Summer camp is a supervised program for children and/or teenagers conducted (usually) during the summer months in some countries.
Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers. The primary purpose of many camps is educational or cultural development.
A summer camp environment may allow children to take healthy risks in a safe and nurturing environment. Summer Camps typically have a wide range
of activities and sports for campers to participate in. Some camps have set up a service where campers chose their daily activities. And while
several camps have more modern and advanced activities, some camps tend to stick with the old-fashioned variety of sports and activities. These
activities include a nightly campfire, camp songs and or handclapping patterns, athletic sports, and other old fashioned activities. Summer
camps have several different groups of activities such as, Athletics, Water Sports, Adventure, hiking, Theater, Gymnastics, Arts, and Equestrian.
Some camps are set on spending most of their time on one of the activity groups. For example, some camp may be just a theater camp, or an Athletic
camp. This wide range of activities give campers a large selection of Summer camps to choose from.
The traditional view of a summer camp is typically in a natural setting with hiking, canoeing, and campfires is evolving, with greater acceptance of
newer summer camps that offer a wide variety of specialized activities. For example, there are camps for the performing arts, rock
music, magic, computers, children with special needs, and weight loss. In fact, the American Camp Association reports that in 2006,
75 percent of camps added new programs. This is largely to counter a trend in decreasing enrollment in summer camps, brought about
by smaller family sizes, the growth in supplemental educational programs and the popularity of electronic media, all of which have
made keeping children inside and occupied much easier than in previous generations.
In most camps, the adult supervisors are called counselors, but another name may be "cabin leader". In many camps, counselors are
assigned to smaller groups of campers, called "bunks", "huts", "cabins", or "units", who participate in activities as a group.
Counselors often share living accommodations with their bunk or other counselors. Most counselors are in their late teens or early
twenties, as high school or college students on their summer break are frequently recruited.
At some camps, all campers stay overnight, and at some camps, so called day camps, the campers go home each night. Some other
camps allow both day and overnight campers. In the USA, residental camps that have overnight facilities are sometimes called
"sleepaway camps". Summer camp is often the first time that children spend an extended period of time away from home.
College credit courses:
Some camps offer students the opportunity to explore a pre-college experience. Typically, students entering grades 10 through 12 stay
in the college dormitories and attend summer classes run by college faculty. At the successful completion of a summer program,
course credits are awarded, which in turn are accepted by most tertiary institutions. Typically, colleges in the United States
offer these programs as it serves as an introduction to students to entice them to attend the college as a full time student based
upon a memorable summer experience. One example is a computer camp offered by the College of Engineering
at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It is focused on educating high school aged students on subjects related to computer
science and computer engineering, as well as exposing them to elements of college life.
Non-college credit courses
Some camps, such as CTY, are focused primarily on education or on educational-related activities, such as debate, history, or journalism. These
camps are often run by colleges or universities, and are usually for children in junior or senior high school. Educational summer camps are
different than summer schools as the summer camps often are not offered for school credit, and often have a significant focus on non-academic
activities. Students for these programs are often invited or recruited.
Academic adventure camps:
The provide high school students with the opportunity to study an academic topics on a summer adventure travel program, typically in the
wilderness or a foreign country. Many include community service as a component of the course. Others also offer college credit with the
successful completion of the program.
SAT Preparation courses:
Various camp programs offer preparation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test as part of a mixture of academic learning with summer fun. Often the
SAT preparation is offered as a full morning immersion while the afternoons and evenings are geared towards homework and recreational activities.
These camp programs often outsource their SAT component from test preparation companies like The Princeton Review or Kaplan who provide the
teachers and resources.
Enrichment courses:
These programs offer a wide range of classes that may have little or no scholastic overlap, but are taught with the purpose of broadening the
student's conception and interest in many otherwise unknown areas of study. Students typically explore subjects like photography, community
service, drama, magic, scuba diving, video production, comic book design, crime scene forensics, cooking, yoga, and similar areas.
Science & Nature:
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (April 2008)
These hands-on learning programs revolve around science and nature themes. These programs take a unique approach to learning in a summer
camp program.
Tech camps:
Tech camps focus on technology education. These summer camps develop 21st century skills in areas such as game design, 3D game creation,
web design, graphic design, robot building, and programming languages. These summer camps are typically held on college campuses.
