Why Summer Camp is A Life-Changing Experience for Kids
We all remember the feeling of that last day of school—the weather's perfect and you're counting the seconds till the final bell rings. When it does, the collective release of energy bursts through the school doors and into the waiting arms of another summer of fun.
But things have changed since our last great summer vacation as kids. We might have spent our days riding bikes, fishing, and winning pick-up sports games from sunrise until a few minutes past our curfew. But that is no longer the most common experience for children, if it ever was. The challenges children face during the school year persist through the summer.
Thankfully, the YMCA of Western North Carolina offers summer camps that create the foundation for lifelong happiness and success. Our overnight Camp Watia gives children and adolescents an opportunity to embrace nature and their full potential. Our day camps provide safe, enriching activities that challenge and excite. And our half-day camps keep children active and engaged throughout the summer vacation.
Whichever program you feel is best for your child, know that we work hard to ensure they are a fun, welcoming environment for children to step beyond their comfort zones, try new things, and grow their confidence. In this blog, we want to briefly explore the challenges children face, our summer camp offerings, and how these programs can help them overcome those challenges.
Our Kids Need Support, Especially in Summer
Children today face numerous challenges on multiple fronts including education, mental health, and physical activity. Though we're five years from the lockdowns of 2020, nowhere is the "return to normal" less complete than in the lives of our children.
Learning Loss Deserves Attention
Summer learning loss is not a new phenomenon—educators have worried about children regressing in the summer for over a century. Studies indicate that students can lose as much as one month of school-year learning over the summer. They also show that the loss impacts math learning more than reading.
This is particularly worrisome given that children haven't yet recovered from pandemic-era learning loss. Losses over the summer can result in children becoming even further behind than students in peer nations across the globe. As it stands, just over half of American fourth graders are performing at their grade level in math. These young learners can hardly afford to fall behind each summer.
Children Need Mental Health Interventions
For years, researchers have documented rising levels of anxiety, depression, and behavioral problems in children. It's estimated that as many as 20 million children and teens aged 3 to 17 in the United States have at least one mental health disorder.
Various causes attempt to explain these alarming trends, from environmental factors to bullying to stressful life events. Another disheartening revelation is that loneliness may be behind the rise in anxiety and depression. Whatever the underlying cause, it's clear that children who grapple with mental health disorders today will need support and treatment if we want them to enjoy happy, stable lives.
Children Need More Physical Activity
All humans, regardless of age, require some level of physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Experts recommend that children get an hour of physical activity per day. Further, they recommend 3 days a week worth of muscle strengthening activity and 3 days worth of bone strengthening activities like running and jumping.
Unfortunately, only about 25% of children in the United States receive that recommended daily hour of physical activity. Engaging in physical activity isn't just for the physical benefits either. Children, like adults, derive psychological benefits from exercise like increased dopamine.
Choose YMCA Summer Camp for Better Summers
During the school year, we trust that our schools and teachers are doing their utmost to provide the best environment possible for our children. But once summer strikes, it becomes an open question whether and where we can go to continue giving our kids the best experience possible.
Worry no more. The YMCA of Western North Carolina offers enriching summer camps for kids ages 3 to 15 years old from overnight camps to day camps, and even half-day camps. No matter which experience you and your child select, you can rest assured your child will find a fun, inclusive atmosphere to learn and grow this summer.
Camp Watia: An Unequaled YMCA Summer Camp
No other YMCA in the country, and perhaps no other summer camp, has what we have here at the YMCA of Western North Carolina—a natural landscape packed with adventure and activities. Camp Watia takes advantage of our unique environment to the benefit of every camper.
Let the natural beauty and rugged terrain of the Nantahala National Forest serve as your child's canvas for a lifetime of memories made at summer camp. As a Camp Watia camper, they'll have the opportunity to spend a week or more making friends, learning, and discovering new passions. They'll engage in activities like:
- Hiking
- Archery
- Arts and Crafts
- Low ropes
- Nature studies
- AND more
Whatever your child thought their interests were coming into camp, they're bound to find new activities that interest and excite them. In addition to the daily activities planned for campers, they'll have the option to add on activities like horseback riding and whitewater rafting.
