The great ice cream vs. cookies campaign

How do you learn about voting? With ice cream and cookies!

This past summer, campers learned about the importance of voting. And to demonstrate the importance of voting, we choose a popular topic – a special treat on Friday afternoon: ice cream or cookies! 

Our campers split into two groups, Camp Cookie or Camp Ice Cream. Stretching their campaign skills, they created a campaign to convince campers to vote for their favorite treat. Campers ran a campaign that culminates in a voting activity. And to demonstrate the importance of voting, we choose a popular topic – a special treat on Friday afternoon: ice cream or cookies!

Our campers split into two groups, Camp Cookie or Camp Ice Cream. Stretching their campaign skills, they created a campaign to convince campers to vote for their favorite treat.

They built a campaign brand, handcrafted posters, wrote chants and sang campaign songs. After presenting their unique sweet campaigns, campers voted for their snack of choice.

But, there was a catch. We took the voter engagement numbers from the most recent local elections to determine how many campers got to vote. As you can imagine we hear a lot of feedback! “That’s not fair, but, I didn’t get to vote”!

We expand our voting participation to match the numbers from our last presidential election, approximately 67%. The comments are the same. “That still isn’t fair” and “I should get to vote”!

Of course, we eventually allowed all campers to vote.

What they learned: This activity generated a lot of discussion about voting, the importance of it, why some may choose not to or may not be able to, and how they can encourage those around them to make their voices heard through voting. The campers end the activity with a consensus: “If you can vote, you should”! We agree.

For this election and all others, take a lesson from our Campers. Your voice matters. Your vote matters!