Counselor Ben tells everyone at Camp Adventure a story about listening to instructions and a flaming ball of marshmallow. Plus a sing-along, bird calls, and delicious s’mores.
Counselor Ben tells everyone at Camp Adventure a story about listening to instructions and a flaming ball of marshmallow. Plus a sing-along, bird calls, and delicious s’mores.
We’d love to feature you and your fellow campers on our next episode. Share your camp space and your new camp flag for Camp Adventure on social media using #AKBAsummer or write to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com.
Camp Adventure: A Kids Summer Camp Podcast
S1 E6 “The Marshmallow Fireball”
[INTRODUCTION]
Ari: Welcome to Camp Adventure! Camp is in your living room. Camp is in your car on the way to the store. Camp is under your blanket fort. Camp is everywhere. And Camp Adventure is for everyone, no matter where in the world you are. And camp counselors Ben and Hannah are ready to welcome you.
It’s week number 6 at camp, and this week we’re exploring listening and learning.
I’m camp counselor Ari, and I’m so glad to be here at camp with you every week. It’s a beautiful day at Camp Adventure. Let’s say hello to our spectacular Counselor Ben to kick things off.
Ben: Ari—thank you—and yes, I am Camp Counselor Ben, and this IS our sixth week of summer camp! The sun is shinning on Camp Adventure, I think. The birds are chirping… And the campfires are smoking this week, because we’re talking about roasting things over the fire … and not just roasting ANY old thing, but roasting marshmallows—and roasting them to golden, sweet, gooey goodness until you have what is called the PERFECT GOLDEN TOASTY. MMmmmmmm….
But maybe you’ve roasted marshmallows before? And if you have, you know that they catch on fire sometimes!? And when that happens, there are a few IMPORTANT instructions to follow…. But you tell me: What if you have good instructions, but you do not LISTEN to those instructions?
My friends, that’s what our story is going to be about today—LISTENING—which is one of the hardest topics for any kid, ANYWHERE to discuss, but it’s not impossible. So we’re going to talk about flaming marshmallows and the art of listening today…. I’ll tell you more during storytime :)
But we have a few other things to do before stories, and I think you already know what time it is…. Who knows what time it is? Raise either your hand or foot if you know…. Or raise your voice, because—YES—you guessed it—it is time to meet with our one and only camp music leader, Hannah!
Did you know that Hannah and I have done many summer camps together with kids just like you…. One time, we were rafting and camping on the Rogue River, here in Oregon where she and I live, and she made a camp song for all the kids --- and it was only two words!!!—and it went like this: Campiiiiiiiiiiiing, again, again, again, again….. Campiiiiiiing, again, again, again, again….. And we loved that song!
But I have to admit, this Camp Adventure song she created is EVEN BETTER—which you already know --- because you and I sing it with her every week, so please welcome with me the great and knowledgeable, the one, the only—the Oregonian who prefers pedaling a bicycle MUCH MORE than riding in a car, the woman who never talks in her sleep but OFTEN SINGS in her sleep—my good friend, HANNAH GLAVOR!!!
[CAMP SONG]
Hannah: Wow Counselor Ben, I can’t believe you remember that song! You must be an excellent listener.
I do like to ride my bike. You know, one of my favorite things to do when I'm riding around on hot days in the summer, is to ride my bike through the sprinklers.
One thing I’d always do when I ride my bike around town is sing songs in my head or sometimes out loud, especially if I was trying to remember something.
When I put things to music, it helps me remember things better. I can remember all kinds of things when I put it to music. Like the alphabet backwards “zyxwvut…” No one else? Just me?
BUT in order to learn, we have to be good listeners—and we are going to practice that right now.
I am gonna invite you all to listen to some instructions and move your bodies a bit as you are able… so maybe make a little bit of space around you so we don’t knock over a tubas or tip over a cow or anything like that. We are going to get our bodies in place and then, we are going to try and sing the camp song together!
You ready to follow some instructions?
Alright, now, I want you to raise your left hand —very nice ok …now your right, yes perfect—let's wiggle your fingers to make sure they’re all there—hopefully? Yes! Great!
Ok now with both hands in place, we are going to pretend like you holding onto handlebars of a bicycle. You got it?
And now if you are able, I challenge you to put both of your feet up in the air and pretend you are pedaling…. Oh yep. Great core workout… Now, we are going to try riding WHILE you are singing, too, so keep those hands in the air and keep pedaling - because it is time to sing our camp song!! If you know it sing along, and if you are just joining us this week, sing it when you know it!
