If you are like many parents, you may be thinking about enrolling your kids in summer camp to break up the monotony of long summer days for them or simply to get them out of your hair for a few days or weeks. While these are common reasons why camps are selected by parents, there are actually feel-good reasons to consider as well. Summer camp can enrich your kids’ minds in many ways, and this is true regardless of whether you choose to send them to an education-based program or a fun program. By further reviewing how camp changes kids in positive ways, you will see why now may be the right time to start exploring camp options for the upcoming summer season.

Exposure to New Activities and Skills
All camps have the potential to expose kids to new activities and to help kids gain new skills. Whether you have enrolled your kids in a foreign language camp, a music camp, a science camp, a fine arts camp or something else, they will certainly gain new perspectives and even new skills. Even in a camp that is designed just for fun, kids may be exposed to kayaking, basket weaving, water basketball and other activities that they may otherwise never have the opportunity to experience or learn. In these ways, the horizons of kids’ minds can be expanded to incredible depths over the course of a short summer camp.

Improving Social Skills
Summer camp is a highly social activity, providing kids with the opportunity to make new friends, learn how to work better in groups, participate in teams with people they previously did not know and more. This is a time for children to grow as individuals with their people skills, to lose their shyness and to gain confidence in social settings. These are skills that provide the foundation for success later in both their personal and professional lives. Whether your children are currently very shy and need to come out of their shells or they are already social butterflies, these skills can be beneficial for a lifetime.

Summer camp may be a time to get the children out of the house and to keep them busy in a constructive way, but you can see that it is much more than that. Each camp is unique and provides different ways that children can self-improve. With these ideas in mind, it is important for parents to consider all of the skills a child can learn and develop at different camps and to carefully select the right camp for him or her. The best camps are often filled very early in the spring season, so start booking your space at camp as soon as possible. There are more resources available at Camp White Pine for further references.