It’s finally that time of the year: most families in America really look forward to summer vacations as one of the most anticipated times of the year! Stepping out of everyday routine, fostering new experiences, learning new abilities and upskilling social contacts are just a few of the benefits of summer camp that parents can expect when enrolling their little ones into these programs.
But while summer is all about fun and games, make no mistake: the fact that they are not sitting in a classroom is no excuse for them not to continue learning and have fun while doing it!
Still needs to understand the connection between learning while enjoying school’s time off? Take a closer look at the benefits that come from enrolling in summer camps, and how this experience can impact your Little One’s life for the better.
Understanding Why Summer Camp is Important
Having a break from your routine also means making the time to meet new people, have new experiences, and create memories that will follow you throughout the year – or even your life.
One of the most important benefits of participating in a summer camp is offering the children the chance to learn new things about themselves. About their ability to explore new fields of knowledge and do something new; sharpen their curiosity over topics they’re not used to interacting with; finding out about hobbies they might foster after the vacation.
Connecting With Others
Summer camps are a place to learn more about how you connect with other people socially, and having the opportunity to interact with different cultures, world views and life experiences. Bringing back home these social skills and an empathetic view over these different lifestyles will certainly benefit your child’s emotional intelligence.
It’s important to mention that the summer camp experience can benefit children of all ages, as long as the indications of age adequacy are followed.
Exploring Different Interests
During the school period, kids are often complying with a specific agenda — which naturally has its value and prepares children to learn and develop as they grow.
During summer camps, while they’re still having learning experiences, they also get to explore something new. Spending time around nature and other children and having more time to engage in different types of play impacts their repertoire.
Once children are exposed to these unexpected activities, they are also learning about themselves and what they find interesting.
Simply put: summer camps introduce children to experiences they otherwise wouldn’t normally have during the school period. This expands their social, cultural, and educational repertoire, which can lead to them fostering a new hobby or even getting a grasp of what their future profession could look like.
Bridging Learning Summer Gap
The phenomenon known as “Summer Learning Gap”, which refers to children “losing” the learning they’ve acquired during school is not a consensus among specialists, according to research.
While parents should not fear that their children will fall behind if they don’t study during the break, we also believe that there is no reason why kids can’t learn something while they’re having fun!
Summer camps don’t necessarily follow the same curriculum structured for classrooms, but the camp’s monitors can connect the subjects they study during school time to their experiences during the summer camp.
As long as children are being stimulated to explore new environments, meet new people, and have multiple experimentations, they’re being stimulated to learn! The positive outcome will definitely show when school is back.
Benefits of Enrolling in Summer Camp
In practical terms, what do children experience during their time at summer camps? What will they bring home after the vacation days are over?
Take a look at what’s related to their emotional and physical experiences.
New Ways to Learn and Develop Their Knowledge
Children need – and also benefit – from having established routines in their everyday life. However, having the chance to expand their social circle and interact with people they’re not familiar with helps them develop adaptability and a sense of appreciation for new experiences.
Children have a more special opportunity to learn while they’re having fun! So stepping out of the everyday classroom activities can be a stimulating experience. Kids can learn about science and engineering while creating paper robots, musical instruments from unusual materials… there’s so much to learn while your little explorer is enjoying summer camp!
Body Awareness and a Taste For an Active Lifestyle
While screen time awareness is important, we know that children can learn and create using a tablet or a computer (the idea is not to transform screen time into something necessarily bad!).
But during the summer months, it’s important to encourage your little explorer to experience new sensations and abilities. Some of these can only be fully appreciated in the outdoors, having direct contact with nature.
Supporting the child to enjoy their time in the outdoors, exploring new fauna, flora and different settings without screen stimuli will also be an encouragement to have them appreciate their time being active, using their body and physical sensations as their main source to create new memories and learnings.
Increased Empathetic and Social Skills
It’s known that many children might spend most of their life interacting with the same group of people in their schools and neighborhoods. Having life-long friendships and bonds is great and also shows a caring individual, but it can also create an undesired social bubble around the child.
New interactions with people that are not part of their everyday life routine will help open the child’s mind to new life stories, new interests, new connections they can create with people when they share an activity or project. Expanding the social connections of the little one will help them grow their social skills while also collaborating with developing an empathetic mindset into their young minds.
Self-respect and Character Building
All experiences the child creates will help them foster memories, connections, a sense of justice and the importance of collaboration. It will also show them why it’s fundamental to know your limits, stand up for what they believe to be right and be tolerant with other people’s world view.
This is all part of the process to build a leader of tomorrow, a person that since their young years learnt the importance of collaboration, empathy, and having an open mind towards other people and new experiences.
Increased Emotional Development
By now, you probably realized that our view on summer camps is mainly based on breaking the routine and presenting children with the opportunity to explore. This includes introducing them to new colleagues, unusual activities, unexplored places in nature, trying out new things using their body, and challenging them to apply the knowledge they acquire in camp.
As you can tell, it’s all about breaking the mold. Having the courage to try new things!
What kind of effect do you expect that to have on our Little Ones?
Attending summer camp and facing all of these experiences means they are on their way to overcoming fears, growing resilience, and self-confidence.
Most Important Effects of Summer Camps
While it’s all fun and learning during the summer camp, the positive effects of attending it outlast the break period.
Even after the rest is over and school is back, children will carry along the positive experiences they had during the camp.
They’ll come back to class revigorated, with stories to tell, learning to share, and new friends to look forward to meeting again!
When children experience different things, they develop their imagination and creativity. They grow new references and learn more about themselves. This is all important fuel that will help them evolve and change towards their best future.
Meet Amazing Explorers Academy’s Summer Camp
As part of our educational approach involves fostering the Little Ones’ creativity, independence and collaboration, these pillars would not be disconsidered during AEA’s summer camp.
We take advantage of our STEAM-based curriculum to incorporate principles of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics into our summer activities by stimulating problem solving, creative thinking and teamwork.
How We Operate Our Summer Camps
Themes such as amazing science, how to be an inventor, forensic science and engineering allow children to challenge to think and wonder, explore and investigate, engaging in fun STEAM-related themes.
Programs are focused on 5-12 years old. AEA’s summer camp activities start from the early days of June and extend throughout the first days of August. Weekly themes guide the proposed games and help connect the little campers’ learning process with fun and dynamic activities.
Making the Most Out of Summer Camps
By now, you probably know the benefits of summer camp and how this experience can affect your Little Explorer’s mind, body, social connections, and creative thinking. There’s no reason why your child’s knowledge journey has to be exclusively connected to a classroom! Every day (including vacations) is a good day to learn something and unravel new experiences!
Amazing Explorers Academy has over 20 units spread around the country. Find a location near you and enroll your child in the Amazing Explorers Academy summer camp.
