Day camp

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Attendees at SpringHill Day Camp which is located across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kentucky Daycamp.jpg
Attendees at SpringHill Day Camp which is located across Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kentucky

Day camps also known as summer camps in some areas, are recreational programs designed to provide children with a fun and enriching experience during the summer or school breaks. Unlike residential or overnight camps, day camps operate during daytime hours, allowing children to participate in various activities and return home each evening. These camps offer a wide range of supervised activities, fostering socialization, learning, and personal growth in a safe and supportive environment. [1] Day camps can be booked by the day or by the week, or month depending on the institution organizing them. Programs are typically available for kids ages 3-17, but the specific age range can vary depending on the camp's focus and structure. The most popular ages for summer day camps are typically ages 5-10.

Contents

History and Development

The concept of day camps for kids emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century when educators and community leaders recognized the need to provide children with productive activities during their time away from school. The goal was to create a structured program that combined play, learning, and socialization to ensure children's overall development and well-being. The Gunnery Camp, founded in 1861, is considered to be the first organized American camp. [2]

Children learn about germs during a virtual Little Medical School class, hosted by ActivityHero for free during 2020. Online class for kids during 2020.jpg
Children learn about germs during a virtual Little Medical School class, hosted by ActivityHero for free during 2020.

Over the years, day camps have evolved to meet the changing needs and interests of children and families. During COVID-19 school and day camp closures in 2020, online camps filled a gap for many families seeking enrichment for their children at home. [3]

Today, day camps offer exciting opportunities for exploration and skill development in a wide variety of subjects. Families also use day camps during school holidays as an alternative to daycare or hiring a nanny.

Ages

Day camps typically cater to a wide range of age groups, and the specific age range can vary depending on the camp's focus and structure. Here are some common categories for age groups in summer camps:

  1. Preschool or Early Childhood Camps: These camps are designed for young children between the ages of 3 to 5 years old. The activities in these camps are age-appropriate and focus on introducing social skills, basic learning concepts, and fun recreational activities suitable for preschoolers.
  2. Elementary School Camps: Summer camps for elementary school-age children are generally for kids aged 6 to 11 years old. These camps offer a mix of recreational activities, arts and crafts, sports, and possibly some educational elements to keep the children engaged and entertained during the summer break.
  3. Middle School Camps: Middle school camps are targeted at preteens and early teenagers, usually ranging from ages 12 to 14 years old. These camps may offer more specialized activities, such as adventure sports, leadership programs, technology-related projects, and team-building exercises.
  4. High School Camps: For teenagers, ages 15 to 18 years old, high school camps may offer a more focused approach, catering to specific interests or career aspirations. Some high school camps might be centered around academic enrichment, college preparation, sports training, or arts intensives.
  5. Multi-Age Camps: Certain summer camps are designed to accommodate a broader age range, with activities and programs tailored to different groups. These multi-age camps might have separate sessions or age-specific activities to ensure that each age group gets appropriate experiences.

It's important for parents or guardians to research and choose a summer camp that aligns with their child's age, interests, and developmental stage to ensure an enjoyable and enriching experience for the participants. Additionally, some camps may have specific age restrictions or requirements, so it's essential to check the camp's guidelines and policies before enrolling.

Format

A day camp's hours of operations vary based on the specific program, typically offering either a half day or full day program. Some day camps offer extended care to accommodate working caregivers with early drop-off and late pick-up. A day camp usually follows a structured schedule where children engage in various activities throughout the day with snack breaks and lunchtime to offer opportunities for socializing and resting.

Safety and supervision are paramount to ensure a positive and secure experience for all campers. Most day camps will have a check-in and check-out procedure to ensure children are released to the correct caregiver.

Activities and Programs

Day camps for kids provide a diverse range of activities and programs to cater to different age groups and interests. These activities may include, but are not limited to:

  1. Sports and Outdoor Games: Children engage in team sports like soccer, baseball, basketball, and participate in outdoor games that promote physical activity and teamwork.
  2. Arts and Crafts: Kids have the opportunity to unleash their creativity through various art projects, such as drawing, painting, sculpting, and crafting.
  3. STEM Activities: Some day camps incorporate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) projects to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
    Child tests a robot built at a hands-on LEGO day camp in Maine. LEGO robot camp.jpg
    Child tests a robot built at a hands-on LEGO day camp in Maine.
  4. Nature Exploration: Campers may participate in nature walks, hikes, and environmental activities to foster an appreciation for the outdoors and environmental stewardship.
  5. Performing Arts: Children interested in drama, music, or dance can enjoy workshops and performances, nurturing their artistic talents.
  6. Educational Enrichment: Day camps may include educational components that reinforce learning and prevent summer learning loss.
  7. Swimming: Many day camps offer access to swimming pools, providing kids with an opportunity to cool off and improve their swimming abilities. These could range from recreational to competitive swimming camps.
  8. Team-Building Activities: Camps often organize team-building exercises and challenges to encourage cooperation and communication among campers.

