As a parent, a great deal of time is spent determining where your kids are attending school. We look for schools with academic rigor and a reputation of excellence. Sometimes parents forget that it is just as essential to explore meaningful activities and programs for their children over the long summer months.

Summer is prime time for kids to forget educational concepts. Studies find that children lose at least one month of instruction due to summer learning loss, meaning that they forget content already learned the previous year. Choosing a quality summer camp may give your child the needed edge for the upcoming school year. Finding meaningful activities, especially over the summer is significant for children.

Most summer programs provide social interaction and physical activity, but little more. The emotional and academic areas are often neglected. Summer programs that focus on the whole child is key. When investigating summer camps, consider adult/child ratio, the curriculum, enrichment activities and their policies/procedures in the daily conduct of others.

Frequently summer camps are not run by certified teachers and lack the educational component. Learning is fun when integrated with real-life situations (no textbooks!) and quality facilitation. If fact, the kids do not even realize they are learning. The human brain craves learning. It loves structure, new experiences, and novelty. Conducting gooey science experiments, learning about poetry through songs, writing lessons and photography labs that culminate into a camp newspaper are stimulating activities for kids which contain academic elements. Character education guides children in friendship, manners, morals, and thinking of others offer children social skills often overlooked in the technological world of today, one that often limits face-to-face social interactions. Life skills are equally as important for kids to learn such as team building, appreciating diversity, and how to deal with stress etc. Furthermore, due to our technology-saturated culture, children often have not experienced the fun of retro games like Kick the Can, Capture the Flag, water laser tag, and traditional board games. Kids that are engaged and physically active in meaningful summer programs are balanced and happy children.

Kidz Camp at Heritage Hills empowers kids through play and helps to develop the whole child through meaningful programs. Furthermore, there are numerous enrichment activities such as dance, golf, UK Soccer, field trips to Bogey’s Family Entertainment Center, gardening, and much more that are included at no additional charge. Check out the Kidz Camp website at www.kidzcampyork.com.

Register by May 1^st for last year’s pricing – a savings of $10 a week, or $100 for the full 10-week program, as an added bonus, refer new campers and you’ll receive an additional discount of $10 per week for each new camper referred. Be sure to mention York Macaroni Kid when booking.

Happy Summer Camping!

Written By:

BethAnn Pratte, Ed.D.
Educational Consultant
Adjunct Professor for York College and Penn State York

Specializing in:
Mind, Brain and Education Approach to Education
Curriculum Writing and Instructional Design
Brain-based Instructional Strategies
Bullying Prevention Implementation
Learning Profiles and Study Skills
Visit www.engagingtheirminds.com