Outdoor Livings Skills®: ready, set, go

Camping Magazine, May-June, 2003 by Brigitta Modglin

4. Provide staff with resources. Place the Outdoor Living Skills Program Manual: An Environmentally Friendly Guide in every unit so that staff can reference the skills and resource information, as needed. OLS level grids are part of the staff manual. The OLS Field Guide is also a great tool and small enough to fit in any backpack!

5. Determine how you will recognize participant accomplishment. ACA offers triangular patches for cacti level of participant recognition. When a camper completes a level, the camp can provide a certificate of accomplishment. If the camper also wants a patch, the patches can be available for purchase at the camp store. Those completing an entire level can also be recognized at the camp's final campfire or other award ceremony

Can the OLS Program Be Used with an Outdoor Education Program?

Of course, the OLS program can integrate with outdoor and environmental education programs and facilities. To develop a curriculum and lesson plans for an outdoor education center, the OLS Program Leader lessons can be modified to suit the schedule of the school groups attending. In doing this, you can create several "classes" of OLS skills including a few that have multiple levels.

What about Day Camps, Park Districts and Other Programs?

Day camp programs, after school programs, park districts, and many other outdoor programs can use the OLS program, as well. Recently, a park department included several outdoor skills sessions in its summer schedule. Several very talented education majors were able to pick up the lesson plans from the Program Leader Manual, read through the Outdoor Living Skills: An Environmentally Friendly Guide, and teach the sessions with wonderful success. The staff commented on the convenience and ease of the lessons and information while the parents and participants gave rave reviews on the quality of the program and the knowledgeable staff.

In What Other Ways Can We Use the OLS Program?

Other ways to utilize the OLS program include integrating it into any program or activity that takes place in the natural environment. A few years ago, a Girl Scout council offered a training program for their leaders that included an introduction to Girl Scouting, the basics of art overnight (in the home or other building), tent camping, and outdoor cooking. The director of training integrated ACA's OLS program into the council's outdoor training program for leaders. Several of the council trainers reviewed the OLS program requirements and compared them with requirements of the basics of overnight, tent camping, and outdoor cooking trainings. They determined that by adding a few training sessions on knots and tools, weather, ecology, and how to use the OLS program, they could fill the gap between the Girl Scout council training and the OLS program.

Additionally, if the current Girl Scout instructors went through OLS Instructor training, they could then "qualify" their participants as OLS Program Leaders. If an OLS Instructor were teaching an outdoor skills workshop, the instructor would sign the leaders training record as an official OLS training. When the Girl Scout leader had completed the council's basic trainings and the additional OLS workshops, the leader would qualify as a Program Leader and could begin using the program with their Girl Scouts.