The problem solving model is a simple cycle used to solve problems and challenges. The aim of the problem solving model is to provide a simple clear strategy for tackling problem solving situations. Introducing this model, will provide participants with an easy to use and transferable method of solving problems in any situation. The problem solving model uses a 5-step process: Identify: What is the problem and your end goal? Plan: Discuss ideas and generate possible solutions to the problem? Do: Select the best possible solution and try to solve the problem. Review: Did the solution solve the problem? If not,…
Author: David Priestley
Psychologist, Bruce Tuckman first came up with the Stages of Team Development model in 1965. The model explains how a team develops over time, which consists of 4 key stages, “forming, storming, norming and performing”. An additional stage was later added in 1977, this stage is “adjourning”, which is used to describe the break-up of a team following project completion. Tuckman believes that all phases are both essential and inevitable for team growth. Bruce Tuckman’s forming, storming, norming, and performing model describes these stages and is a helpful tool when working with new teams. Once you understand this model, you…
The aim of this challenge is for the team to try and retrieve 10 cups full of water from around the room and place on a tray without spilling any of it. During the task, each person is only allowed to use, just one hand and one leg to complete the task. Equipment Required: 10 paper cups (filled with water 3/4), tray Space Required: Medium. Can be delivered either indoors or outdoors. Group Size: 6 to 12 ideally (for larger groups, split into smaller sub-teams) Total Time: 20 minutes 5 minutes to brief and set up 10 minutes to achieve outcome 5 minutes to review…
In this fun team challenge, groups are required to work together to do complete a simple task. The problem is, that they are tied together by their wrists. Problem solving, teamwork and communication are essential for this challenge. Equipment Required: Shoes laces, tracer rope strips or cloth strips or anything to tie participants together. Space Required: Small. Can be delivered either indoors or outdoors. Group Size: 4 to 12 ideally. Total Time: 25 minutes 5 minutes to brief and set up 15 minutes to achieve outcome 5 minutes to review All Tied Up Team Building Challenge Brief Organise your group into an inward facing…
Provide each person with a penny that is no more than 15 years old. They are then required to think back to the date on their coin and share with the rest of the group something significant or interesting that happened to them in that year. Materials Required: Penny coins Variation Have enough penny coins for each person to have a total of five pennies. Instruct each person to share something unique about themselves, or something they have done which is unlikely that anyone else has in common with them. After they share their story, if no one else shares…
Everyone in the group is handed a sweet (such as Skittles, M&Ms etc) they are then required to share a story about themselves based on a colour code linked to their sweet colour. Materials required: A large bag of M&Ms, Skittles, Smarties or other coloured sweets How to Run: Have each person in the group take one sweet or candy piece. Instruct them not to eat it just yet. Explain that they will need to take it in turns to share with the group a story based on the following colour code: Blue = a time when you felt very proud…
Below is a list of questions to use when doing a debrief and review at the end of your team building session or challenge. These questions are great for making sense of the experience and building connections or transfer of learning. After your group have completed a challenge, pick a couple of questions that will lead them to the learning outcome you are targeting or anything that you noticed during the activity. General Questions: How did you feel during the activity? What challenges did you face? What did your team have to do or believe to be successful? What positives can…
As a summer camp owner it’s essential that people know about you and your camp. The more parents that know about your camp, the more campers you get. Simple. You could be the greatest summer camp in the world, but if nobody knows about it then you’ll be in trouble before you even have your first day! That’s why good marketing is essential for the success of any holiday camp business. The key to any marketing campaign is promoting how you can make someone’s life easier and offer them something that will help solve a problem. With holiday camps, 9…
You’re ready to start your summer camp and you have everything you need to get started, but when it comes to bookkeeping, financial planning or specifically budgeting you’re at a loss. The aim of this article is provide you with some basic information and a few resources to help you get started. The most important thing to understand, is that every holiday camp or club is a business. If your camp takes in less money than you spend, you will be out of business in no time unless you have some very deep pockets. The best way of ensuring that…
For the last 12 years I have been working for and consulting some of the biggest summer camp operations in the UK and Europe. In 2003 I started off as a Group Leader and have since gone on to work in a number of roles such as Camp Director, Operations support and Trainer for companies such as Camp Beaumont and Kingswood. Currently I offer consultancy to a number of day camp operations, reviewing operations, training and activity provision. When it comes to running a Summer Camp, I certainly do not have all the answers but I do have some ideas…
Our daily lives are full of things that keep us busy, but every now and again we find ourselves sitting back and wondering, what’s it all about. And then, we may start asking questions that normally we do not stop to ask. This can happen in any aspect of our life. People can subject any field of human activity to fundamental questioning – which is another way of saying that there can be a philosophy of anything. The term philosophy is derived from the two greek words, philo meaning “love” and Sophos meaning “wisdom” – “Love of Wisdom” Don’t worry,…
Before you start your summer camp it is important to understand the type of camp you are going to be. Hopefully you’ve done your research and have identified a gap in the market. If not, do your research and ensure there is enough interest in your type of camp. ‘There may be a gap in the market, but there may not be a market in the gap’. Speak to parents, do some questionnaires and try to draw up interest in your service before you even begin. This will give you some momentum heading into your business venture and you will…