When planning an outing, be sure to take advantage of the resources around you. Take a close look at the area that you live in and the people around you. If you know somebody that has dairy cows, talk to them about doing an overnight at their place and helping with the dairy chores (milking, cleaning, feeding, etc.) in the morning. If you live near a beach, have a campout or bonfire on the beach. When I was in Okinawa, we had a campout on the beach with a midnight and early morning swim. When I was in Colorado Springs, I led a group of 10-12 year old boys on a hike up Pike’s Peak.

An outing should leave the kids (and leaders) with good memories. I have talked to boys that I worked with many years ago in Rangers who still remember some of the more exciting outings. If you are leading a religious group, there should be time designated for spiritual training, growth and reflection. God’s Word often takes on a whole new meaning when you are away from everyday distractions. Encourage the kids to talk about the outing at your next meeting. This will not only help etch the memories in their mind, but will encourage others to go on the next outing.

Unless specifically designated as such, an outing should not be an endurance test. By their very nature, a survival campout or multi-day hike can be rather stressful. Those going on that type of outing should know in advance that it is a “different kind of trip”. Even those trips need to have some element of fun built into them.

Whatever you do, be sure to plan for adequate adult supervision. Make sure that what you are doing is safe and everybody has been briefed on safety procedures. Consider the age and abilities of your group. Although you hope you will never need them, make plans for what you will do in case of an accident or injury. Make emergency plans for changes in weather. My opinion is that these plans should be put in writing and discussed with the other leaders before leaving for your outing.

Here are some outing ideas from my files and a few that I have borrowed from others. These are in no special order at this time. I am listing them as I think of them or run across them in my files. If you have any questions or would like more information, please feel free to email me at allen “at” reallyrandomsite.org (be sure to replace the “at” with “@”).

Build your own tent – Leave your tents at home! Bring a roll of black plastic and a lot of twine. Have the boys work in pairs and build their own tent. Obviously this should be done in nice weather and some lessons on how to build your own tent should have been taught before you get to the woods. This works best in wooded area where boys can find two trees to string their tent up. Since the boys are building their tents, the leaders should build theirs too. Take plenty of pictures (or video) of the building process as well as the boys in front of their tent in the morning. Have a contest and choose the best tent, most likely to get blown away, most original design, etc. --- Instead of leaving the tents at home, pack the tents and don’t tell the boys they have to build their own tent till you get to your campsite.

Compass course breakfast – After setting up camp at night, give the boys a refresher course on how to use a compass. If there is enough light left, have the boys practice getting a compass heading and pacing off a distance. After the boys are in bed, the leaders work together to find hiding places (be sure to mark them plainly) for the items needed for breakfast in the morning – skillets, spatulas, plates, eggs, bacon, etc. Mark a starting point and write cards showing the compass bearing and number of paces to each item’s hiding place. As the boys are getting up in the morning, a few of the leaders discreetly place the breakfast items in their predefined hiding places. When the boys are dressed, gather them around the starting mark. As the cards and compasses are passed out, announce to the boys that they will need to use what they learned about compasses to find their breakfast. Instead of putting perishable items like bacon and eggs in the woods, you may want to just make a sign that says “you found the …”.

Bicycle trip – Don’t make your first bicycle trip a 3-day, 150 mile ride! Start off small… Find a bicycle trail in your area that is 3-5 miles long and plan to ride it together. You will need leaders to ride with the slow group and the fast group. At the end of the trail, have a cookout and play some games.

Help-a-neighbor – This takes a lot of planning and a lot of help, but it is well worth the time. Find some senior citizens in your area that need help with some simple repair or cleanup. Gather your volunteers up at one place and hand out the jobs. Keep the jobs simple so they can be completed in about 30 – 45 minutes, but schedule your workers to be there for an hour. Hopefully, your workers will spend the extra time visiting with whoever they have worked for. Many things can go wrong with this activity so careful planning is mandatory. Make sure you have two responsible adults for each group of workers. Be very selective when picking the houses you will be working at. Keep the kids away from potentially abusive, chronically sick, or senile seniors (yes, that does sound cruel but you do need to protect these kids emotionally as well as physically). When everyone gets back to your original meeting place, take some time to share what you did that morning and any “special” things that happened.