Camp Continues: The Tracking Game

Now, the much anticipated Tracking Game for the Let’s Party Mondays, Camp theme .

The staff has always had a love of animals and the outdoors. We are members of the local zoo and have made frequent trips to our nearby arboretum. These two favorite haunts inspired the Tracking Game – I feel like someone got chocolate in my peanut butter and I came up the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of Camp party games. (Whoa, someone is a little full of themselves today).

Anywhoo, we received a small laminated tracking card of animals of the Northeast when we joined our local zoo. It has squirrels, deer, rabbits, etc. The staff loves to try to find muddy tracks along the wood line behind the house. (Let’s say that’s the “Peanut Butter”.) On our last trip to the arboretum, they handed out a sheet of paper with six boxes on it and a crayon. As you walked the trail, there were these informational signs and below the sign there was a rubbing plate with leaves one it. At each sign, you would rub the corresponding plate. At the end, all the boxes were filled in with cool leaf designs. (That would be the “Chocolate”.) So, I thought why not have rubbing plates with animal tracks and have the kids discover them as they search the backyard. (And there you have the “Peanut Butter Cup”.)

Using my tracking card as a guide, I created these rubbing plates which the staff helped me decorate. I tried two methods: 1) piling on glue as paint (which takes a while to dry) 2) cutting out paper and gluing (takes a while to cut out and doesn’t have as great of a raised effect). And if you don’t want your dishes and laundry to pile up while you are monkeying around with animal tracks, I found a great third option: buy them . They look great and you can have more of them – I could only squeeze out five on my own. I would still attach them to cardboard and decorate the board — it looks cool and the staff had fun decorating. I included a clue because some of the tracks look similar.

To play, scatter and hide the plates all over you backyard. Then give each participant a sheet (newsprint works the best because it is really thin and the rubbings show up very easily) with a space assigned for each animal. Here’s one way…

When they fill in their sheet, they can earn a prize or maybe a badge declaring they are a solid tracker. Okay, there you have it the Tracking Game – I’m open to a better name the “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of Camp Party Games” is a little wordy.

Gotta go, I have this overwhelming desire for candy.

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