[sings]
Adventure (adventure)
We venture (we venture)
Together with courage
We learn and grow STRONG
We learn from (we learn from)
Each other (each other)
So let's discover and uncover
Great adventures bright and new
Hannah: Very nice! OK now I want you to imagine that you are riding your bike past a very calm pond surrounded by daffodils and and there are ducks swimming around and we are biking at a nice mellow pace - and keep biking….
[sings]
Adventure…. Mmmm very nice….
We venture
Together with courage
We learn and grow STRONG
We learn from (we learn from)
Each other (each other)
So let's discover and uncover
Great adventures bright and new
Hannah: OK, now we go to the tour de France, we are barreling downhill past some of the fastest bikers in the world, green and red and blue and purple jerseys and helmets and the coolest bikes you’ve ever seen - and to make us go faster, we need to sing this camp song as fast as we can. You ready?
[sings fast]
Adventure (adventure)
We venture (we venture)
Together with courage
We learn and grow STRONG
We learn from (we learn from)
Each other (each other)
So let's discover and uncover
Great adventures bright and new
Hannah: Oh man, that wiped me OUT. Now I know Counselor Ben has been singing our camp song all week long, but I want to hear YOU! So don’t forget to send in your videos so we can share them with the other campers!
And now, friends, it's finally time to hear from YOU Are you ready? It's time for (drumroll please) MAILBAG!
[MAILBAG]
AKBA Counselor Denise: Hi campers! I’m Camp Counselor Denise and I’m here with the Mail Bag. It’s where we keep all the mail we receive for our campers.
We are halfway through our time at Camp Adventure and I know you’ve met sooooo many camp counselors! I thought maybe it would be fun to see how many of us you can remember!
Who is the person who welcomes you to camp each day, makes sure you’re in a comfortable storytime spot, and is the last voice you hear at the end of camp?
Ari: Welcome to Camp Adventure!
AKBA Counselor Denise: That’s Camp Counselor Ari!
Did you remember? Nice! Okay, how about this one.
Who is the person who brings her guitar each week? The one who loves riding her bike and goes barefoot whenever she can?
Hannah: When I put things to music, it helps me remember things better
AKBA Counselor Denise: Camp Counselor Hannah is exactly right! Well done!
Okay. Last one.
Who is the person who loves a good peach pie? The person who once built a raft with a friend to paddle to a secret island? The one who built a whole castle out of chocolate (with the help of some friends)?
Ben: Dun Dunna DUUUUUUHN!
AKBA Counselor Denise: Too easy! Camp Counselor Ben, of course! You knew it!
If you’ve listened since the start you’ve also met Matthew, Emma, Jennifer, Kenya, Nakita, Duke, Aimee, and me, of course! Denise!
There are a lot of us, but there are a WHOLE LOT more of you! And we’d love to get to know you, too!
Send us a message by writing to listen@akidspodcastabout.com (your grownup can help) or on social media using #AKBAsummer. Maybe something you share will even end up in our Mail Bag next week.
That’s listen@akidspodcastabout.com or on social media using #AKBAsummer.
And that’s it! Have a great day at camp!
Aimee: Hi Campers! I’m Camp Counselor Aimee, and I’m back with another bird song call for you to learn, practice, and try to spot in the wild.
If you joined us last week you may remember that I teach general music at an elementary school. I am always, always singing (just ask Camp Counselor Matthew) and so you can imagine how excited I get when I’m outside and I hear our native birds singing, too.
Often I hear birds before I see them, and today I want to share a bird song call I always love to hear. It belongs to the Black-Capped Chickadee, a bird I enjoy hearing all year long no matter the season.
Black-Capped Chickadee are found across the Northern United States and Southern Canada. In the summer they eat caterpillars and other insects (including cicadas). They also eat some types of spiders and snails. And if you’re near a berry bushe you’ll almost definitely catch a chickadee feeding.
When the Black-Capped Chickadee calls, it sounds like it’s saying its name.
Their song call sounds like chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.
Here. Let’s listen together.
[Sound of the bird song call]
Try it with me! Chick-a-dee-dee-dee. Chick-a-dee-dee-dee.
Excellent! You’ve got it! If you were a bird, I wonder how you might sing your name? Try it out!
I’ll be back in a few weeks with more bird song calls. Bye!
Matthew: Hi campers! It’s Camp Counselor Matthew, Games Director at Camp Adventure and today I have a game that you can play literally anywhere. On a hike. At the playground. Under a tree. In the bathtub. While enjoying a snack. Or when you’re trying to pass a few minutes.
You just need at least one other person to play.
