Spring is nature’s way of saying – let’s party outside. It’s the Goldilocks time of the year, when everything is ‘just right’ for school camp activities. Here are five of our favourites.

Whale Watching

Spring is the peak time for thousands of humpback whales gliding past Coffs Harbour as they migrate to their feeding waters in the Southern Ocean. The bonus for spring whale watching is that many females have young playful calves who love to show off by breaching.

Each year, eyes are also peeled for one rare whale that’s captured not only the hearts of Australians, but whale lovers all around the world – Migaloo, the white whale.

For more ideas on how to incorporate whale watching into your curriculum check out our blog on winter camping.

You might also like to read Migaloo by Mark Wilson, a beautiful picture book depicting the life of this unique whale.

Walk on the wild side

Who can resist baby animals? Spring is the perfect time to add a nature walk to your school camp activities list. With 30 acres bursting with life, from kangaroos and wallabies to rare and endangered birds, a walk around the Coffs Coast Adventure Centre grounds is a great introduction to this region.

Focus on the senses to sharpen the students’ awareness. Here are a few ideas:

• Have the students working in pairs, one wearing a blindfold. The sighted person leads around the partner and has to describe what they can see.
• Set up touching stations (careful of any allergies etc), with animal skins, leaves, bark etc.
•  Identify various scents of the bush.
• Stop and be silent – what can you hear?
• Take the walk at night for a completely different set of sounds and sights.

Game Extravaganza

Put an extra spring in your students’ step with a games extravaganza. With a wide-open grassy space, the blue sky is the limit when it comes to this school camp activity that builds team spirit through a series of fun games and challenges. And just in case you cop a spring shower, the games extravaganza can move to a large indoor space.

Check out the list of all our fun and games on the website. Plus we’ve featured a range of other game ideas in previous blogs on leadership, team-building and rainy day activities.

Outdoor charades

Charades takes on a new meaning when you do it outdoors. Play it just like normal charades, but change it up by incorporating a nature theme. Movies, TV shows and books need to have something to do with nature in the title and instead of people, try animal characters.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Movies – Finding Nemo, Happy Feet, The Lion King.
• TV shows – Skippy, Blinky Bill, Animal Planet.
• Books – Charlotte’s Web, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The One and Only Ivan.
• Animal characters – Stuart Little, Mickey Mouse, Lassie.

Flashlight tag

During spring, nightfall comes early enough to play the ever popular flashlight tag. With plenty of space and a defined area, this activity will ensure students collapse into bed and sleep through until morning.

Here are a few tips for running the game:

• Every participant needs a headlamp or torch.
• Establish the game boundaries e.g. physical space, no climbing up trees, going into buildings etc.
• Depending on your numbers, allocated a few seekers to close their eyes while everyone else hides (using their torch to guide them to their hiding place).
• On a signal send out the seekers.
• Seekers use their torch to tag the hiders.
• Once a hider is tagged they join in the hunt to tag the others.
• Establish a signal for the end of the game when anyone who isn’t found is deemed a winner.
• For a variation – you can make a home base where hiders try to sneak back without being caught while the game is in progress.

There are plenty of school camp activities for spring time at Coffs Coast Adventure Centre. For help planning a great spring camp contact Shannon, our Camp Concierge.