Here are some of the skills kids learn at summer camp.
Skills Children Learn at Summer Camp
This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything your child will learn at summer camp, but it provides a snapshot of the value of a week away at a camp like ours.
1) Friendship
While friendship may not sound like a skill in itself, making friends can certainly be challenging, especially as we get older. We get wary of new relationships and are less likely to open up to the people around us. Kids make lifelong friends with fellow campers after just a week. Really, friendships often develop after just a few days.
Camp friends will go to each other’s weddings, see the births of their kids, and be there until the very end. If you want your child to learn how to make friends, summer camp is key.
2) Leadership and Responsibility
Summer camp is often the first time children spend time away from their parents and immediate family overnight. While this is challenging for kids and often even more challenging for their parents, it instills a sense of responsibility in each camper. As campers age, they will take on even more responsibility, helping new campers take on the daily camp tasks.
When campers reach their teenage years, they can begin participating in leadership training, with many set out to become counselors themselves.
3) Outdoor Safety
At a camp like High Peak, campers will be surrounded by nature. They will learn about God’s creation and experience it firsthand. Outdoor safety is an integral part of enjoying the great outdoors. Some of what your kids can learn include:
- Wildlife Safety: Kids will learn how to interact with wildlife properly.
- Hiking: Campers will gain important skills, techniques, and trail etiquette for hiking.
- Fishing: With multiple trout ponds on the property, kids have the opportunity to gain a wealth of fishing knowledge.
- Archery: Students can participate in our archery programming.
- Adventure: Campers get the opportunity to learn how safely to climb, repel, zipline, and much more.
4) Navigation
When we set out to go to a new place, we don’t even question how we will get there. We just type in the address on our phones and set out. However, many parents can remember having to actually look up a map or ask for directions.
For our kids, they have known no other world but instant GPS. Hiking on our property gives us the opportunity to instill the kind of navigation skills that can help your kids safely hike trails in Colorado when they don’t have a phone or service.
5) Activities
There are a multitude of activities your child will experience during the day at camp. These include:
- Fishing
- Climbing Wall
- Hiking
- Frisbee Golf
- Archery
- Miniature Golf
- BB Shooting Range
- Low ropes course
- Zipline
- Camp-wide activities
- Outdoor Education
- Arts and crafts
Through participation in these activities, kids learn a number of skills that they can take with them into future employment opportunities.
6) Worship
We might not typically think of worship as a skill, but giving God glory is a vital part of the Christian experience. Our kids may be witnesses of corporate worship as they grow up, but we want them to become participants. Through nightly devotions and campfire times, your child will learn to participate in worship, not as spectators but as active worshippers.
Camp becomes a mountain top experience, not primarily due to its geography, but the opportunity it provides for kids to see the goodness and glory of God.
7) Fun
Fun is also not necessarily something we would think of as a skill to be learned, but hear us out. As parents, we are often focused on our careers, our families, our health, and our world.
We are perpetually stressed, overworked, and short on rest. Even when we are spending time with family or getting away for vacation, we are still worried about everything going on at home.
This type of stress leads to burnout, and burnout causes mental health issues. Our kids, unfortunately, learn to be stressed and burned out from us. They need a week of camp to learn how to have fun. Camp immerses kids in a fun environment more than a vacation or a weekend away ever could. Summer camp teaches the skill of living in the moment, being present, and getting real, valuable restful fun.
If you want to see your kids benefit from learning the skills they will gain at camp; we would love to hear from you. Contact the team at High Peak Camp for more information about how your child will thrive at our summer camp in Estes Park, CO.