Summer Camp for Kids

Chances are that if you grew up in the second half of the twentieth century, you spent at least one July or August at a summer camp for kids. Back then, parents would pack their kids up in the station wagon and drive them off into the woods to spend a few days or a couple of weeks living in log cabins, swimming in a lake, and learning skills like archery. Today’s parents increasingly want to share the great memories they formed at summer camp with their own children.

Today, summer camp for kids is a major business, with more than six million campers attending more than ten thousand camps in the United States and Canada. The average camper stays for four weeks, and today there are a greater variety of camps than ever before. While more than half of camps are overnight camps, many are now day camps.

In addition, camps that focus on academic, cultural, or interest-based themes are flourishing. Space camp, Spanish camp, and cooking camp are just a few of the interest-based camps that can be found. Heritage based camps, like the Jewish overnight Camp Walden, are also doing big business, attracting campers who want to camp in an environment that supports their heritage, their faith, and their values.

But at the heart of every great camp is the same magic that worked on the many generations of campers before them: A warm, supportive community; a chance to make friends and have fun; and a spirit of adventure. Every summer camp for kids revolves around the children and the exciting and wonderful memories they can make during long summer days in the great outdoors.