It’s The Season of Summer Camps: Learn How To Host Them
Summer is the season of fun! With plants and flowers in full bloom and living creatures emerging to enjoy the warmth, the environment is energizing and ideal for growth for all, especially for children. This makes summer vacation an excellent time to cultivate a love for the outdoors, play, and learning in your little one. Doing so also opens up opportunities for you to bond with your child while creating lifelong memories with them.
Enrolling your child in a summer camp is a great way to help them kickstart their summer vacation in an environment where growth and fun are both givens. When they participate in a camp, your child is involved in various activities that help them enhance their social, communication, and conflict resolution skills, all while having fun during the sunniest season of the year.
This summer, Skillmatics is holding a camp that is one of its kind. We’ll introduce your child to enthralling experiences through games and learning, all while helping them build skills along the way.
Try out some of these fun games and activities to get your own summer camp up and running!
1. Guess in 10
Guess in 10 is an easy card game with various editions ranging from those about the animal kingdom to geography to members of a working city. Guess in 10 Junior (ages 3-6) and Guess in 10 (ages 6 and up) help toddlers and kids enhance their social, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and creative thinking skills. Guess in 10 not only encourages your child to use clues to figure out what the answer is, but also familiarizes them with the world around them by introducing them to common figures, concepts, and places including animals, states, grocery stores, and firefighters.
2. Write and Wipe Activities
Skillmatics has a wide range of write and wipe activity mats for all age groups. I Can Write is an activity mat kit that helps your kid learn to write, draw and recognize simple shapes and the alphabet, while Dots and Mazes is another activity mat that helps strengthen your child’s logical and analytical skills by guiding them to find their way out of various labyrinthine set-ups. The activity mats also help kids build their vocabulary and general knowledge by introducing them to various topics: Space Explorers teaches your little ones about astronauts and the solar system.
3. Found It!
Found It! is an exciting outdoor scavenger card game that will enhance your little one’s problem-solving skills and creativity while giving them a taste of adventure The most important part? The game allows you (as a caregiver/parent) to participate too: you can supervise the hunt or take part in it!
4. Buildable
Buildables by Skillmatics is a STEM product that teaches your children essential construction, analytical, and problem-solving skills. Your kids can enjoy building and creating their projects, machines, robots, and more with simple step-by-step instructions. Some of the exciting projects children are encouraged to build in the camp are Sketching Machines, Spin Art Stations, Infinity Calendars, Hydraulic Launchers, Compound Microscopes, and 3D Spy Glasses.
While these games will be a part of Camp Skillmatics, you can also purchase them individually and host your own summer camp at home!
The following are a few tips to help you create a super fun summer camp for your kids at home:
1. Think of Themes
To make the summer camp different from a normal day of play, think of a theme. It could be superhero, animal, or location oriented, just enough to get your child excited about something new and extraordinary. Encourage them to dress accordingly, while you plan the games and activities around the theme.
2. Curate a Mix of Activities
When you plan the day for the camp, try to include a diverse range of activities, including games, crafts, drama, reading and gross motor work. You’ll also want to set up some activities where your child can find success in independent play. Having a wide range of things to do will help hold their interest throughout the day, as they work on increasing their attention span.
3. Prepare Wholesome Meals
After a whole day of play under the heat of the sun, children are bound to be hungry. It’s important to keep them hydrated and full by giving them snacks and drinks throughout the camp day. Keep the meals simple and not too fancy with sandwiches, rolls, baked vegetables, and plenty of water. Try to have healthy and nourishing foods to keep the little ones running around with lots of energy.
Most importantly, when in doubt about hosting your own summer camp, remember to keep it simple. Children have a short attention span, but more importantly, they have the special ability to make anything exciting and fascinating, so take the pressure off by embracing a wondrous outlook and finding the fun in any activity.
If hosting your own summer camp seems time intensive, look no further than Camp Skillmatics. The activities in the camp are carefully curated to bring out the best in your child while giving them a summer to remember! Learn more about it here.