Adventure Camp
Adventure camps give children and teens a wilderness experience, which is beyond their normal day to day life. While a traditional “all-round” summer camp may give children a taste of these activities, it will not usually be to the same depth. Adventure camps offer programmes in white water rafting, canoeing, sailing, hiking and trekking, mountain biking, scuba and rock climbing amongst others.
These camps want to give children a chance to really experience the great outdoors. Whether that be focused on the oceans, mountains, lakes, forests or even rainforests, the key objective is to put the child in an unfamiliar environment. Children learn new skills, some that they have never used before. A lot is accomplished in a very short time because the campers need to learn the new skills quickly. Life at an adventure camp can be more rigorous than at a traditional summer camp.
In addition to challenging the children to survive as their forbearers did, adventure camp is also about growing emotionally. Children grow in self-confidence through mastering new skills and activities. They develop their teambuilding skills by closely working with a new set of friends to accomplish their tasks. Children are encouraged to be supportive of each other and cheer each other on. Gaining a deeper insight into others is one of the key benefits of this type of camp.
Some adventure camps operate solely as adventure camps, others offer a combination of two programmes (such as language + adventure). At some camps, accomodation is purely in tents, others are in cabins. Some camps are either all about an “adventure trip” or involve significant periods of time “out of camp” exploring sometimes in uncharted wilderness, while others are based primarily around the camp itself. No matter what the specific focus, safety is paramount at all adventure/wilderness camps.
How do you know if your child is right for an adventure camp? Children who are significantly overweight or have physical challenges may not be right for certain camps. You do not, however, have to be a top athlete. In fact, most top athletes don’t go to an adventure camp but choose to focus on camps in their specialty. Most adventure campers are very bright and outward looking kids. Parents of gifted and talented students often choose this route as it helps add to their child’s rounded development.
What is, however, absolutely critical for a successful summer adventure camp experience is that the child wants to do it. Poor attitude can ruin theirs, and others, experience.
Whatever your child’s interest, Camp Experts UK can help you find an adventure camp for them.
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