Let’s talk a sec about something I’m sure you’ve seen hundreds of times.
That first-time camper freezing at the beginning of breakfast, completely overwhelmed by the chaos of… well, everything.
The wildin’-out cheering. The “hilarious” inside jokes. The quasi-telepathic understanding of whether to sit here or there or anywhere.
The mysterious hand signals somehow translating to “Yo, pass the bug juice!”
We’ve all seen it. That deer-in-headlights look that screams: “What in the actual heck is happening right now?!”
Welcome to what my friend George deftly nicknamed the “Hiddy Cricks” (shorthand for the concept of the Hidden Curriculum), and it’s literally everywhere at camp.
The Things Nobody Tells You (But Everybody Knows)
Here’s a fun game: Try explaining to a first-time camp parent why their kid needs to bring a crazy sock for “crazy sock day” but definitely not their best crazy sock because it might get lost in the “sock sacrifice ceremony” that happens during a special event.
…I’ll wait while you attempt that explanation.
Tough, right? Because at camp, we’re swimming in unspoken rules and traditions.
Ones that makes perfect sense to us but sound absolutely bonkers to newcomers.
Making the Invisible Visible
You know where I first really got this?
Working at Camp SkyWild, an autism camp, completely changed how I think about making spaces welcoming for everyone.
Here’s the thing - when you’re designing a camp experience for kids on the autism spectrum, you can’t rely on a “don’t worry, everybody just knows” framework for the day-to-day.
You have to get really good at making the invisible visible. And what I learned there changed everything about how I think approach any camp.
My friend Sylvia Van Meerten (who’s basically the camp world’s Hidden Curriculum guru) puts it this way: We’re all complicated behavioral beings using our actions to size each other up. Think about how you instinctively know how to act differently at a library versus a party versus a church.
But camp? Camp is its own planet with its own gravity.
Start SWAP-ing
When I’m at camp, I love using a framework simplifying this whole thing.
It’s called SWAP and I think it’s the best way to bring the Hidden Curriculum to the forefront so everyone can “see” it clearly.
It goes like this.
- S → Short explanation of what’s coming
- W → Waiting. There’s always some waiting between activities
- A → Acknowledge it might feel weird
- P → Point out the person to ask for help
Sounds simple, right? It is, and it unlocks something powerful, too.
Check it out. Next time, you have a group of new campers, maybe don’t just go, “Time for lunch!”
Instead, SWAP it with:
“We’re heading to lunch. When we get there, we wait outside till the director lets us in. Then we get to eat. It gets pretty loud in there, and people might start singing. Totally normal. Stay with your counselor - they’ll show you where to sit. Feeling weird about it? That’s okay - you don’t have to sing if it’s not for you.”
This makes sure the next thing (which can always seem weird at camp) is as clear as possible.
Will it answer every single question? No, but it clears a ton out of the way.
Why This Actually Matters
And here’s something, well, wild, I learned at Camp SkyWild (autism camp):
When you design your program for the kids who need the most support, you accidentally (but awesomely) make it better for everyone.
Think about it - every kid arrives at camp with some level of anxiety about the unknown. Some just hide it better than others.
The difference between a total meltdown and a kick-ass first day often comes down to one thing: understanding what’s freaking going on.
Remember that frozen first-time camper from earlier? The one walking into the dining hall like a deer in headlights?
They’re not just confused about lunch. They’re learning something way bigger:
- How to navigate new social situations
- When to ask for help
- What it feels like to join a new community
- How to help others do the same
And mainly, how to be authentically part of all that incredible chaos around them.
Making It Work at Your Camp
The key really is starting to talk about the idea of Hiddy Cricks and making it cool to illuminate it instead of looking down on new people for not knowing.
George and I would even yell it out at times, crazy stuff like, "Hey, what's the Hiddy Cricks today?"
And the answers would be some "inside joke" everyone at camp understood because we were saying it, explicitly.
So what I am going to do is run sessions with the leadership and then the full staff on the idea.
First, I’m playing this video, talking about weird not wrong, and then giving the new folks a chance to start telling everyone what is “weird” about camp.
Trust me, you will learn a ton that you haven’t thought of.
Second, I’ll split people into groups and ask them what the hidden curriculum is that returners all just know in different areas of camp.
One group gets the waterfront, another group gets the dining hall, etc.
And finally, we’ll figure out how to easily help new folks understand as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
Signs? SWAP? Video sent ahead of time? Whatever works to make sure everyone feels like an insider right from the jump.
Camp magic isn’t in the secret stuff.
It's about sharing the coolest things in ways that make everyone feel like they’re in on something special.
Making sure everyone knows the Hiddy Cricks.
You got this,
Jack