Every time I see people blogging about playing Big Brother or Survivor in a day care or camp really makes me question how the hell the people are actually able to play. This is not shade to M_Davis1998 since he’s the one currently blogging about it btw. I would LOVE to do this with kids at my camp but I have a few issues that I can think of immediately.
After working at a summer camp for 3 summers now, I find it VERY hard to believe that Survivor or Big Brother is a game that would be able to play with a young group of kids. Here are all my problems with it:
Quick Intro: I work with kids that are 6-8 years old. I typically have 9-17 kids in my group each day while our entire camp has around 40-50 kids in the room total.
~The amount of drama/crying/fighting that would arise from the game would be far too much. I can’t imagine how many kids would be crying when they get voted out or how the game would lead to arguing.The kids would then complain to their parents and ultimately get the game shut down via complaining to our boss
~If actual Survivor and BB players remain bitter after the game, imagine how petty kids would be. I spend 8 hours a day, 4 days a week for 11 weeks with these kids. If people hurt others’ feelings and hate each other, I have to deal with it ALL summer long.
~The inconsistency in attendance would be a huge red flag to me. At my camp, many kids come on very difference schedules. Some come every other day, some only come on field trip days, some come every day, and some come random days during the week. I wouldn’t be able to play with so many inconsistent people.
~What do you do with the kids who get voted out? A big rule at my camp is we have to include every kid in every activity we do. If they get out in games it’s only temporary and not long-term. If someone got voted off day 1, what are they supposed to do while everyone else is playing?
~It may be easier for an older age group, but I know my kids would have a hard time actually concentrating and staying motivated toward a game that like lasts the entire day. After a while I know they would be complaining about being bored and whatnot.
Comments
I also can't imagine kids plotting about who they want to get rid of lMFAO
I had these concerns as well, and i can address how i handled each one. :)
Intro - The kids i had playing were ages 7 to 11. I have a total of 17 kids (we had two recently leave the center with one more leaving after friday and two new ones just joined us, with one more also about to come). I work at a daycare so there is only one school age room. We split the kids in to two groups based on age. The 5/6 year olds are all in the other group. We rotate when we go on field trips, so when we are on field trips, they stay back and when we stay back, they are on field trips. We are only there together during lunch and before 9am and after about 4pm depending on the trip. We typically would do challenges at the center, but if possible, we did them at the trip, however this was always to the kids preference because i didn't want them to lose out on whatever activity they were doing. (We did challenges at the trips to parks and one time at the pool when we had to sit out on the bus due to thunder).
Drama - I told the kids at the beginning of the game that we had to be able to handle the game to be able to play. If we whined and threw fits after being voted out, we wouldnt be able to play anymore and it would ruin it for everyone. I believe that i got lucky with the kids i have. I know my kids well and i know how they react to things. Some groups of kids that are the same exact ages might not do well with this game because of their personalities and that is perfectly fine. It really depends on your group of kids. I didn't actually tell my boss we were playing this game. If she would have asked, i would have just told her we were playing a game, but not actually said the whole truth. This is because my boss is from Panama and wouldnt quite understand Survivor anyways and telling her we are playing a game where kids get voted out by each other wouldn't fly with her, even though it is actually harmless.
Bitterness - My group of kids actually have expressed that a lot of them watch survivor and big brother. They understand that this is a game and we stressed over and over about this being a game and that when they are out, they are out. Almost every single kid got upset after being voted out, but it wasn't anything different than the real survivor players. Most of them got over it within like 30 minutes. I would like to stress again how lucky i got with my group of kids to be honest. I think my kids kept the drama to the game and haven't taken it outside of the game at all. There is so much going on in the classroom and drama that already happens in the class that the survivor drama doesn't really add anything that wouldn't happen anyways.
Attendance - We ran into this problem as a few kids weren't there at all the first week we played. For this, we said that the kids were allowed to be voted out while they were not there. If they had an idol and got voted out with it when they weren't there, that was on them. This year, we got lucky again with the fact that all my kids are scheduled Monday through Friday. In years past, there have been kids that only came three days a week, but that isn't the case this year. We told the kids that it was a risk not coming to daycare, and if they got voted out while they were gone, it was part of the game. We ended up pulling two kids out of the game because they hadnt been there and put two kids back in the game who were voted out while they were gone, but came the next day. Then one kid also got voted out with an idol while he wasn't there at final 5. I believe this was the most fair way to play the game. Also, our final 8 were all present through the entire finale except for the kid who got 5th who was just gone that day.
Kids that get voted out - We planned challenges that allowed the other kids to also play. We did obstacle courses that they also ran in. We did 21 questions (kinda) where the eliminated players got to give points on the team of their choice if they got a point. This is basically challenge by challenge basis. Also, the challenges towards the end of the game, the eliminated players got to watch the competitors play, which was just as interesting as if they were playing. Also, we did connect four for a challenge, which we just did during free time and didnt interrupt the class to play.
Overall, i think i got lucky with the kids i have and the fact that they already watch survivor and big brother and knew how to handle it, and the fact that i know when / if i have to pull the plug on the game, that i would do so. Im glad i didn't have to. There was a little bit of drama, but the kids did very well at keeping it within the game and im really proud of them for it.
Smoothstalker12, btw im not arguing here and i know you weren't, i just wanted to explain how i handled each of your concerns :)
I'm sure the kids would reallyyy enjoy it and be interested but if u had attacks from parents ewww lol what would u do
Parents are way worse lol
@mdavis_1998
I have 6 younger sisters. Even the 13 year old one can't sit through a 30 minute TV show. I can't see kids as young as 6 or 7 remaining consistent with a game like this having any interest in playing this. They just don't seem mature enough
From the sounds of it, M_Davis1998 seems articulate and intuitive enough to pull the plug on it it caused any real distress. I think failing is a huge part of development and learning of a child and so is risk taking. I think the fact that despite losing to one another or being voted out, the fact they put differences aside from the game and getting along is more character building than what most schools offer. I support it if don right, which here it is.
Basically, we played it for about 30 minutes a day, if that. Maybe longer some times, idk. But with all the kids interested and playing, they kept their interest. The majority of my kids were 9 or older. We only had like 2 or 3 kids playing that were younger than 9. I honestly was surprised by how well it went, but very happy about it. When the kids get excited about something, and they did because normally theyd be playing with the same toys they have been playing with all year long, they get into it.