Cost

The cost of day camps according to the American Camp Association, day camps that are ACA accredited are typically ranges from anywhere to $201 to $400 a week for day camps, depending on the type of camp that it is. Day camps which are sometimes run by nonprofit organizations are usually the most affordable they start as low as $100 a week and can range to $500. For-profit camps can cost anywhere up to $300-$500 a week. Privately owned or specialized day camps can be a variety of specialty camps that teach the children specific skills. Because of the one on one attention that the child gets, prices will be much higher than other day camps. These prices could range from $500 to $1,000 per week. [4]

According to purchase data from ActivityHero.com, a nationwide marketplace for kids activities, camp prices increased 12.2% in 2023. Camps have experienced significant increases in operation costs, including wages, rent, and materials. [5] To keep camp costs affordable for families, many camp programs are expanding their financial aid programs and offering registration discounts for early enrollment or siblings. ActivityHero has over 2500 need-based scholarships available to offsets rising costs of summer enrichment. [5]

The hourly price of summer day camps is still cost effective compared with other forms of childcare. The average price paid per hour of camp is $16.64 in 2023, compared to $24 – 27 per hour for a babysitter or nanny in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. [6] [7]

Day camps are also less expensive than sleepaway camps (e.g., summer camps), because they often do not include meals or as much supervised time each day. [8] Some day camps are located at the same site as a resident camp with the same resources and activities to serve local campers along with kids from abroad. Many day camps are located in city parks, sport complexes, schools or community centers such as a YMCA or Boy Scouts or by government organizations.

Education and Benefits

Day camps teach children an abundance of skills that they can utilize. Campers are able to learn independence through day camps because children are going to be responsible for changing themselves, making sure they are aware of where their belongings are and deciding what they want to eat for the day. Day camps educate children on new skills that they are able to see from the professionals working at the day camps and also from their peers. With the set of new skills that the child has from day camp they are also able to gain courage for trying new things. [9]

Camps as a whole are recognized by child development professionals as places where children are able to learn how to create relationships with friends that they would be less likely to make in other settings. Day camps teach children how to mature socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically. Camps give children a sense of community of their own. Day camps educate young people on how to discover their talents, interests and values more extensively than in other settings such as school. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camping</span> Outdoor recreational activity

Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a bivy or tarp, or no shelter at all. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors, in pursuit of activities providing them enjoyment or in a form of educational experience. Spending the night away from home distinguishes camping from day-tripping, picnicking, and other outdoor activities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Summer camp</span> Supervised program for children conducted during the summer months

A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camps are known as campers. Summer school is usually a part of the academic curriculum for a student to make up work not accomplished during the academic year.

Woodcraft is a recreational/educational program devised by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1902, for young people based on camping, outdoor skills, and woodcrafts. Thompson Seton's Woodcraft ideas were incorporated into the early Scout movement, but also in many other organisations in many countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fresh Air Fund</span>

The Fresh Air Fund is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit agency founded in 1877. At sleep-away camps in New York’s Mid-Hudson Valley, visiting volunteer host families along the East Coast in NYC-based programs, children get to have new experiences, learn new skills and gain new perspectives. Fresh Air children also participate in year-round leadership, career exploration and educational programs. The Fresh Air Fund has served more than 1.8 million children since its founding.

Summer learning loss or summer slide, is the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the course of summer vacation in countries that have lengthy breaks in the school year, such as the US and Canada. Schools see evidence of this because students are often given a standardised test prior to the summer break and again when they return to school in the autumn.

FUGE Camps is a series of Christian summer camps for children, youth, and young adults centered on Bible study, worship, mission work, and recreational activities organized by LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. FUGE Camps is the world's largest summer camp, as well as the world's largest Christian camp. FUGE Camps offers four different styles of camp, where churches can choose to attend either Centrifuge or Mission Fuge. At "combo" locations, churches can choose to do a mixture of these, if they desire, to meet their student's needs. A Student Leader Apprentice program is also offered for students entering or leaving their senior year of high school. College students and adults may apply to work as a staffer when they turn 19 years of age, and have been out of high school for at least one year.

Center Day Camp (CDC) is a day camp run by the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that coordinates, promotes, and supports the Jewish philanthropic, benevolent, educational, and communal activities in Southern Maine. It is located in North Windham, Maine, on the shores of Sebago Lake.

Camp Ramah in Wisconsin is a Jewish summer camp based in Conover, Wisconsin, on Upper Lake Buckatabon. The Wisconsin camp was the first of the Ramah camps, established in 1947 by Rabbi Ralph Simon, under the direction of Conservative educator Henry Goldberg, with nearly 100 campers. It was sponsored by the Chicago Council of Conservative Synagogues and the Midwest Branch of the United Synagogue.

