10 Reasons Summer Camp Is An Essential Experience, Especially For City Kids

Join The Fresh Air Fund and help provide free life-changing summer experiences in the outdoors to more than 1.8 million children from New York City’s underserved communities.

1. Summer camp helps kids form a connection with nature.

This is especially important for city kids who may not have access to nature on a day-to-day basis. Time spent outdoors encourages movement and thrills the senses. Spending time in nature is essential for physical and emotional health  (and has to be better for them than scrolling through videos on social media for hours at a time).

2. Camp helps build friendships and social connections.

Camp helps kids build social skills and improve their self-esteem. While it may seem scary at first to be meeting a big group of new people, everyone is in the same boat. Kids build strong social connections through teamwork, conflict resolution, and cooperation.

3. Summer camp is chock-full of screen-free activities.

It's time to take a break from the phone, tablet, computer, and TV. Summer camp offers kids the chance to participate in active, screen-free activities while enjoying nature and making strong social connections.

4. And it encourages kids to become and stay active.

Summer camp is all about physical activity, from swimming to archery to team-building activities. Attending camp can help kids form an exercise habit that will stick with them into adulthood, helping them to form a healthier lifestyle.

5. They also learn leadership skills.

With so many team activities, kids learn to work together and to develop leadership skills. A study conducted by the Canadian Summer Camp Research Project showed that many campers gained an increase in emotional intelligence and self-confidence, both of which are characteristics of good leaders.

6. It also promotes independence...

Experiencing time away from parents is important for a kid and helps them build self-reliance. Summer camp offers a safe environment for them to exercise their independence.

7. ...and teamwork.

Many camp programs are based around group activities that give kids the essential experience of having to work with others to reach a common goal. Knowing how to work in a team is an important life skill.

8. Kids learn to respect differences.

Summer camp will likely expose children to new types of people they would not have met otherwise. The collaborative nature of camp encourages kids to work together on everything from winning a game of capture the flag to constructing a group craft. These activities help kids learn about and respect those who are different than them, a great skill to possess as they grow up.

9. Summer camp keeps kids intellectually stimulated.

Many studies have shown that kids experience learning loss over the summer break. Camp can help keep them intellectually engaged during the school break. 

10. It's an experience they'll remember of the rest of their lives.

Ask almost any former camp attendee and they'll tell you their camp experience was one of the most memorable of their lives. 

Visit The Fresh Air Fund and learn how you can help kids experience summer camp.

Images via The Fresh Air Fund.