7 Best Debate Camp Materials For Beginners That Build Foundational Skills
Equip new debaters with 7 essential materials for camp. This guide covers the best tools to build foundational skills in research, logic, and speaking.
Your child comes home buzzing with excitement about joining the debate team or signing up for a summer camp. You’re thrilled they’ve found an activity that builds confidence and critical thinking. Then the email arrives—a list of recommended materials with unfamiliar terms like "flowing" and "card cutting," and you’re left wondering where to even begin.
Don’t worry, you’re not alone in this. The world of speech and debate can feel like a foreign country at first, with its own language and customs. The good news is that you don’t need to spend a fortune on hyper-specialized gear to get your child started on the right foot.
The best initial investments aren’t about winning the first tournament, but about building the bedrock skills of persuasion, logic, and organization. These are the tools that will serve them long after the camp season ends, whether they’re in a classroom, a boardroom, or just at the family dinner table. Here are seven foundational materials that will help your beginner build a strong base for success.
Choosing Materials That Grow With Your Debater
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You see the supply list and your mind starts racing. Do they need the fancy multi-colored pens the varsity kids use? What about the expensive software for organizing evidence? It’s the classic parenting dilemma: you want to support their new passion, but you don’t want to invest in top-tier equipment for an interest that might be fleeting.
The key is to focus on tools that build the process, not just the product. A beginner’s goal is to learn how to listen, think, organize, and speak. The best materials are simple, effective, and help them master these core actions. Forget the professional-grade gear for now; that can come later if their commitment deepens.
Think of it like learning to play the piano. You don’t start a six-year-old on a concert grand. You start them on a well-tuned instrument that lets them learn the fundamentals of notes, rhythm, and harmony. The same principle applies here. We’re choosing foundational tools that help your child learn the "notes" of debate without overwhelming them or your budget.
Thank You for Arguing for Persuasion Basics
Your child is learning to argue, which can be a mixed blessing at home! The challenge is to channel that energy into productive, persuasive communication rather than just stubbornness. How do you give them a framework for making a point effectively and respectfully?
Jay Heinrichs’ book, Thank You for Arguing, is the single best starting point. It’s not a dry debate textbook; it’s a witty, engaging guide to the ancient art of rhetoric that uses examples from Homer Simpson and Queen Elizabeth to explain the core principles of persuasion. It makes complex concepts like ethos (character), pathos (emotion), and logos (logic) feel intuitive and accessible for a middle or high schooler.
This book provides the "why" behind all the debate camp drills. It helps a young debater understand that the goal isn’t just to state facts, but to connect with an audience and change their mind. It’s a resource they can read before camp to get inspired and return to for years as their understanding of argumentation deepens.
Time Timer MOD for Mastering Speech Pacing
One of the first hurdles for any new public speaker is the clock. Beginners often either race through their speech in a nervous flurry or get lost in a point and run out of time completely. They haven’t yet developed that internal sense of what four minutes actually feels like.
A simple digital countdown timer isn’t always enough. The Time Timer MOD is a brilliant tool because it provides a clear, visual representation of time elapsing. The disappearing red disk makes the abstract concept of time concrete, which is incredibly helpful for visual learners. They can glance at the timer and instantly gauge how much time they have left without having to process numbers.
This tool grows with them. At first, it’s about simply finishing within the allotted time. Later, they can use it to practice pacing—learning to allocate, for example, one minute for their introduction, two minutes for their main contention, and one minute for their conclusion. It physically demonstrates the importance of time management, a crucial skill in debate and beyond.
Ampad Legal Pads for Foundational Flowing
You’ll see experienced debaters in a round, furiously scribbling on long, often yellow, pads of paper. This is called "flowing," and it’s the specialized note-taking system used to track every argument made in a debate. It looks intimidating, but the entry point is wonderfully low-tech.
A pack of Ampad Legal Pads is the perfect starting tool. The extra length of a legal pad is key, as it provides the vertical space needed to track an argument and all its responses in a single column. This is how debaters can see the life cycle of an idea from its introduction to its conclusion.