Camp Sealth is owned and operated by Camp Fire, a non-profit youth organization, and located on Vashon Island, Washington. Sealth hosts resident and day camp during the summer, environmental education for school groups during the spring and fall, and is a year-round conference and retreat center. Camp Sealth is accredited by the American Camp Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Alvernia</span>

Camp Alvernia is a non-profit recreational summer camp in Centerport, New York on the North Shore of Long Island. The camp is located on the east shore of Centerport Harbor, on the Little Neck peninsula. It was founded in 1888 by the Franciscan Brothers of Brooklyn, who still run the facility now, over 130 years later. Alvernia was the first and is now the oldest Catholic camp in continuous operation in the United States.

Camp JCA Shalom is a Jewish summer camp located in Malibu, California. The camp opened in 1951 in Barton Flats, California before moving to its current location in the Malibu mountains.

Microschooling is the reinvention of the one-room school house, where class size is typically smaller than that in most schools and there are mixed-age level groupings. Generally, microschools do not meet all 5 days of the school week, and their schedules look different than a traditional public or private school. Classes can be taught using a flipped classroom approach, a form of blended learning, though not all microschools focus on technology in the same ways. Classes tend to be more impactful due to meeting fewer times in the week. Classes may use instructional methods, ranging from traditional lecture-based approaches to hands-on and activity-based approaches. Microschooling is viewed as a replacement for various school paradigms that are standard worldwide.

The Cleveland Sight Center (CSC) is a non-profit organization that provides services to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. Founded in 1906, it is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and serves around 10,000 clients annually in Northeast Ohio. The organization also has radio-reading and community outreach programs that benefit a larger number of individuals.

Metro Sports Center is a multi-purpose athletic facility located in Evansville, Indiana. The facility has one turfed walled indoor soccer field, fine volleyball court, oel, multi-sport court for volleyball, basketball, dodgeball, roller derby or floor hockey. There is also a private room for parties and meetings and two tenant spaces upstairs. Metro provides a climate controlled area for youth and adult sports programs, youth and adult parties as well as time slots for facility rentals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Ralph S. Mason</span> Summer camp

YMCA Camp Mason is a YMCA summer camp located in Hardwick Township, New Jersey. The 650-acre site is located next to the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Camp Mason annually serves approximately 800 campers in its summer camp programs, and 7,000 participants at its outdoor center.

Located on 150 acres on Cedar Lake in Chester, Connecticut, Camp Hazen YMCA provides positive youth camping experiences for over 1500 boys and girls each year from throughout the state. Group camping includes over 6000 participants annually. Camp Hazen YMCA serves youth from throughout Connecticut, New England and many states around the country. Each summer, Camp Hazen YMCA is also home to campers and counselors from more than 25 different countries. Campers come from all socio-economic backgrounds, and range in age from 5 to 18. Over 800 campers were provided with financial assistance in 2009. These funds, over $205,000, were provided through the generosity of individuals, foundations, businesses and service clubs.

Incarnation Camp is a non-profit, traditional year-round camp, retreat and education center located in Essex, Connecticut. The camp was established in 1886. It is the oldest co-ed, continually operated camp in the United States. Each year, Incarnation hosts thousands of children and adults from across the US and around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RKY Camp</span> Summer camp and outdoor centre near Kingston, Ontario

RKY Camp is a non-profit organization and summer camp, accredited by the Ontario Camping Association, in Parham, Ontario, Canada, north of Kingston, Ontario. Operating since 1929 on Eagle Lake, RKY Camp was founded by The Rotary Club, Kiwanis International, and the YMCA of Kingston, making up the abbreviation 'R.K.Y.'. RKY Camp ran as an all-boys camp until 1969. The camp provides outdoor education and camping opportunities to people of all backgrounds, including integrated summer camping for children and young adults with disabilities through a combined effort with Reach for the Rainbow. RKY Camp provides financial assistance, or "camperships" to ensure any youth has an opportunity to attend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp Mini-Yo-We</span>

Camp Mini-Yo-We is a Christian camping and outdoor center founded on January 28, 1947. It is located in the district of Muskoka in Central Ontario, Canada. The Camp provides outdoor programs for young people from 5 to 18 years old. Camp Mini-Yo-We focuses on leadership development and spiritual growth of young boys and girls. Rich Birch, a long time ministry leader, is the camp Executive director.

The Sainte-Jeanne d'Arc summer camp was established in 1926 serving the girls of greater Montreal. It is the second oldest summer camp exclusively for young girls, still in operation in Quebec and French Canada.

References

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  2. "ACA Anniversary". acacamp.org. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  3. "Online Camps for a Summer of Learning Adventures". commonsensemedia.org. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  4. "What Does Summer Camp Cost?". Care.com. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  5. 1 2 "How Families Lower Their Summer Camp Cost in 2023". ActivityHero.com. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  6. "Babysitting Rates". Care.com. Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  7. "2023 Babysitting Rates: National Average & by City". Urbansitter.com. Retrieved 2023-03-24.
  8. Armendariz, Amanda (2023-10-10). "Summer Camp Cost - Ultimate Guide". SummerCamps.com. Retrieved 2023-12-07.
  9. "What Camp Can Teach your Child?". Care.com. Retrieved 2013-01-21.