Camp Watia truly centers on exploration and adventure. Not only will your child explore nature and develop a deep appreciation for time spent outdoors, they'll also explore themselves. Through daily activities that range from fort building to canoeing, to group games like capture the flag, they'll be challenged in a fun, safe environment.
Perhaps most importantly, our campers are under the careful supervision of counselors and Camp Watia staff from check-in until their last moments of summer camp. All staff have CPR and First Aid certifications, in addition to their extensive camp management backgrounds. Additionally, our trip leaders have American Camping Association safety standards certifications to ensure campers are safe when they hike to carefully selected campsites.
Campers also benefit from our on-site nurse or doctor, who's there to administer medication and additional first aid. No matter where or when at Camp Watia, your child will have access to care, support, and supervision.
YMCA Summer Day Camps
If a week into school break you're searching for 'summer day camps near me' to give yourself a break, we've got you covered. Look no further than the YMCA of Western North Carolina's summer day camps offered from June 16 to August 15. We pack all the fun, adventure, and excitement of an overnight camp into a daily schedule.
For children ages 9 to 11 and 12 to 15 we offer our YMCA of Western North Carolina Adventure Camp. Let your tweens and teens discover a love for our region's natural environment through weekday treks into Smoky Mountain National Park, Pisgah National Forest, and Blue Ridge Parkway.
Each day starts with a convenient drop-off time at 7:30 am at the YMCA Youth Services Center at Beaverdam. Our outdoor guides and licensed childcare professionals will lead them on hikes through these natural wonders to learn, exercise, and explore. On Fridays, campers can take advantage of additional activities like horseback riding, tubing, whitewater rafting, and paintball.
We also offer our YMCA Discovery Camp to enrich the summers of rising first graders and campers aged 12. As the name suggests, our Discovery Camp focuses on broadening the horizons of our campers. Our camp staff and counselors create a new theme for each week, with activities focused on that theme. Beyond the daily activities, Discovery campers can take part in field trips, arts and crafts, and swimming.
Half-Day Summer Camps: Pack in the Fun
If you need additional flexibility in your summer morning routines, check out our half-day summer camps like Camp Kiddos and our various Sports Camps. We even offer a limited number of afternoon half-day summer camps when available.
In Camp Kiddos, children ages 3 to 5 can get introduced to the joys of summer camp. They'll enjoy arts and crafts, singing, outdoor play, and learn basic water safety. Through our Sports of All Sorts Camps, children can develop a love for team sports while learning the basic fundamentals of the game.
In these half-day sessions, campers ages 5 to 9 and 10 to 12 learn the basics of basketball, soccer, flag football, kickball, and dodgeball through drills and games. These programs typically start at 9 am and are offered at several of our YMCA of Western North Carolina locations.
How YMCA Summer Camps Improve Lives
Researchers have long known about the benefits that summer camp offers for children and adolescents, but they're only recently discovering why it's so beneficial. It turns out that sending your child to any camp won't automatically bring benefits.
Instead, the quality of the camp determines the impact on your child's life. Studies show that a higher quality camp leads to increased social awareness, more resilience, more independence and an increased willingness to try new things. At YMCA of Western North Carolina, we're committed to providing only the highest quality environment for our campers.
That starts with highly trained staff who are passionate about giving our campers the best possible experience. Our Camp Watia Executive Director, Shannon Raab, is an overnight summer camp alumna who's been working with YMCA summer camps for 20 years. Her goal is to share the life-changing experience she had at a summer camp with as many campers as she can.
Joining Shannon in her efforts is a dedicated staff trained, licensed, and certified to provide the quality camp experiences necessary to improve children's lives. Together, our YMCA summer camps help children build confidence, develop social skills, connect them to nature, and learn new skills and interests.
