Outdoor Adventures for Kids at Summer Camp

Outdoor adventures at sleepaway camp offer kids the amazing chance to meet the challenges of the wilderness, from setting up camp to hiking mountainous trails and surging down wild rapids. Not only will they remember these thrilling experiences for a lifetime, but they also learn a lot about themselves, about the natural world and about working as a team with others. And, of course, since it’s overnight summer camp, they’ll have loads of fun.

Wilderness camping excursions can last from two day, one night jaunts to week-long expeditions across lakes and over mountains. All along the way, campers learn the basics of surviving in the wilds, navigating forest trails, setting up camp, watching the sky for indications of weather and so many other outdoor skills. Backpacking trips, sea kayaking expeditions and biking explorations are just a few of the incredible experiences available to summer campers, and many camps also include outdoor rock climbing and canyoneering in their adventure program..

Travelling by water is especially exciting, whether challenging various levels of rapids in white water rafting or canoeing across long, peaceful lakes brimming with intriguing coves and inlets.  From magnificent national parks to rugged seashores and majestic rivers, sleepaway camp offers a vast variety of outdoor explorations by raft, canoe and kayak.

Outdoor adventures kindle a spirit of adventure and camaraderie, enabling kids to develop leadership ability, confidence and the sense that the group functions better as a whole than individually. It’s so much easier to set up camp, cook meals, blaze a trail or portage canoes with a bunch of helpful hands.  Kids grow in so many ways: achieving increased self esteem, learning to function efficiently as a team and accruing a ton of new outdoor skills.

Having to live closely together in campsites teaches kids a lot about the give-and-take of a small community where each person is an integral part of the whole. Everyone needs to contribute efficiently to be sure the group is fed and sheltered, that equipment is in good working order and that everyone is up and ready to roll when it’s time to hit the trail.

Kids gain a deep respect for the wilderness, whether pristine mountains, primeval forests or glittering glacial lakes. The beauty and grandeur of nature is so much more awe-inspiring when experienced  on remote trails, secluded rivers and little-travelled woods, giving today’s kids a taste of what life was like before the dawn of our highly technical civilization.

Not only are these thrilling trips fun, but they are also conducted with safety as a priority. Counselors leading outdoor expeditions are highly qualified and well-trained. You can rest assured that your camper will be in good hands and will come back healthy, happy and brimming with amazing stories and incredible memories that will last a lifetime.

Of course fun is what summer camp is all about, and overnight expeditions are full of awe-inspiring moments. From eating s’mores around the campfire to singing camp songs while hiking up that endless hill and leaping into deep blue lakes at the end of a long day of paddling, summer camp expeditions are full of laughter and the kind of bonding that comes with confronting challenges together.

Get Creative With a Diversity of Crafts This Summer

Sleepaway camp gives kids so many different opportunities to learn new things, explore new interests and find out so much about themselves and the world around them. Though overnight summer camp is loaded with fun-filled outdoor activities, kids also get a chance to tap into their creative side through arts, crafts, music and drama. Boys and girls love to let their imaginations run wild with every art form from tie-die to oil paints, pottery wheels and free-form ceramics.

Clever Crafts

Arts and crafts are a time-honored camp tradition at summer camps across America. After a lively morning of swimming, boating or hiking and a hearty lunch, it’s great to relax with friends and whip up colorful items from sand candles to leaf prints, friendship bracelets, wind chimes, rain sticks and God’s eyes.

Wearable Memories

T-shirt making is always a popular activity at overnight summer camp, allowing campers to let their creative urges roar in wild tie-die designs, super-cool nature prints and humorous endeavors like joke T’s with a question on the front and a punch line on the back. Not only are hand-made T-shirts fun to design and make, but they also become wearable memories, colorful remembrances of fun-filled days at camp.

Wonders of Woodshop

Woodshop is a big favorite with campers and introduces basic carpentry skills that will come in handy for a lifetime. Usually reserved for older campers, woodshop offers an amazing opportunity to learn how to develop and complete a project using tools from standard hammers to power drills, band saws and planes safely and efficiently. Boys and girls can design and anything from a set for the campfire skit to a mini ping pong table or doll house furniture. Wooden bowls, picture frames, birdhouses, CD racks, puzzles or ping pong paddles: the sky’s the limit!

Cool Ceramics

Who hasn’t imagined sitting at a potter’s wheel and peacefully throwing a pot, molding a mound of spinning clay? Learning to use artistic tools like the potter’s wheel, oil paints and paper mache lets kids experiment with different artistic mediums in a relaxed environment, chatting with friends while they whip up unique masterpieces. Bowls, ceramic fish, vases and candle holders are molded, fired, painted and brought home at summer’s end to become treasured gifts to family or cool bedroom accessories.

