Virtual Bunks: Building Consistent Camper Connections Online

By Carolyn Harari

Director of Camps, In the City Camps

“Can we go outside and play sharks and minnows?” said a five-year-old boy after his virtual bunk finished playing charades. “When Corona and the germs are over, do you guys want to come over to my house?” It was in that moment I knew our Virtual Bunks built community.

There is not a lot a lack of content out the world; entertaining kids for 30 minutes has almost never been easier. I missed the weirdness, silliness, and relationships of camp. We weren’t looking for another way to see kids; instead we wanted to hear what kids had to say and lead them through semi-facilitated conversations. I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard three seven-year olds FaceTime but there is a lot of “HI,” “can you hear me?” “I can see you can you see me?”.

Virtual Bunks allow a semi-structured way for campers of similar ages to connect with each other and show each other more than the cool background. They are a consistent way for campers to interact with a peer group, camp staff, and stay connected to camp during this time of uncertainty. If you are considering running a Virtual Bunk program, here are the things you need to know:

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Getting Started

• What platform can I use for virtual bunks? Zoom allows several accounts to be hosting sessions at the same time but required some backend work of setting up email addresses and teaching staff Zoom etiquette.

• How many times a week do I want to offer these bunks? Once, twice, three times a week? Much of it depends on the availability of the staff and avoiding “Zoom burnout.”

• Can I pay my staff to run these bunks? If we’re saying these are as good or the replacement of bunks staff should be paid (unless you typically run on volunteers). It’s been a great topic to discuss with our donors.

• What does my insurer/legal counsel say about online programming? How can I keep everyone safe?

Set Up

• Campers register online with name, school grade, gender, along with parent information.

• We did not charge for this first session, but I recognize the missed opportunity for several reasons. First, attendance has been spotty. Just like I am 1000 times more likely to attend a virtual workout class if I paid for it, I believe campers are more likely to show up if their parents have invested in the program. Second, we pay our staff for their time so we are eating all of that money.  Third, bunks have real value and are not to be lumped with all the free content out in the world these days.  

• Our bunks are grouped by age and gender. The goal was for there to be 8-10 campers in a bunk so they could all be on the same screen in gallery mode on Zoom. We assigned bunks and emailed parents their specific Zoom link.

Staff

• Decide how many staff you need based on the number of bunks. Based on registration we had 12 bunks and required two staff per bunk so 24 counselors. I emailed our staff and heard back almost immediately from 20 high school and college aged staff who were looking for things to do.

• I held a virtual staff training which we went over how to be a Zoom host, the mute all button (really a camp counselor’s dream), keeping themselves safe on the web, and what the expectations are. We practiced “popcorning” the conversation to each other and the staff asked as many questions as they needed to feel like experts. We now meet weekly to review the activities and iron out any challenges. (I’ll admit that hour is my favorite one of the week because it’s when I actually feel like a camp director again).

Bunk Time

Every bunk time follows the same model.

1.     Introductions
Let campers introduce themselves and share one thing about themselves. I feel strongly to introduce every session to build community. (Pro tip: during introductions on Zoom, change the name to the campers’ name; many will be under their parents’ names.)

2.     Question of the Day
This is where the silliness comes in. Our campers debate who would win in a fight a hot dog or a taco, what rule would you change if you were principal, and other crazy questions. This helps establish the tone of the bunk and allows every campers’ voice to be heard.

3.     Activity
Think of the games staff play in bunks and during transition times (that are the best part of camp in my opinion). Charades, mafia, freeze dance, and writing random acts of kindness are a few tried and true. As the weeks progress the plan is for staff to come up with their own activities as they get to know their campers better. Just like at summer camp how bunks form their inside jokes and routines-one bunk is obsessed with playing obscure animal charades and begs to play it every time.

4.     Goodbyes
Staff say goodbye to each camper and campers get to say anything else they want. Just like afternoon carpool it’s organized chaos with campers speaking until one of the counselors officially ends the meeting.

Over the past few bunk times I’ve watched our staff smile, campers laugh, and parents roll their eyes (in a good way). These bunks could change the way campers connect forever now, and we have found a way to keep our seasonal staff working year-round. Instead of looking at these Virtual Bunks as something that we HAVE to do, I’ve chosen to think of it (thanks to TSCS) as something we GET to do 

Carolyn Harari
Director of Camps, In the City Camps
Member, TSCS
carolyn@inthecitycamps.org

Want to learn more about virtual camping?

Join us on Thursday, 4/16 at 10 a.m. ET for a FREE webinar with
Carolyn Harari, Allison Klee and Jack Schott: