Songs for Summer Camp

Whether we went to camp or not, many of us learned camp songs to sing on long trips. My favorites were the silly and sometimes gross variations of the classis songs, including my fav, "On Top of the Beach," based on the camp song, "On Top of Spaghetti" to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey."

On top of the beach,
All covered with sand,
I hit my poor teacher,
With my new rubber band.

I did it with pleasure
I did it with pride,
I couldn’t have missed her,
‘Cause she’s forty-feet wide.

And this little ditty...

Comet, it tastes like gasoline.
Comet, it makes your teeth turn green.
Comet, it makes you vomit,
So get some Comet and vomit toda-a-ay!

Popular camp songs included "Found a Peanut," "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?," "The Happy Wanderer," "If You're Happy," "Oh, Suzannah," and, of course, "Kum ba ya."

What were your favorite camp songs? Let us know at Boomerang and we'll share them in our Reflections section.

Summer Camp Crafts

Craft items we made at camp — some of our moms still have them tucked away! I first learned how to weave at camp (well, at least the basic concepts) on one of those little looms with the strechy loop fabric. In the early years I recall we made necklaces of plastic beads that resembled cut up plastic drinking straws but later graduated to more durable "pony" beads still popular today. Boys came home with leather crafts, mostly wallets and money pouches, and my brother once crafted a pretty good little bark canoe.

The Making Friends website is full of kids' craft ideas. They happen to have instructions for making the traditional woven pot holders AND leather money pouches!

— Betty

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