Skit Shenanigans

Kids can get creative in lots of other ways at camp. Funny skits, musicals and other theatrical productions offer opportunities to tap into talents like writing, acting and directing. Your shy daughter may find out she cranks out the cleverest skit lines in camp, while your seemingly introverted son may have the time of his life playing a major role in a comedy production. Counselors love kids and are attuned to helping each camper find the confidence to achieve dreams and goals, however small. Just getting up the nerve to submit a skit script or volunteer to play a part are big steps in gaining self-confidence that will carry throughout the summer and beyond. 

Making New Friends and Having Fun at Summer Camp?

Make lifelong or just summer-long friends while having a blast outdoors at overnight summer camp. Days are chock-full of amazing activities, from water-front adventures to challenging rope course events and exciting games, while nights offer ghost stories around the campfire, boisterous sing-alongs and hilarious skits.

Having Fun

From learning to swim to catching your first fish, stepping up for some line dancing or perfecting your tennis serve, camp is most of all a place to have fun. Sure, you’ll probably learn a lot about yourself and the natural world, but along the way you’ll be playing games, participating in goofy contests, acting in skits and just hanging with pals in your cabin.

In and on the water are two of the favorite spots to be at sleepaway camp, whether diving for pennies in the pool, exploring hidden coves by canoe or learning the fine art of sailing. Taking risks to achieve personal goals is exciting too, and part of the fun of camp is advancing in swimming levels, acquiring new boating skills and checking out thrilling new sports like water skiing. Trying new sports and activities in the company of friends and favorite counselors means you just might find that you actually are coordinated enough to maneuver on a wind-surfer, artistic enough to create an awesome skit backdrop and strong enough to get to the top of the climbing wall – using the hard route.

Making Friends

A cabin-centered camp structure means campers form a really tight bond, building their own little

community within the larger community of the camp. And don’t worry; you will indeed make friends, whether they last for one summer or your whole life. Even if you’re a little shy or scared of talking to new people, it’s so much easier to get to know other kids when you’re living, eating and playing together all day. And if that’s not enough, camp counselors are experts at easing the way socially for all campers. Just try introducing yourself to people around you; it may be easier and far more fun than you think, and you may find out you’re not as shy as you think. You’ll have a whole new band of friends in your cabin mates, talking, playing, laughing and sharing the super summer camp experience.

All this awesome socializing will also help you forget you’re missing your dog, your mom and dad or your neighborhood friends. It’s hard to stay homesick when you’re engaged in the fun-filled teamwork required for winning that game of Capture-the-Flag, learning a cool dance routine for a campfire skit or completing a challenging goal on the high ropes course.

Another friend you’ll get to know better at camp is yourself. Yes, away from mom and dad, teachers and the school friends, you may just find out a lot about your own character and values. Camp gives you a chance to take some healthy risks that help you learn more about who you are as a person and who you may become. At the end of an awesome summer, you’ll be healthier, fitter, more independent and more resilient, and you’ll carry this new, improved you off to school and then back to camp next summer. You’ll be a better friend to others and to yourself.

Play Your Part in Theater Production with Fellow Campers

Plays and skits are a big, funny part of super summers at overnight summer camp. So whether you prefer to be the star, the director or just an active audience participant, step into the spotlight and enjoy making magical, theatrical memories with your camp pals.

Let your child have the summer camp experience at Camp Walt Whitman, located in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Learn more at http://www.campwalt.com

Discover Forest Treasures at the Ultimate Kid's Nature Camp

Let your child experience the magic of the woods this summer at sleepaway camp, where new discoveries, new friends and new experiences are the real treasures of the forest. Guided by experienced counselors familiar with forests, fields and lakes, campers play, explore and learn, surrounded by the wonders of nature. From hiking trips in the mountains to canoe excursions into secluded coves, nature-themed overnight summer camp offers kids incredible outdoor adventures. Guided treks through the woods offer up such secrets as how to identify animal tracks, which mushrooms are safe to eat or how to blaze a trail, all the while surrounded by the happy company of fellow campers.

Many kids today may just view nature as another abstraction, something seen on a TV show or a You-Tube video; in fact, studies have shown that kids average over five hours a day glued to some kind of electronic device. Letting kids run free in neighborhood fields, woods and playgrounds is no longer viewed as safe, and parents are more likely to keep kids close to home. All these factors make experiences like sleepaway camp more important than ever, as organized, supervised summer camp gives kids a safe way to experience the joy of connecting with the natural world.

