We do two camp ins every year and the one piece of advise I can give is
organization.  You have to make sure every waking moment (and every
moment of a sleep over is waking take my word for it) is taken up by some
sort of directed activity, including when to go to the bathroom, when to
snack, etc.  The last thing you want is sleepy kids on a Sunday morning
with nothing to do or bored by what you have planned.  Keep three or four
fun things to do ready to go at all times.  I think you are being  _very_
 ambitious planning for 100 kids your first time out and a ratio of 1 to
10 might be too high (unless you have not counted your staff in the
equation) one adult can watch 10 well behaved children but will have
troube with ten poorly behaved children.  Overnights can be very
rewarding especially for those of us who rarely interact with young
guests for longer than one hour, getting to know these children for half
a day is fun, but they are also a lot of work and require an
exponentially higher amount of people, supplies, and activities.

ONe thing I want strongly reccomend is a group leaders orientation about
a month before the event.  Go over itinerary, museum layout, all rules
and regulations, and any information they may need to equip themselves
properly for the night.  FOr example I strongly encourage sleeping bags
or air mattresses because of the hardnesss of most of our floors.  I can
tell them this in a memo, but walking on the cement themselves makes them
believe.

If you have any specific questions, drop me a note.



Matthew A. White
Director of Education and Internship Coordinator
Baltimore Museum of Industry
1415 Key Highway
Baltimore, MD 21230
(410)727-4808
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