• A campfirecampfire image by Petro Feketa from Fotolia.com
  
  A camporee is a regional gathering of Boy Scout units that is much like a jamboree but on a smaller scale. The focus of a camporee is on camping activities. A theme, such as wilderness survival, is given each new camporee to keep it exciting and to avoid repetition, according to the U.S. Scouting Service Project. This event brings patrols and troops together to work as teams on activities they normally could not do individually.
  
  

Shelter Building

• One of the first basic need for wilderness survival is a shelter. The shelter is to provide protection from the elements. For one of the activities, you can have a timed shelter building contest. This can be done with leave-covered branches made as a lean-to or a dug out snow shelter. This type of activity can also give the leaders a chance to give hands-on instructions of what makes a good shelter for the element that they are in.
  
  

Fire Building

• Fire is an important part of wilderness survival. It provides light, heat, cooking energy and can act as a signal for rescue. Building a fire without matches and dry wood is another skill-building exercise that can be taught at the camporee. A training on building fires can follow with a fire-building contest. The scouts can pair off to gather the wood and kindling and build a fire without matches; whoever gets the flame going first is the winning team.
  
  

First Aid

• When out in the wilderness, you are far away from the nearest medical facility, and what you do before medical help has arrived may save a life. A first aid training can be done by the scout leaders complete with CPR, bone splinting and wound dressing. At the end of this training, a contest can be held for the most efficient leg splinting in a designated time frame. This will make it interesting for the scouts.
  
  

Bucket Brigade

• A bucket brigade might be a necessity if a campfire gets out of hand. The campers can be split up in two teams, with each forming a line from the lake, river or stream. Each team will need to fill a set amount of buckets, such as 50 and hand it up the line to be dumped in a designated area. Whichever team dumps the 50th bucket first wins. This is a great exercise to prepare the group if an emergency should arrive.
  
  

Rescue

• The wilderness can be dangerous, and if an accident does happen, you may have to carry one of your members who has been injured to safety. This can be part training and part activity for the scouts. Have the scouts build a transport stretcher out of branches and any fabric they have with them. This can be done in teams. Once the activity is done, the stretchers can be judged for integrity and usefulness.