For many children, the woods and lakes surrounding sleepaway camps are like an enchanting foreign land, full of unfamiliar creatures, sounds and smells. Imagine your child catching his first fish, learning how to blaze a trail through the forest or experiencing the daring thrill of holding a (harmless) snake. All these experiences open a whole new world for many youngsters, meanwhile fostering a true appreciation of the natural world.

Not only do youngsters have a blast in nature’s amazing playground, but counselors have a knack for instilling a love and respect for the natural world. The nature lessons learned at camp can last for a lifetime, whether it’s learning how to use a compass in the forest, how to spot an impending storm in cloud formations or how to identify the paw prints of a fox.

Getting out and enjoying the great outdoors is also known to have so many benefits for kids, from reducing stress to promoting a love physical exercise. Energetic activities like hiking, camping, horseback riding are not just healthy, they also promote self-confidence, independence, problem-solving skills, creativity and self-discipline.

When is the last time your child was free to explore the summertime woods, listen to the wind howl through tall stands of trees or lie still at night and watch the billions of stars undimmed by city lights? All these wonders of nature are the gifts of sleep-away camp, and all the more precious for being experienced with amazing new friends.

When the moon shines through the pines and the mysterious nighttime noises of the woods begin to rustle about, kids love to gather around the campfire toasting marshmallows, listening to ghost stories and giggling with friends. Even youngsters who have never been out of the city learn to identify the nighttime residents of the forest, from ghostly owls to swooping bats and cheery peep frogs. Imagine your youngster experiencing the old-time summer magic of catching fireflies, watching the moon floating in the glimmering lake waters or taking that first gooey bite of s’mores.

Your kids can enjoy the benefits of sleepaway summer camp at Camp Walt Whitman in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. 

Learn more at http://www.campwalt.com

Create Awesome Crafts at Sleepaway Summer Camp

When your child goes to a sleepaway summer camp, it is good to know that one of the activities he or she will enjoy is being able to create awesome crafts. Not only are those crafts excellent mental and physical stimulation, but they result in items that will go home for the use of the campers or their families.

Ceramics

The number of things that can be created in a ceramics studio are endless. Just a sampling could include stoneware plates, bowls and mugs that could be a whole dinner setting for the camper's entire family or an item for a sibling or parent or grandparent who has a coming birthday or as a Christmas gift. These can be uniquely personalized with the name and figures with the appropriate choice of skin tone and hair color of the recipient and will become an appreciated keepsake.

Paper Mache

Children have fun making animals, monsters, a pinata and more from paper mache in the Crafts Studio. They learn how to make the mache itself, special paste by one of several different methods and then how to form the object, cover it with approximately four layers of paper mache, and dry it. A good tip is to perhaps use a two-liter soda bottle as a base to make dolphins, hippos, elephants, parrots and other animals. Other tips are to add a little cinnamon to the paste to take away the smell and to add a little less water if there is a lot of humidity.

Tie-dyed T-shirts

Girls like to make and wear awesome tie-dye shirts since each one is a unique creation in any color combination of fabric dye that you can imagine. Three techniques include Marble Tie With Spray-bottle Dye, Twisted Tie With Dunking Dye, and Knotted Tie With Squirt-bottle Dye. After dyeing the T-shirts according to instructions, they are wrung out, placed in sealable plastic bags overnight, and then completing the process and washing and drying the shirts the next day. Rubber gloves have to be worn to rinse the shirt in warm and then cool water, until the water runs clear. Using this permanent dye, one has to be careful not to get any on clothes. The shirt is hung up to dry or put in the dryer on the cool setting.

Making a Candle

The age-old hobby of creating a handmade candle in the crafts studio is lots of fun and gets the brain working on how to make it unique. Making candles of all shapes and sizes is easier than you may think. You need a heat source, a formal candle wax melting pot or

a "double boiler" set up, appropriate wax, a wick, a container or mold to hold the melted wax, and perhaps a color, fragrance or essential oil.

Wood Shop

Older children can use tools and drills to build major items in the Wood Shop, even such things as a table or a mini ping pong table or a chaise lounge chair.

Because Parents Want a Healthy New England Summer Camp Environment for their Children

If you like satisfying new buddies and participating in new experiences, you must take into consideration investing one element of your summertime at Camp Walt Whitman. Nestled in New Hampshire's White Mountains, this stimulating resort is among the top New England summer season camps and invites both kids and gals. Even teens are invited to attend camp.