All seasons, outside

Students are challenged individually and as a group in this rock wall climbing class. Staff members emphasize teamwork, trust and cooperation.

All seasons, outside

A camp favorite, students will don a harness and helmet as they prepare to push their courageous limits on our Giant Swing! The swing reaches 40 feet in the air and swings in an arc for their classmates to see. This activity fosters peer acceptance and effective communication, and it’s fun!

All seasons, outside

Team Challenge promotes cooperation, critical thinking, and communication skills through various initiatives. This all-time favorite activity will challenge students to depend on one another and solve mutual goals. 

All seasons, outside

Review parts of speech and use nature to create various types of poems. Grab a pen (a pencil will do); a fun educational time awaits you! A hike through the woods, admire a tree, put it all together and a poet you will be.

All seasons, inside

Camp Willson’s escape and puzzle room! We’ll seal students inside the camp’s alumni room, where they will be prompted to escape, following clues and solving various ciphers and puzzles! Students will learn to communicate effectively, work together and think outside the box to meet the goal!

All seasons, outside and inside

Let your imagination run wild outside! Students will travel to a wooded camp location and create art using the forest! Make flower crowns, charcoal art, murals, gnome homes and much more as you let your artistic side shine!

All seasons, outside

Students will interact with the various animals on camp! Adventure to our ranch facility to learn about and interact with horses, pigs and goats! Afterward, stop by our critter room to meet our scalie friends and interact with preserved animal specimens! 

All seasons, outside

Students discuss the characteristics of aquatic life. They’ll catch frogs, tadpoles, dragonfly nymphs, stone flies, back swimmers and bryzones by our lake and in one of our several swamps! Use magnifying glasses to get a better look, and follow an ID chart to identify the animals correctly. Students are encouraged to wear footwear that can get muddy as they familiarize themselves with our aquatic pals.

All seasons, outside

This group-based tag game will teach students about the food chain and population dynamics! Students will learn to design a graph, interpret data and make predictions on what will happen next in the game. This game is a great way to combine science and fitness.

All seasons, outside and inside

Students will role-play family groups traveling and settling in early Ohio. Family groups will walk through the woods to visit our 1800s log cabin. This class will give students a better understanding of the life and hardships of the frontier times and provide a fun role-playing experience! Students get the chance to think critically, solve problems and communicate effectively with each other.

All seasons, outside

Students will identify and learn about various trees around the camp. Then, they’ll play a tag game where they must seek a specific tree to be marked safe from the tagger!

All seasons, outside

Students will learn the parts of the bow and arrow and the safety rules for shooting on the range. They will work with eye dominance, adjust the aim for varying distances and support each other as they learn.

All seasons, outside

Cook over a campfire! Students will prepare their meals and discuss food as they await a tasty snack.

Weather and temperature dependent, outside

Students learn about safety around the lake and boats. An instructor will teach them the basic strokes of using canoes. Working in pairs or groups of three, the study group travels to the lake in their canoes. 

All seasons, outside

Students will travel around the lake with a Camp Willson Naturalist, identifying plants and even eating some of them, tracking animals, exercising and seeing a side of the camp that most usually don’t.

All seasons, outside

Using communication and cooperation, students discuss and practice survival techniques. We review skills such as fire safety and building, shelter building and different methods for collecting water, staying warm and getting the lay of the land!

All seasons, inside and outside

We have an “egg-citing” class that combines teamwork and physics. This activity allows small teams to draft and design an enclosure to keep an egg from breaking. We test our structures during the drop from the second-story Conference Center porch and “egg-splore” the scientific method. 

All seasons, inside

Students will work in groups to create a miniature roller coaster! Utilize the concepts of gravity and momentum to make the most dynamic track possible, fight the force of friction, and you, too, can be a roller coaster engineer!

All seasons, inside and outside

Use your math skills and scientific method as we have a “blast” testing our theories of propulsion, aerodynamics, and volume. Students will see Newton’s Laws of Motion at work as they launch their water rockets.

Weather dependant, inside or outside

This activity is an all-time favorite. It involves singing, skits, and storytelling around the fire. We even provide s’mores when requested!

All seasons, outside

Do you need more recreation time? Meet us at the Sports Field to run and play before the second half of the evening program. Equipment is provided.

All seasons, weather dependent for indoor or outdoor

Teams participate in crazy, off-the-wall activities in ONE MINUTE! This is the TV show classic with a camp twist!

All seasons, outside

This sensory experience will enable students to explore the differences in our world at night. A mix of large and small group activities will examine how our eyes work at night, some nocturnal animal’s abilities, and how people engage with the world around us.

All seasons

Give your students the chance to perform and shine! Each cabin group creates a two to four-minute skit using words given to them. Then, they perform in front of their peers. 

All seasons

Students will participate in an organized dance party to learn dances such as the Cottone Eye Joe, Cupid Shuffle, Fishing in the Dark and other easy-to-learn dances! We’ll add other camp-appropriate party songs for students to bust their moves to and give adequate time for water breaks.

All seasons

Students are divided into activity groups, given a map with markers and set off into the night to be the first group to accomplish a series of challenges and be the first back!

All seasons

Students are shown a variety of strange items and told even stranger stories for each one by their teachers/chaperones. They must then decide who is telling the truth about who is spinning a tale for them.