Monday, February 10, 2014

Our 2nd Summer Open House

We are excited to host our second Summer Open House on Sunday February 23rd, 2014!

Come join us anytime from 1-3pm to learn more about our camps and what we do! We will have our directors and staff introducing TSC, our approach our American Camp Association Accreditation, then continuing by leading families (yes, children too!) on a short walking tour   Our last tour begins at 2:30pm.

If you are interested in joining or have questions please call our office at (626) 794-1156

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Company Website: www.tomsawyercamps.com

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Five Reasons Your Child Needs Camp

There's no doubt that summer camp is fun. Kids get to sing silly songs, play funny games, swim in lakes, and tell spooky stories around a campfire. This is the image of camp that has been captured and memorialized in films, books, and television programs for the past fifty years. But there's much more to camp than just a good time. In addition to fun, parents should be aware of these five reasons their child needs camp.

1.     Camp forever changes your child… for the better – American Camp Association® (ACA) research has confirmed that camps build skills necessary to prepare campers to assume roles as successful adults. Campers said that camp helped them make new friends (96%), get to know kids who are different from them (93%), feel good about themselves (92%), and try things they were afraid to do at first (74%).
2.     Camp teaches  your child to "move it, move it" – Camp provides children the opportunity to try new things and participate in human powered activities. According to surveys by both the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an American child is six times more likely to play a videogame on any given day than to ride a bike. An estimated 22 million of the world's children under the age of five are already considered obese. According to research conducted by ACA, 63 percent of children who learn new activities at camp tend to continue engaging in these activities after they return home. This leads to continued physical exercise that lasts a lifetime.
3.     Camp keeps all that hard work from going to waste - Camps understand the critical role they play in helping young people learn and grow. Many offer programs that help reduce summer learning loss, bolster academic enrichment and socialization, provide opportunities for leadership development, and ensure that campers achieve their full potential.
4.     Camp allows kids to take a deep breath and feel the nature – Camp is a great way for your child to unplug from the iPod® and plug into the world around them. According to a study by two Cornell University environmental psychologists, being close to nature can help boost a child's attention span. Additionally, a study conducted by the University of Essex in England concluded that nature can help people recover from pre-existing stresses or problems, has an immunizing effect that can protect from future stresses, and helps people to concentrate and think more clearly. In some instances, camp may be the only time a child is in contact with the natural world.
5.     Camp is fun – It's true; kids do sing silly songs and play funny games at camp. Children are allowed to play in a safe and nurturing environment, and are allowed to just be kids. Play is a powerful form of learning that contributes mightily to the child's healthy physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development. According to an American Academy of Pediatrics report, creative free play protects a child's emotional development and reduces a child's risk of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Unplugging at Camp!

We know camp is powerful in so many ways! Watch this wonderful TED Video with our camp director friend, Steve. Wise words about unplugging at camp.
http://www.acacamps.org/blog/word-peg/unplugging-our-kids

Friday, December 7, 2012

We can hardly wait until the first day of camp.
Mark your calendars now ... Monday, June 17, 2013!
Enrollment for Summer Camp opens in January.