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Camp Journal

Keeping a daily journal while at camp is an important and rewarding part of trading one’s day-to-day routine for the pleasures of camping. Make your own camp journal to capture the memories!

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Plan

  • Will this be an independent activity, or will members of your Section form small teams to write (and possibly share) journals?
  • When and how will you review your camp journal?

Do

  • A camp journal is a great way to reflect. Keep a daily camp journal for all of your camps over a year, and then review what you wrote. It doesn’t have to just be words! Add drawings, receipts, and photos that reflect your experience.
  • At the end of the Scouting Year (or the beginning of the next), read what you were thinking and feeling during past camps. Your younger self might just have some valuable lessons to share and you might find that this is a habit you want to keep for life!
  • Keeping a camp journal is a great way to log all of the adventures you have done in Scouting – where you went, how long you were there, anything you would do differently in the future. Logging your journey is an important part of many awards, including Outdoor Adventure Skills and the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award!

Review

  • What do you know now that you did not know before?
  • What did you think when you reread your journal? Was there anything important that you had forgotten?
  • How did you share your journal with others (if at all)?
  • Is this a habit you will try to keep in the future? Why or why not?

Keep it Simple

  • If journaling how you felt is too hard, you can try starting by just writing down basic facts – where you went, how far you travelled and by what method, what your campsite set up is like. Even if you do not want to keep your journal as a memory, having a trip log is always helpful!

Take it Further

  • Turn your camp journal into a scrapbook! Wax leaves, print photos or make sketches of things that happened and include them in your journal.