More and more recreation and fitness professionals are called on to create day camps for children in facilities that have traditionally been geared to recreation and fitness users. New programming and operational challenges arise as professionals are asked to serve a different population with innovative programs through these camps. You can overcome those challenges with Day Camp Programming and Administration: Core Skills and Practices. This handy reference, which is geared toward new professionals, will help you * conduct a needs analysis and prepare a proposal for a facility-based camp, regardless of your setting; * develop business and marketing plans for your camp; * manage risk and generate money through your camp; and * manage programming, staff training, and administrative processes from conception through evaluation. The book comes with a CD-ROM that supplies you with a comprehensive set of worksheets and forms to assist you in planning, operating, and evaluating your camp. You can use these printable tools as the book guides you step by step through the camp management process. You will be exposed to an array of program choices and training and administrative tasks that will help you run successful camps. The author draws on her 12 years of experience in running day camps to help you plan your camp. You will learn how to gather information in making wise decisions as you get started, how to plan for safety and comply with health and safety standards, and how to develop camp policies and communicate with parents. You will then be guided through organizing the camp structure, including registration, the business plan, and the daily schedule. You will explore how to hire, train, develop, and evaluate staff, and you will examine common camp programs and discover how to select and implement your own program. Finally, you will learn how to evaluate your program and use that evaluation in preparing future camps. Day Camp Programming and Administration: Core Skills and Practices covers all you need to know to operate your own facility-based day camp--whether you are a professional in a municipal recreation department, a fitness owner looking to branch out, or a campus recreation professional. This guide addresses challenges you'll face as a new day camp provider through practical examples, tried-and-true suggestions, and tips that will help you fulfill your community's needs, increase your bottom line, and provide fruitful experiences for your day campers.

For children and youth, summertime presents a unique break from the traditional structure, resources, and support systems that exist during the school year. For some students, this time involves opportunities to engage in fun and enriching activities and programs, while others face additional challenges as they lose a variety of supports, including healthy meals, medical care, supervision, and structured programs that enhance development. Children that are limited by their social, economic, or physical environments during the summer months are at higher risk for worse academic, health, social and emotional, and safety outcomes. In contrast, structured summertime activities and programs support basic developmental needs and positive outcomes for children and youth who can access and afford these programs. These discrepancies in summertime experiences exacerbate pre-existing academic inequities. While further research is needed regarding the impact of summertime on developmental domains outside of the academic setting, extensive literature exists regarding the impact of summertime on academic development trajectories. However, this knowledge is not sufficiently applied to policy and practice, and it is important to address these inequalities. Shaping Summertime Experiences examines the impact of summertime experiences on the developmental trajectories of school-age children and youth across four areas of well-being, including academic learning, social and emotional development, physical and mental health, and health-promoting and safety behaviors. It also reviews the state of science and available literature regarding the impact of summertime experiences. In addition, this report provides recommendations to improve the experiences of children over the summertime regarding planning, access and equity, and opportunities for further research and data collection.

Students typically lose knowledge and skills during the summer, particularly low-income students. Districts and private providers can benefit from the evidence on summer programming to maximize program effectiveness, quality, reach, and funding.

Since they were first established in the 1880s, children’s summer camps have touched the lives of millions of people. Although the camping experience has a special place in the popular imagination, few scholars have given serious thought to this peculiarly American phenomenon. Why were summer camps created? What concerns and ideals motivated their founders? Whom did they serve? How did they change over time? What factors influenced their design? To answer these and many other questions, Abigail A. Van Slyck trains an informed eye on the most visible and evocative aspect of camp life: its landscape and architecture. She argues that summer camps delivered much more than a simple encounter with the natural world. Instead, she suggests, camps provided a man-made version of wilderness, shaped by middle-class anxieties about gender roles, class tensions, race relations, and modernity and its impact on the lives of children. Following a fascinating history of summer camps and a wide-ranging overview of the factors that led to their creation, Van Slyck examines the intersections of the natural landscape with human-built forms and social activities. In particular, she addresses changing attitudes toward such subjects as children’s health, sanitation, play, relationships between the sexes, Native American culture, and evolving ideas about childhood. Generously illustrated with period photographs, maps, plans, and promotional images of camps throughout North America, A Manufactured Wilderness is the first book to offer a thorough consideration of the summer camp environment.