Today’s game is called “Camping Trip”! Totally appropriate, right?
This is a game about words. It’s also a game about looking for patterns and relationships.
Here, let me give you an example.
What do these three objects have in common:
A grapefruit. An orange. An apple.
They’re all fruit. Yep!
Now, can you think of any other items that would fit into that set?
How about a watermelon? Or blueberries?
You got it! Now you know the basics of the game. Of course, I love a challenge. So let’s try a set that’s a little more challenging.
What do these three objects have in common:
Socks. A sandwich. And a snake.
Did you figure it out?
Sock, sandwich, and snake all begin with the letter “S”. So if you wanted to add to the list, you’d have to name an item that begins with the letter “S”. Any item at all.
Alright. Let’s get to the game. Whoever is leading the game begins by saying, “I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring…” And then they name three items that go together.
I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring a stick, a bar of chocolate, and some mud. You can come on my camping trip, too, but you need to bring something that fits with the items I’ve already shared.
The person or people you’re playing with then take turns asking, “Can I bring…?” And if their items match your pattern, they get to join your camping trip. If the item doesn’t match, they need to wait and take another turn.
I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring a stick, a bar of chocolate, and some mud. Want to come? What are you going to bring?
You could bring some chocolate milk! You could bring a brown bear! You could bring coffee beans! You could bring a bucket of brown paint!
Have you guessed the pattern?
Have fun playing this game with friends. And let me know if you’re able to stump them (or if you get stumped yourself!)
Until next time! Bye!
Ari: All right campers, after this break we’re going to hear a story from Camp Counselor Ben, and I promise, you won’t wanna miss it!
[BREAK]
Ari: Okay, we’re back, and it’s storytime! Are you excited? Me too!
So, let’s get ready for this week’s story! Do some good stretches and get cozy. All right, in just a sec let’s hit pause to get in this week’s perfect listening spot. 3, 2, 1 GO! Where’d you pick? This week I’m listening at my table with a bowl of my favorite summer snack, fresh strawberries—wherever you go, get comfy!
Are you ready, Counselor Ben?
[STORYTIME]
Ben: Thank you thank you, Ari. I’m ready, and I know these most excellent adventure campers are ready, too. Aren’t you? You are!! Good—because this week’s story is called “The Marshmallow Fireball.”
And you may have already guessed—it has to do with marshmallows…. And it has to do with fire!!... And it has to do with something that all kids are very good at and—sometimes—NOT so good at—which means we all have to learn this one thing—it’s not an easy one thing to learn, either—and it’s called LISTENING.
Uh oh…. Raise your hand if you have ever had a grown up tell you: “Please listen! You need to listen!” or maybe they ask you “Are you listening???”
Yeah—if you’ve ever had a grown up tell you to listen, that means you’re like me, and all of us—it’s not easy….
Well, our story starts back at that same special lake I was telling a story about last week, RAZORBACK lake, up in northern Wisconsin… And this is another camping story.
I’ve got two questions to begin: First, please raise your hand if you have ever been camping…. Ahh. Just as I thought—some have, and others have not been camping, yet. That’s OK. My wife, Ali, did not go camping until she was a grown up…. But she did have S’Mores when she was a kid…. And that’s my second question: Whether you’ve been camping or not, have you ever eaten a S’More?
You know…. That perfect sandwich invented in HEAVEN—where you put a piece of chocolate and a roasted, toasted, goooooey marshmallow in between two graham crackers, and you SQUISH the marshmallow into the chocolate, and it melts, and you get chocolate and marshmallow all over your face… but my GOODNESS, it is SO SO GOOD!!!
People often make s’mores when they’re camping, but you can make s’mores even when you’re not camping… WOW—can you imagine how cool it would be if one of these weeks, our weekly challenge was MAKING S’MORES?!
Well there we were, hanging out at our campsite as the sun was going down…. Razorback lake was calm…. And the ducks were swimming around out on the bay, diving underwater to catch minnows for their supper.
And we roasted hot dogs on the campfire for our supper…. And when supper was over, it was time for roasting marshmallows—that was my FAVORITE PART!
“Mom?” I asked. “Do we have any chocolate bars left…? Can we make s’mores, PLEASE???”
“Absolutely,” she said. “And let’s make them SPECIAL.”
The standard s’more is very good—don’t get me wrong. You can’t really beat the graham cracker + chocolate + marshmallow recipe. It is a perfectly designed camping dessert.
HOWEVER, my sister Christy and I liked to be creative. So one night when we were making s’mores, we put peanut butter on the crackers. YES!! Peanut butter and chocolate smores are EXCELLENT, too.
