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11 Benefits Of Summer Camp For Kids

The benefits of summer camp for kids reach far beyond the season, providing kids with a set of lifelong memories, new skills, and values. Through this tried and true tradition, children return to the world as more well-rounded people.

It’s a place filled with growth as campers get to develop social and cognitive skills and explore new activities and opportunities they wouldn’t get back at home. If you’re on the fence about camp, check out the following list of the biggest benefits of summer camp.

Summer Camp Benefits

1. Builds Confidence

Confidence is a trait that not everyone possesses inherently and can be tough to acquire naturally. It’s a critical component of leading a successful life, and if addressed at an early age, it can make all the difference in the world.

Children who attend summer camps have ample opportunities to build confidence due to the supportive atmosphere. They will be surrounded by other children and staff who are on their team, literally and figuratively, and who want them to succeed.

This cooperative spirit can build confidence in any child, no matter how bold or timid they may have been before. The confidence carries into the rest of the year as children become more assured when dealing with everyday obstacles. It’s also a great reason for children to attend summer camp annually, as it will serve as a refresher and provide a yearly confidence boost.

2. Fosters Friendships

The friendships that children gain during their stay at a summer camp can stand the test of time and become a source of lifelong joy. They provide the perfect environment to foster these friendships with an air of togetherness.

In addition, the traditional friendships children maintain outside of camp can improve. Children will have a great chance to acquire friends from all walks of life, learning about other people’s stories and incorporating them into their own journeys.

Summer camps advertise this as a chief benefit of attendance, and with good reason, in all likelihood, children make and keep new friends. This is all but guaranteed by most camps and they will go out of their way to make it happen.

3. Gain Lifelong Skills

There are several skill sets that rapidly improve during a child’s stay at camp. Through various solo and group activities, children gain opportunities to learn about leadership as well as the importance of learning about teamwork and life lessons.

A good team is only as good as the players on it, and the best players understand their roles and play them to the best of their ability. Summer camp activities provide the roles, assign kids to them, and explain their role in the grand scheme. It can be through competitive activities like team sports or literal roles on the stage with dramatic performances.

Through competition and play, children learn skills that are easily adapted to success in school and at home. There is even a direct, one-to-one relation to the team sports they are already a part of while at school, providing them with different perspectives on their favorite things to do. Summer camp statistics show that most parents prefer to send their kids to camp for 1 or 2 weeks, which is more than enough time to learn new things.

4. Screen-Free Activities

Whether it’s an overnight camp or day camp, they aim to give children time free from the trappings of technology by encouraging them to spend their time outdoors instead of with devices or the internet.

This encourages children to meaningfully engage with one another and with the camp staff, which ends up proving useful in normal life as well. It’s a form of communication that is always effective, no matter who they are engaging with.

One of the original forms of entertainment for children was to send them outside to play and use their imaginations to the full extent. Time spent at summer camp encourages this from all angles. It gives kids a chance to enjoy the simpler things in life and be satisfied. Even some STEM camps will routinely provide kids with breaks throughout the day for fun outdoor games and activities.

Happy Kids jumping into lake
Camp North Star Maine

5. Promotes Independence

Much of the schedule at summer programs is up to the individual child, and this promotes a sense of independence. Children are given relative autonomy over their time and get to choose the activities that most interest them. There is a lot of power in this set of choices, and it pairs very nicely with the confidence we discussed earlier.

Group activities allow children to get together and shine as individuals and show off some of this new-found or well-earned independence. In these rooms and fields full of shining stars, each camper gets to have a moment of their own.

The independence gained is a gift that keeps on giving, leading to all of the benefits of an independent child at home.

6. Reconnects Kids With Nature

Summer camp epitomizes a connection with nature, encouraging children to get out and see how beautiful the natural world is. There are still many of the creature comforts of modern living, but it’s in a setting so wild and so different that even kids are sure to stop and take notice.

At most summer camps in the USA and in other parts of the world, children can spend the days hiking, swimming, and playing sports and finish the evenings outside by a campfire under a blanket of stars. It’s a connection with a basic need that all of us have to be immersed in nature, away from all of the distractions of modern life.

The time spent at summer camp is a reminder for children that the simple things are some of the best things, and that’s a lesson that pays dividends later in life.

7. Offers Opportunities To Socialize

Whether a child is a social butterfly or a wallflower, summer camp will give them the chance to be around other kids who they can relate with and improve their social skills. The perk of having a group of diverse kids to hang out with is knowing that you’re bound to meet some like-minded campers.

The friends made here provide a chance to socialize with kids outside of normal school and family circles. With the advances in technology over the years, this communication extends beyond the summer months, allowing kids to stay in touch year-round.

Children that have a hard time socializing in traditional settings may even feel doing so at summer camp is much easier. It really is an experience meant to be had with a group of peers and those groups are quick to form.

Kids riding bikes

8. Prevents Summer Learning Loss

The activities are geared toward maintaining a schedule similar to that of a school. In addition, many of the camp activities themselves are intended to help a child maintain the mindset they are in while attending classes.

Children who attend summer camp and maintain this fairly set schedule are less likely to experience learning loss through the school break. This is a great advantage when school starts back up in late summer, as kids who go to camp will be ready to get right back into the swing of things when they return.

There are activities to engage every part of the mind: the creative type, the analytical type, and those that challenge the coordination of these types of thinking.

9. Encourages Physical Activity

Summer camp gets kids out in nature and engaged in a wide variety of physical activities. This makes for happier children, not only throughout the summer, but it can encourage them to remain active the rest of the year.

For the kids who aren’t sure if team sports are for them or not, summer camp gives them a judgment-free opportunity to try out such things before trying out for school teams. If children already took part in team sports in school, the summer sessions allow them to improve upon these skills and learn from an expanded group of peers. 

To round out the healthy experience for children, the programs provide and encourage balanced, healthy nutrition. When combined with increased physical activity, kids come home in better shape all around.

10. Gain Resiliency & Self-Esteem

Children who attend summer camp have a chance to make real strides in their resilience. Participation in group and solo activities will teach them the power of learning from failures and the growth that comes from adaptation. This makes for more resilient, self-assured children.

A boost in self-esteem is also a natural byproduct of all of the time spent encouraged by others. Children who learn that trying their best is good enough will have an improved self-image and make better team players as well.

All of these gains are thoughtfully planned and reinforced by a caring camp staff who have the best interest of all children in mind. As with many other benefits, these traits have real staying power and serve kids for a lifetime.

11. Make Lifelong Memories

There are few places as memorable as a summer camp. The disconnect from everyday life, the beauty of the surroundings, the welcome break from the routines a child endures, it’s all an ideal spot for making lifelong memories.

This is especially true for children who return year after year to familiar faces and all the feelings that come flooding back. In these formative times, a kid can begin to lay the foundation for the adult they’ll become. It’s a foundation built upon memories with the real staying power that a summer camp experience provides.

Seasons come and go in life, but the time a kid spends at these programs stays frozen in place, forever accessible. Along with the friends children can make for life, the memories are one of the best parts of attending camp.

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