Art and performing art camps:
Other camps have become summer training grounds for a variety of arts. Many offer elective classes in a range of artistic and performing
activities including visual art, music, theatre, dance, circus arts, rock and roll, magic and other specialties. Some of these programs
have a narrow focus in one particular area, while others offer a wide rage of programs. Due to the popularity of these activities, many
traditional camps have added some elements of the visual and performing arts into their programs as well.
Some camps offer very high level instruction and performance opportunities; this is such that campers with previous experience and skill
may be able to perform a solo in front of a symphony orchestra or create an artistic piece on their own. Most art and performing art summer
camps also cater to beginners, offering children the opportunity to try a new art or learn a new skill.
Performing art camps often run 3 or 4 week sessions that culminate in some sort of performance that parents and families attend.
Travel camps:
Many camps also bring children of all ages around the world. Some camps are often called 'Adventure Camps' - often having a very specific theme.
Many of these programs emphasize skill development and personal growth through the adventures offered.
Sports camps:
Summer camps can be found that offer intensive instruction in almost any sport imaginable, or that offer quality instruction and competition
in a wide range of sports. Camps are split into groups of day camps and overnight camps.
In the United States overnight sports camps fall into two groups. The more traditional of these offer boys and girls the chance to learn and
play many sports. Sessions are typically 3 to 8 weeks long, and some camps have multiple sessions. While many strong athletes attend these camps,
a traditional sports camp program also serves the needs of less proficient athletes by having all campers compete on teams picked by ability -
so all kids get a chance to contribute to their team's success in their daily competitions. Some of these camps have been operating for around
100 years. These camps generally focus, through the medium of team sports, on the development of the whole child - not just how they are as an
athlete but also how they are as a person, a bunkmate, a teammate, and a friend. Many of these camps include a variety of non-sports programs
as well for a more diverse experience.
Many sports camps are of the second type, which focuses almost exclusively on one particular sport. These camps generally focus on helping
each camper acquire skills in a sport that help them gain confidence and improve their chances of making the team when they return to school.
Indeed, some campers are helped to be nationally competitive by way of this kind of intensive summer training. These camps generally run
week-long sessions, and some campers may attend more than one session even though the curriculum repeats each week. Some single-sport camps
offer longer sessions. Many of the instructors at these camps are coaches of local teams - and thus many athletes get valuable extra time
with the coach they play for during the school year (or the coach they hope to play for during the upcoming school year).
Both multi-sport and single-sport camps tend to be run by experienced teachers and coaches (who typically have summers off from their school
responsibilities). Cabin staff, instructors, and counselors are typically college athletes. The best sports camps succeed at challenging aspiring
athletes both mentally and physically. This is possible in part because many of the counselors attended as campers, and thus there is a vibrant
"camp culture" that welcomes new campers into an extended camp family and establishes the high standards that incoming campers are encouraged to achieve.
The best sports camps do much more than just improve a camper's soccer, tennis, lacrosse, or wrestling skills - they help each child become a
more skillful athlete, a more gracious competitor, a more committed team player, and a more confident person.
Source References and additional reading:
- The 47th Legion Athletic Camp is a multi-sport international athletic camp sitauted at the International Peace Garden on the Manitoba/North Dakota border.
- Camp XL Christian Holidays for teens of all faiths and backgrounds
- The American Camp Association is an organization of camping professionals that provides accreditation standards for camps, and serves as a resource for camping research and professional development.
- The Canadian Camping Association is an association of camps across Canada. Accreditation of camps in Canada happens at the provincial level.
- The Christian Camp and Conference Association connects Christian camping professionals and associations around the world.
- The Ontario Camping Association accredits camps in Ontario, Canada
- The Quebec Camping Association accredits camps in Quebec, Canada
- The International Camping Fellowship connects camping professionals and associations around the world.
- The Mennonite Camping Association Addresses concerns between mennonite camps and the mennonite church.
- Gaines Christian Youth Retreat/Camp Centre in Worcester, UK
- The Association of Independent Camps, a member-driven kindred group of the ACA that is dedicated to people who own, direct, or work at independent camps.
- The Association of Alabama Camps Represents the interests of children and families who attend camp, as well as the camps themselves in Alabama, USA.
- Présentation des séjours de vacances et accueils de loisirs
- BAHA - The Activity Centre
- Wikipedia.org, the free encyclopedia