And another day, when we were riding our bikes around the campground and logging roads in the woods, we found HUGE red raspberry patches. OF COURSE we picked a bowlfull of sweet red raspberries—and guess what—you can stab a marshmallow with your pocket knife and squish a raspberry right into the middle of the marshmallow, and after you roast it and make a s’more—guess what?!—YES—you get raspberry & chocolate s’mores….. Oh my goodness. So delicious.
I think you understand—we loved making s’mores.
And when my grownups gave the instructions on how to make good s’mores—Christy and I listened. We PAID ATTENTION, and we followed the instructions. First, get your crackers and chocolate ready…THEN, roast the marshmallow…FINALLY, squish them all together into the HEAVENLY sandwich, and NOW, chomp into it and ENJOY—MMMMmhmmmmmm……
But there was another instruction mixed in there, and it was easy to miss. If you were not listening carefully, you would not have heard it.
The instruction was about fire—and how to roast a marshmallow—what to do, and what NOT to do, if your marshmallow catches on fire.
Campers—here’s a third question—if you have ever roasted a marshmallow, tell me, has it ever caught on fire? IT’S THE WORST!! Isn’t it?
When you’re roasting your marshmallow, you want to keep turning it, and you want it to get golden brown…. We call them “golden toasties,” but trying to roast a perfectly golden marshmallow without it BURSTING into flames is not easy. Often, especially while we were learning…
So my grownups both said: “OK—sometimes the marshmallows catch on fire—and when that happens, you have to slowly lift the marshmallow up toward you, and you have to blow the fire out with your mouth. Just like if you were blowing out a birthday candle.
“That is the instruction—and DO NOT FORGET IT—because if you wave the marshmallow around on the end of your stick to blow the fire out, well…just don’t EVER do that. NEVER. OK?”
I said, “OK!” but I was not really listening . . . And my sister Christy said, “OK—I will!” but she, too, was not really listening. It’s HARD to listen isn’t it.
And it’s really hard to listen when you’re roasting a sweet, gooey marshmallow for s’mores.
So there we were. . .The campfire was burned down a bit, so we had perfect glowing hot coals for roasting. . . . And my dad carefully turned his marshmallow, keeping it from catching on fire…. BOOM—he was done—it was a perfect golden toasty marshmallow. I mean PERFECT.
Then I got my crackers and chocolate ready, and I roasted my marshmallow. It was not as perfect as my Dad’s, but it was gooey and good enough for a tasty s’more.
And then Christy got her stuff ready, and she started roasting her marshmallow. But it wasn’t roasting as fast as she wanted. . . . It was taking too long. She was excited to have her s’more, so she poked her roasting stick in toward the fire a little more….
The marshmallow started to blister, and the edges started turning a light golden brown. And Dad said, “Be careful—that marshmallow is steaming, which means it’s about to catch on fire!!! So she turned it, but the marshmallow just started steaming more.
But she was impatient—and she held it there, over the hot coals until….. The worst thing that could have happened HAPPENED!!! And POOF—in an instant, the entire marshmallow BURST INTO FLAMES.
“OH NO!!!” Christy screamed!!! No more golden toasty—this marshmallow was now a fireball on the end of a stick!!!
Now, campers—please tell me --- were YOU listening before? What was the No.1 rule if your marshmallow catches fire? YES! DO NOT wave it around in the air; instead, pull it up toward your mouth and blow the flames out.
What do you suppose my sister Christy did, though? YES! She grabbed the bottom of her roasting stick and started whipping it back and forth as fast as she could.
It all happened so fast…. Back and forth, she whipped the flaming marshmallow back and forth, hoping to extinguish the flames, but that’s not what happened. Instead, the marshmallow burned even hotter….. And brighter….
“NOOOOOO!!!!” Christy yelled out, and she swung her roasting stick so hard that “Swoosh!!!” the flaming marshmallow went sailing through the air….
Our eyes were all open wide—it was like slow motion—as the fireball marshmallow went sailing through the air—straight into my MOM’s HEAD!!!
The fireball bounced off of her head and SPLACK!!!—while it was still on FIRE—it stuck to the side of our screen tent and started burning a hole…. And my mom’s hair was on FIRE, TOO!!!
“Yeeahhhoooooowwwwww!!!” She screamed, smacking her own head, squishing the molten hot sugar into her hair, trying to put the fire on her head out!!!
And my dad jumped up before the marshmallow could burn any more of the tent.
