Top 5 Reasons Why Summer Camps Are Good for Your Child
Posted by Strategic Communications, JGI Group on 4 April 2018

As the title suggests, summer camps are conducted during the summer vacation for children. The summer camp is open for children of age group between 2 to 15 years. The camp is conducted in majority of the countries under the supervision of trained people. Children who attend these camps are known as the CAMPERS. The traditional way of a summer camp is a woody place with hiking, campfires and canoeing. However, over the period of time, the same has changed into modern ways of learning. Nowadays, at summer camps children get to learn about performing arts, music, magic shows, swimming, new languages, drama and theater, painting and so on. These programs are designed in a way to keep children engaged during the summer vacation as well as get them to learn many things.

There are many schools and pre-schools that offer summer camps in their school campuses for children. One such school is Jain Heritage School (JHS). JHS is one among the top CBSE schools in Bangalore. At JHS, there are a lot of programs/activities organized by the staff for the summer camp. The students get to learn coloring, painting, clay modelling, music, dance, yoga, swimming, life skills and so on.

The objective of this camp is to focus on the overall development of a child in athletic, educational and cultural spheres. It allows children to learn new skills in a safe and nurturing environment. Listed below are 5 important reasons why summer camps are important for children.

1) Building friendships and developing social skills:
A summer camp is the perfect place for children to take social risks. At first, children might be afraid to enter the camp as it if filled with all new/unknown faces, but over a period of time children get comfortable and start enjoying the camp. The camp offers a crash course on meeting new people, helping children build their social skills and explore their independence. The children get experience on teamwork, negotiation and co-operation. Their confidence levels and their ability to be in social situation, increases. Their self-esteem is boosted. Their risk-taking and conflict resolution skills are also developed.

They now learn to take their own decisions without their parents' help. The transitory environment of a camp session decreases the cost of making mistakes. The overall camping experience helps children by making them more empathetic that helps to develop their emotional intelligence. Children also end up in making good friendships and networks with their fellow campers.

2) Becoming and staying physically strong:
Children should go to those summer camps where physical activity is designed well in the form of games and allowing children to adopt a healthy lifestyle. The camper's attitude towards physical activities changes/improves towards the end of the camping session. At the summer camps, children are not allowed to carry electronic gadgets. The children are always on their feet and are always on the move. There are many camps that take children for activities like boating, mountain climbing & trekking, waterskiing, archery and forest games.

Since children don't have access to TV, internet and cellphones they have no choice but to socialize with their friends while participating in different activities.

3) Getting to learn the value of leadership:
The loudest person or the most active person is not always the leader. It takes practice to become a good leader. To become a leader, one needs to have a range of skills and qualities. A few of the leadership qualities are confidence, understanding of team work and creativity in decision-making. Summer camps build leadership skills in children. In summer camps activities are more group-based where you often need to rely on teammates to complete the task. By being a part of a group, children get to engage in group bonding and also learn to speak in the group. At summer camps, children get a chance to lead in a non-judgmental environment. The camps help children to think out-of-the-box and become creative. It also tests their methodology of approaching things in being a leader. Once children attend summer camps, there is an increase in emotional intelligence and self-confidence. Both these are important characteristics in being a good leader.

4) Developing boldness and confidence:
These days, many parents are over-protective of their children, which had lead them to keep the children “bubble-wrapped”. At summer camps, the children get an opportunity to come out of their comfort zones through various activities such as theater and musical performances, high-ropes courses and so on. The summer camp teaches children that it's okay to fail, and helps them to recognize their limitations and improve on them.

Camps encourage children to take risks and face new challenges. They also help them to be independent, and resilient in a safe, supportive and supervised environment. The obstacles are seen as challenges that children can overcome. If the confidence level increases, children do their best in academics as well. This kind of encouragement kids receive at camps, makes it a great environment to endure setbacks.

5) Lots of playtime:
Kids love to have fun and they love to play. They have no limits when it comes to having fun. They can spend hours together in the play area but unfortunately don't get enough time to play due to the unstructured play time. Children have started to spend a lot of time at school, watching TV, playing games on mobile phones or on a computer and so on. Because of these things, their active playtime has decreased drastically.

Camps give children the adequate playtime that they require. It gives an opportunity to explore being active in creative ways. Playtime not only offers children the tools to entertain themselves but also builds their imagination. Children learn to set their own boundaries, interact with one another, determined about the win and lose and to be actively involved in playing with their friends.