Golden Slipper Camp for Boys and Girls

Adventure

Adventure courses are part of a growing trend at camp. Kids take part in a multitude of activities, calling on physical and mental skills, to accomplish tasks as part of a team or individually. At Golden Slipper Camp, our adventure courses are divided into four separate zones.

Zone 1

Climbing walls. Kids test their strength and endurance, with the cheers and encouragement of their instructor and bunk-mates below, to climb a wall that rises 40 feet into the air. We have two walls at different skill levels, and all kids wear harnesses and helmets.

Besides being just plain thrilled to climb 40' up in the air, kids learn confidence and self-esteem by overcoming their fears and doing something they've probably never done before. The walls are situated in a wooded grove of the Camp, increasing the feeling of adventure.

Zone 2

High Ropes Challenge Course. For more fun and daring 40 feet up in the air, there's High Ropes, a series of activities that also challenge kids individually. The interesting part about these activities is that they all happen 40' up, on cables and ropes strung together between the trees.

Kids work together in a safe and challenging environment to overcome fears, build self-confidence, and learn how important it is to support others. Each activity relies on skills of climbing, balancing, and strength, or some combination, and of course cheering and celebrating accomplishment. Use of full safety gear is required.

Zone 3

Low Ropes Challenge Course. Kids who prefer solid ground and teamwork to individual challenges love the Low Ropes Challenge Course. They work together in a safe and team-building environment to learn cooperation, partnership, taking initiative, sharing ideas, and resolving problems, all while having fun.

Similar to High Ropes but lower to the ground, Low Ropes requires kids to work in teams to accomplish tasks and overcome obstacles to move through the course. Spider's Web, for example, is a series of ropes woven together to create a 10' x 20' web hung between two trees. The object is to move the entire group through the web without touching it. The group has to design a strategy to accomplish that goal and then implement it. Sometimes they have to raise someone up over the web or crawl underneath. But everyone must fully cooperate in order to be successful.

Zone 4

Initiative Games. Taking the teamwork concept one step further is Initiative Games. Our staff and instructors create a series of challenges and work with groups of kids to accomplish these initiatives.

They may be tasks, such as having to devise a strategy to move a pile of logs from one location to another. Or they may be made up games, like Desert Island, in which a group is given a small carpet square and the entire group has to find a way to stand on this small space, not nearly large enough for all of them, with no body parts sticking out over the edges.

At the end of the games, the instructors lead a discussion so the kids understand what they accomplished along with why and how they were successful. These series of games coupled with the discussions help the kids understand how they can be effective leaders in the future.