And finally, we got the fire on Mom’s head put out, and the fire on our screen tent put out. There was a HUGE hold melted in the side of the tent. And the whole campsite smelled like burnt hair—which does not smell very good.
And Christy was terrified. She realized that she had not listened very well. “I’m sorry for lighting your head on fire, Mom,” she said. She felt bad. “And for burning our tent. . . . ”
Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured, and we had patches to fix the hole in the tent.
But I’ll tell you what, my friends: Neither Christy nor I EVER AGAIN whipped our marshmallows around on the end of the stick when they caught fire. From that night, and forevermore, we always LISTENED to the instructions—we always blew them out like a candle.
Notice something important, here, campers—listening to our grownups is not easy. And it’s especially hard when they tell us to do stuff that we don’t really understand—neither Christy nor I thought it was that big of a deal, to put flaming marshmallows out one way and not another way…. Who cares? It seemed like a silly rule --- but when my mom’s head was on fire, THEN we realized that it wasn’t a silly rule at all. So, listening is particularly hard when the instructions don’t make sense to us.
Kids like us—we have a hard time listening, and that is normal. So the best we can do is practice and say, “I’m going to keep doing my best to listen to instructions. And if they don’t make sense to me, I’ll ask questions.”
Sound good? There’s no way to do good adventuring without lots of good listening. And, you never know, by listening well, you might just avoid catching your head on fire… or catching someone else’s head on fire… or burning down your tent or starting a forest fire!! (I sure am glad we didn’t start a forest fire, huh?!)
Let’s be listeners, my campers. And let’s learn from our mistakes and keep getting better at listening as we go. Sound good? Sounds very good to me….
And we can practice right now, because it’s time for our Weekly Challenge…. Which includes chocolate and marshmallows and graham crackers this week…. Can you guess what it is? I’ll be right back to tell you….. :)
[WEEKLY CAMP CHALLENGE]
Ben: All right my friends, this is going to be a TASTY weekly challenge for week six because you get to use marshmallows, and chocolate, and graham crackers—AND MAYBE OTHER THINGS—because you’re going to be making your own s’mores!!!
What would an adventure camp even be without a week of s’mores?! Know what I mean?!
First, you’ve got to get your ingredients all together. I like the Honey Made Graham crackers and Hershey’s chocolate bars, but you can use anything you like.
The best marshmallows for roasting are Kraft Jet Puffed—they make perfect golden toasties—but you can use any kind of marshmallows. You can even find recipes on Google (with your grownups supervision, of course) to make your own marshmallows. Who knew! There are even recipes to make different flavors of marshmallows… I know. It’s awesome.
So, those are the basics you need: graham crackers and marshmallows and chocolate. But like we did, you can add peanut butter. . . . Or maybe you like Nutella—mmmm! And you can stuff the marshmallows with red raspberries—I KNOW that works well—but maybe try other berries, like strawberries or something. GET CREATIVE!
And then you have to roast the marshmallow. The BEST way is over a campfire, but there are other ways. You’ll have to work with your grownup about the fire part—sometimes you can roast them over a different kind of fire. And sometimes, if you don’t have a fire—maybe you’re deep in the city, or maybe you live in an apartment—did you know that you can melt marshmallows in the microwave? It’s true . . . they puff up real big, and you can make s’mores that way, too.
There are many, MANY ways to make smores, and that is your weekly challenge this week. MAKE SOME S’MORES.
And then send in your creative recipes if you find a new way to make them. And send in your pictures of the s’mores you make, of you taking a BIG CHOMP into your s’more—whatever kinds of pictures you want to take.
Most of all, remember to never hurry or worry about these challenges—take your time, and have lots of fun!! That’s what camp is all about. And don’t forget to share your fun with the other campers, and here’s Counselor Ari one more time to remind you how to do just that. I’ll see you next week. I can’t wait!!!
[CLOSING]
Ari: Thanks, Ben! And thank you, campers for joining us at Camp Adventure this week. We’d love to feature you and your fellow campers on our next episode. Share your camp space and all your weekly camp challenge creations on social media using #AKBAsummer or write to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com.
Camp Adventure is written by Ben Tertin with help from the A Kids Podcast About team. Original music is by Hannah Glavor. Check out Hannah’s albums at https://hannahglavor.bandcamp.com.
The show is edited and produced by Matthew Winner with help from me, Ari Mathae.
Audio production is by Chad Michael Snavely and the team at Sound On Studios. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show was brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
Listen to other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsbookabout.com. While you’re there, be sure to check out Ben’s book, A Kids Book About Adventure.
See you back at Camp Adventure next week.