WE ARE PROUD of the many Scouts and adult Scouters who serve on our staff. Listed here are the program departments of our summer camp and links to schedules and more information. We hope that you will have time to acquaint yourself with our Camp Program Director and the Department Heads as they are key to the camp program.
Ages & Stages
Other Areas with Other Ability Considerations
Aquatics - Scouts attempting lake activities must be able to reasonably handle their canoe, kayak or row boat with little assistance. Badge sessions are 1.5 hours and can prove physically strenuous. Instructional Swim is available for Scouts who have not passed the swim test but is not recommended for Scouts with a severe aversion to swimming.
Dan Beard - The majority of Scouts in Dan Beard are 12 or under. Older Scouts who’ve entered Scouting lately can greatly benefit from the Dan Beard program but only if they believe they’ll work well with a younger group.
Handicraft – Leatherworking and Woodcarving require both good hand strength and control. Scouts with poor knife or tool control can prove dangerous to themselves and those around them. Scouts that may have control troubles should look into less tool-centered badges like Art, Composite Materials, Fingerprinting or Textiles.
Rock Climbing – All campers that want to do any climbing at camp must get an okay from the Health Officer. The Health Officer may turn down any participant not believed to be healthy enough to climb. The recommended age for climbing is 13 but smaller or weaker Scouts may need to wait. Scouts under 13 can climb if they have both Health Officer and Climbing Director approval.
Shooting Sports – Scouts must be large enough and mature enough to safely handle bows and firearms. Any Shooting Sports Staff Member may remove a Scout from the Shooting Sports Ranges if they believe the Scout may threat the safety of the staff or other participants.
Ockanickon Program Overview
Each department offers activities in addition to merit badges. Each department header is clickable and will direct you to more information about that department. Below these lists are also individual activities that aren’t offered by a specific department followed by Patrol and Troop Activities. By Appointment badges for each department are not listed and information about By Appointment badges is available in the Appointment badges section.
Each department name is hyperlinked to the program details for that area.
| Department | Merit badges | Other Activities |
|---|---|---|
| Adventure Sports | High COPE Low COPE Mountain Biking Mountain Boarding |
|
| Aquatics | Canoeing Lifesaving Rowing Small Boat Sailing Swimming |
BSA Lifeguard Discover Scuba Evening Sailing Instructional Swim Kayaking BSA Mile Swim Open Boating Open Swim Polar Bear Swim Safe Swim Defense Training Safety Afloat Training Scuba BSA Snorkeling BSA |
| Dan Beard | Through Full Day Dan Beard: Mammal Study Swimming |
Totin’ Chip |
| Eagle | Citizenship in the Community Citizenship in the Nation Citizenship in the World Communications Emergency Preparedness First Aid Personal Fitness Personal Management |
|
| Ecology | Animal Science Bird Study Energy Engineering Environmental Science Fish and Wildlife Management Fishing Forest Geology Insect Study Landscape Architecture Mammal Study Nature Oceanography Reptile & Amphibian Study Soil & Water Conservation |
First Class Requirement 6 Leave No Trace Training Night Hike Second Class Requirement 5 Tenderfoot Requirement 11 |
| Handicraft | Art Basketry Indian Lore Fingerprinting Leatherworking Pottery Textiles Woodcarving |
|
| Photography | Photography | |
| Rock Climbing | Rock Climbing | |
| Science | Astronomy Chemistry Nuclear Science Weather |
|
| Scoutcraft | Camping Cooking Orienteering Pioneering Wilderness Survival |
Geocaching Lashing Competition Map and Compass Courses Orienteering Courses |
| Shooting Sports | Archery Rifle Shooting Shotgun Shooting |
Open Archery Open Rifle Shooting Open Shotgun Shooting |
| Woodburning | Woodburning | |
| No Specific Area or Offsite | DROP Program Golf Horseback Riding Music Photography Radio |
Ajapeu Award CPR Training Duty to God Program OA Social Magic Tournament |
Troop and Patrol Activities
More detail on these activities can be found in the Other Troop Activities area of the Unit Program Page
| Activity | Can be Done By |
|---|---|
| Airband Competition | Troop |
| Bamboo Lashing Competition | Troop |
| Clean Campsite Award | Troop |
| Closing Campfire Program | Troop |
| Golden Skillet | Troop |
| Honor Camper | Troop |
| Honor Patrol | Patrol |
| Honor Troop | Troop |
| Inter-troop Games | Patrol, Troop |
| Map and Quiz Course | Patrol |
| GPS | Patrol |
| Open Games | Patrol, Troop |
| Orienteering and Compass Courses | Patrol, Troop |
| Service Projects | Patrol, Troop |
| Troop Boating | Troop |
| Troop Games | Troop |
| Volleyball Tournament | Troop |
| Water Carnival | Troop |
Other camp activities can be done as troop or patrol activities with proper arrangement such as the orienteering courses and Mountain Biking. Some activities cannot reasonably be done as a troop, most notably shooting sports. The ranges have limited capacity and there’s simply too much demand to exclude other shooters and merit badge participants. There’s nothing preventing a unit from visiting the ranges all at once but their is neither a guarantee of capacity nor availability.



