At Wawenock campers and counselors alike enjoy having fun and being silly, and for our young adult staff members a summer at Wawenock is a welcome respite from the pressures of school or work life. It’s a time when they can connect with their inner creative child. An activity we do in the Living Units that gets the counselors in on the fun is called Dress Your Counselor, but since counselors aren’t at home with you, parents…it’s your turn to join in!
Materials Required: Slips of paper, a bowl, and the clothes and accessories you have at home
How to Play Dress Your Counselor: Think of this as a somewhat structured version of dress-up. The children draw from a bowl a slip of paper that has a theme for a costume idea (see below for a list of ideas) and have 10 minutes to gather items for the costume, using the clothes, items, and accessories you have in your home, to fit that theme. Consider putting out a few supplies like tape, cardboard, and string so the designers can get creative in making props or accessories. When the time is up, they then have 15-20 minutes to dress up their parent! If there is more than one adult in the house, divide the children into teams and have them each dress an adult. When everyone is in costume, put on some music and create a catwalk where the adults strut their stuff (fitting the costume theme they are dressed as, of course). After the fashion show, switch it up and have the parents dress up the children!
Costume Idea List:
- Rockstar
- 80’s fitness instructor
- Astronaut
- “Pink Lady” or “T-Bird” from Grease
- Construction worker
- Disney Princess or Prince
- Police officer
- Soccer/tennis/volleyball player
- A hippie
- Super Hero (Wonder Woman, Superman, Batman)
- French Chef
- Cheerleader
- Where’s Waldo
- Mermaid/Merman
- Person going on Safari
- The Cat in the Hat
*Counselor Hack: Extend the fun by having a photo shoot to fit the theme – are you dressed as a rockstar? Make an album cover. Are you dressed as an astronaut? Depict your mission to space. Also, this activity can get a bit messy as things get pulled out of where they are stored, so to encourage tidying up afterward whoever returns things to where they belong in the most organized way chooses the game for the next family game night!
Now get out there and strike a pose! Share your photos with us on Instagram or Facebook so we can see your creativity!