Enrolling Students to Summer Camps: Importance and Benefits

A wider spectrum of childhood experiences results in holistically developed individuals with greater confidence. Activities beyond the classroom aid in the development of interpersonal skills and help children understand how to collaborate with others to accomplish a common goal. Such activities allow your child to discover diverse areas of interest, gain self-confidence, and cultivate leadership traits. They also provide a medium to bolster education by giving students opportunities to apply textbook knowledge in real-life scenarios. Math or science clubs or conferences, research, or writing are examples of academic activities. extracurricular activities, in essence, allow your child to learn something that will last a lifetime. One of the most widely endorsed extracurricular activities is a summer camp.

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What are Summer Camps? 

A summer camp is a supervised programme for children or teens organized over the summer season when most children get a  summer vacation. The stereotypical image of a summer program is a jungle setting with hiking, canoeing, and campfires is changing and alternative forms of summer programs with a broad range of specialized activities are becoming popular. 

For instance, there are camps for the performing arts, music, magic, computer science, learning languages, mathematics, children with special needs, and weight loss. camps can have different focuses such as intellectual, athletic, or cultural development. Summer camps allow children to learn new skills in a secure and supportive environment. 

Camps can be divided into overnight camps or day camps. Overnight camps involve the child staying apart from his guardians for more than one day whereas day camps can be attended during the day after which the child goes back home. Overnight camps increase independence among children and can be a good choice for teenagers and older children. Whereas, day camps allow children to learn helpful skills without leading to a lot of stress.  

Benefits of Sending your Child to a Summer Camp

• Improving Social Skills: The transient nature of summer camps provides a safe opportunity for children to take social risks. Furthermore, most activities in summer camps rely on teamwork. This makes it imperative for children to talk to and deal with other members. Additionally, children make their own decisions in overnight or prolonged summer camps, this gives them an increased confidence boost. 
• Developing Resilience and Confidence: Experiencing unique activities and lifestyles at the camps can give children a boost in confidence and motivate them to challenge unexpected things. Doing things that they never did before successfully can make children realize their own strengths, and build self-esteem. Not only do children learn explicit skills like canoeing, archery, and trekking, but also implicit skills such as socializing with unknown people, creativity, responsibility, resilience etc. 
• Becoming and Staying Physically Active: In the digital age where children interact more with screens than their peers and nature, summer camps let children experience being with others their age without technological distractions. Increased use of screens among children can be a harbinger of various diseases due to increased inactivity and obesity. However, in summer camps, physical activities are disguised as fun, enjoyable events. This leads to wider participation and higher motivation to be physically active and healthier. Most summer camps have an outdoors theme and involve activities such as hiking, biking, archery, waterskiing, overnight camping etc. The experience of having enjoyed physical activities at the camp makes children more likely to be active even after the camp ends.
• Developing Leadership Values: Leadership involves various skills such as confidence, decision-making, creativity, and an understanding of teamwork.  These qualities develop best through practice. Summer Camps provide ample opportunities to develop these skills. Most camps also have leadership programmes that teach campers how to organize and oversee activities, care for younger members of the camp, and communicate.
• Continuing Education in the Summer: Learning entails beyond just textbooks and exams, this is evident in a camp where enjoyment meets learning. Camp provides an environment where kids can learn various physical and life skills like teamwork and apply what they've learned in school to a variety of fun activities. Kids will be too preoccupied with having fun to realize they are learning.
• Setting Aside Time for "Active Play": Unplanned, spontaneous playtime has decreased for children today. Instead, urban children spend four to six hours per day on TVs, computers, and cellphones. A camp provides children with the necessary playtime while encouraging creativity and social engagement. Kids learn to set their own boundaries, develop in a non-competitive environment, interact with one another, determine how to win and lose, trade roles and be involved in an active way with their peers.

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