Our Summer Camps Help Build Confidence
Summer camp provides a nurturing environment for children to become more confident, self-efficacious, and independent. In one study, camp alumni from low-income backgrounds reported that their summer camp experience, more than organized sports or extracurriculars, was the source of their confidence and independence. Even more inspiring, the more years of camp, the greater the benefit the researchers observed.
How do our summer camps grow confidence and independence? Part of it starts with the welcoming atmosphere our counselors create. Counselors help ensure that campers can take pride in at least one activity they complete each week of camp. Campers also have opportunities to build confidence over time in a single activity.
Our low ropes course, for example, might be a challenge at the start of camp. But by the end of the week or season, campers can boost their confidence by conquering the course. Our outdoor adventures also allow children to become more independent. At home, we may understand and anticipate our child's needs. Out on an adventure, campers learn how to advocate for themselves and solve problems on their own.
YMCA Summer Camps Foster New Friendships
Our camps bring together campers and counselors from across our region and even the globe. They may have friends from school or sports that they recognize, but are bound to make new friends during their summer camp experience.
This can be especially powerful when campers don't start the summer with friends at camp. Researchers believe that camps allow children to be themselves, without labels or identities that may have been applied to them at school. This newfound freedom finds space to socialize outside their comfort zone thanks to our group activities.
At Camp Watia, cabin mates become a core group that campers can go to and lean on for friendship and support. Each day starts and ends in the company of this group. In our day camps, we foster a sense of belonging through group songs and chants, and group activities like campfires. These activities and spaces allow children to authentically express themselves and make life-long friends.
Our Summer Camps for Kids Let Them Unplug
Screens provide children with access to vast amounts of knowledge and learning opportunities in the classroom. But outside the classroom, these devices can become addicting distractions that stunt self-exploration and growth. We may not want our kids on our screens, but we may also be surprised that the kids also want to put them down.
Research shows that 72% of American teens often or sometimes feel peaceful when they don't have their phones. So, if our teens and kids want to put their phones or tablets away, why do they pick them up? Sometimes, it's because it's the only thing they can think of to do.
Our YMCA summer camps change the equation and show campers new settings and activities to explore and have fun. We swap out smartphones for the Smoky Mountains to let campers immerse themselves in nature. It doesn't just let children feel more peaceful either, it can deliver a lifetime of change.
A summer camp experience in nature helped children residing in urban settings improve their health outcomes and knowledge of nature. The natural setting of many of our camps gives children a chance to be curious about nature beyond our scheduled lessons. It also creates a more positive outlook that campers take with them when they encounter adversity in the following school year.
We Provide An Environment to Learn New Skills and Discover Passions
Summer camps provide children with experiences that are outside their normal environment. School days, with mandated guidelines and goals, just aren't able to offer the variety of activities we can at our overnight and summer day camps.
All that variety provides children with boundless opportunities to find new interests and passions that neither you nor they realized they had. Every camp we offer includes arts and crafts activities to tap into children's innate desire for self-expression. We also provide STEM projects for campers to discover their love for science and math without classroom testing.
The results of this exposure are stunning. When campers felt connected and experienced a combination of academic and recreational activities, they reported liking math, reading, writing, and science more than when the camp began. The power of YMCA summer camps to instill a lifelong love of learning cannot be understated.
How to Enroll Your Child In YMCA Summer Camp
Summer camp through the YMCA of Western North Carolina is how summers were meant to be spent. Whether through our overnight Camp Watia or one of our day or half-day summer camps, we provide an unparalleled setting for children to discover themselves and the world around them. What they learn in our summer camps carries with them beyond the next school year too—it sets up the foundation for college and career success.
If you want your child to benefit from a summer of YMCA camps for kids, register online or at a YMCA of Western North Carolina branch location. When you register online, you can select a single week or multiple weeks and programs at a time for an easier experience. We also offer financial assistance for our programs so children who need our services can access them. Sign your child up today for a lifetime of impactful memories!