Don’t get bogged down in complex abbreviations or multi-colored pen systems at the start. The initial goal is for your child to build the foundational skill of active listening while writing. The simple act of using a legal pad encourages them to practice this from day one. It’s an inexpensive item that helps build an invaluable skill: the ability to synthesize information in real time.
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments for Logic
"But Mom, if I don’t get the new phone, all my friends will have one and I’ll be a social outcast!" Sound familiar? Your child has just used a logical fallacy, a flaw in reasoning that weakens an argument. Identifying these fallacies—in others’ reasoning and their own—is a cornerstone of debate.
An Illustrated Book of Bad Arguments by Ali Almossawi is a fantastic and fun introduction to this topic. It uses charming, whimsical illustrations of animals to explain common logical fallacies like the "Straw Man" or "Appeal to Fear." This format makes what could be a dry, abstract subject both memorable and entertaining.
This book gives your young debater a powerful toolkit. It equips them with the language to pinpoint weaknesses in an opponent’s case and, more importantly, to build their own arguments on a foundation of solid logic. It’s a skill that transcends the debate round, helping them become more critical consumers of media and information in their everyday lives.
The Economist Subscription for Evidence Files
Sooner or later, your debater will be asked to find evidence, or "cut cards," to support their claims. The internet is a vast sea of information, and it can be hard for a beginner to know which sources are credible and which are not. They need a reliable place to start building their research habits.
A subscription to The Economist is an outstanding resource. The magazine provides well-researched, in-depth analysis on the very topics that frequently appear in debate resolutions: economics, international relations, technology, and politics. Its global perspective and nuanced articles teach students that complex issues rarely have simple, black-and-white answers.
This is about more than just finding a few good articles. A weekly subscription encourages a habit of intellectual curiosity. It prompts your child to read about the world regularly, moving them from a passive student to an active researcher who is constantly looking for connections and evidence. This is a significant leap in their development as a critical thinker.
Sterilite File Box for Organizing Research
The research is done. Articles are printed, passages are highlighted, and now your dining room table looks like a recycling bin exploded. A debater can have the best evidence in the world, but it’s useless if they can’t find it when they need it in the middle of a timed speech.
This is where a simple, portable Sterilite File Box comes in. This isn’t a fancy or expensive piece of equipment, but it’s one of the most important. It provides a physical structure for building the essential skill of organization. With some hanging folders and tabs, your child can begin to build their own evidence file, sorting articles by topic ("Climate Change," "Healthcare") and then by argument ("Pro," "Con").
The act of creating and maintaining this box is a powerful lesson in executive functioning. It teaches categorization, planning, and information retrieval under pressure. The box itself is just plastic, but the organizational system it represents is a skill that will pay dividends in every school subject and future career.
Talk Like TED by Carmine Gallo for Delivery
Your child has a brilliant case, flawless logic, and a file box overflowing with evidence. But when they stand up to speak, their voice is monotone, they stare at their notes, and they pepper their speech with "um" and "like." In debate, how you say something is often just as important as what you say.
Carmine Gallo’s Talk Like TED is an excellent resource for mastering the art of delivery. It analyzes hundreds of TED Talks to distill the nine key elements of successful public speaking. It’s not about becoming a robot who follows rigid rules; it’s about learning to tell a story, use vocal variety, and connect with an audience on an emotional level.
While this book will undoubtedly help your debater become a more persuasive speaker and earn higher points from judges, its lessons are universal. The ability to communicate an idea clearly and passionately is a superpower. This book helps them find their authentic voice, a tool that will serve them in every presentation, interview, and important conversation for the rest of their lives.
As you gather these materials, remember that the goal isn’t to create a champion debater overnight. The goal is to equip your child with tools that build their confidence, sharpen their mind, and help them find their voice. These foundational items support that journey, fostering skills in logic, persuasion, and organization that are the real trophies of any great educational experience.