to have a rainstorm, but relax, it's only us. But we can make it sound like the real thing. There are 2 rules: Rule #1 NO TALKING - it spoils the effect. Rule #2: No changing actions until the people next to you change. When I stop at the end, you keep going until the people next to you stop. Perform the Rainstorm.
This next song tells a story about one time when the rain didn't stop for 40 days. This is a long song but each verse repeats its first line, so you can join in, & by the time we get to the end, you'll know the chorus, so you'll be singing along. Join in with the actions. Let's sing "Rise and Shine".
Whew! They certainly learned the meaning of "water, water everywhere" in that story. Ships don't just carry people across the water, you know. They also carry cargo. [Tell everyone to sit with their legs out front.] Sing "Chinese Fan".
We're going to stand up now. Here is a song sung by a person who loves someone who lives far away, over the ocean. Sing "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean".
(Sparks are invited down to the campfire to make their s'mores at this point.)
While they are on the move, I want all the Pathfinders to come up & tell us about their favourite kind of water. (Pathfinders lead "Swimming Hole".)
(Place Pathfinders in 4 groups at front.) Frogs have their own Swimming pool, in yonder pond. We're going to sing the Frog Song, all together, then twice as a 4 part round. [Practise it once.]
I like that sound. Here's a real challenge for you. We're going to row row row our boat with our passenger Frere Jacques. Old sailing ships had mice on them, & ours does too; 3 blind mice. We're going to go down by the station. (Divide into 4, with a Guider or Pathfinder to lead each section. Each section sings one of the following songs, all at the same time: "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "Three Blind Mice", "Frere Jacques" (or Brother John), and "Down By the Station".
Now it's time to say farewell to our Brownies. We'll send them on their voyage down to the campfire with the "Breton Fisherman's Prayer".
(Brownies are invited down to the campfire to make their s'mores at this point.)
While we wait for our turn to get at those s'mores, we will sing about another kind of boat. This song was written by a famous Canadian First Nations woman named Pauline Johnson. Singing this British Columbia song is part of the program work for Guides, & a Pathfinder challenge. We'll do this one as a round too, singing both verses through once, then once more again from the beginning. Keep up the dip dip & swings at the end, gradually getting quieter as your canoe fades into the distance.
Sing "Canoe Song" (My Paddle)
Legend has it that this next song was written by a young girl who was dying. She could see barges on the water outside her window, & longed to float away with them. The third verse has no words, but is traditionally hummed to the tune as a tribute to the girl whose song was never finished. Feel free to sing in harmony if you know it. Then the Pathfinders & I will lead the Closing Caribbean Song. Thank you for participating in tonight's Campfire!
Vesper: Sing "Barges"
Closing: *Caribbean Closing (This is a device to end the Campfire, even though there is much merriment & noise going on, & "Taps" just isn't appropriate. All may gather together for Sparks & Brownie Closings & Taps once the s'mores are done & it's time to leave.)
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