Unexpected Ways Your Child Can Benefit from Summer Day Camp

Summer is a time for kids to decompress from a busy and stressful school year, but it can also be a challenge for parents to keep them engaged in enriching activities. Fortunately, most communities offer the perfect solution: summer day camp.

As Camps Director at Asphalt Green in New York City for the past seven years, I know that kids have a blast at camp. But it’s more than just fun and games. Summer day camps that are accredited by the American Camp Association provide kids with many unexpected benefits that will last a lifetime.

Preventing the Summer Slide: Kids lose an average of one month of learning over summer break, a well-documented effect known as the “summer slide.” Summer day camps can halt the slide by engaging kids’ brains. Increasingly, camps are offering fun, academically-oriented activities, like STEM projects, creative writing, and museum field trips. But what parents may not realize is that the robust physical activity that summer day camp is known for—like swimming, martial arts, and team sports—is also shown to have long-term benefits for academic performance in math, reading and writing.

Developing Resilience and Self-Esteem: Children need to develop resilience in order to flourish. Forming social connections, maintaining a daily routine, and a positive self-image all help to build resilience in children. The camp experience is recognized by child development experts as a valuable opportunity for children to mature socially and emotionally, and has been shown to increase self-esteem and friendship skills.

Building 21st Century Skills: In today’s rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever for kids to build a wide range of skills to help them adapt and thrive. With a myriad of activities and social opportunities, camp is beginning to be recognized as a setting that can boost critical thinking, problem solving skills, independence, creativity, and innovation, all of which will serve kids in school and in life.

These unexpected benefits make the camp experience an important investment for your child. Not only will your child feel empowered by their time at camp, they will have the time of their life discovering talents and forming wonderful memories!

Kathleen Duffy has been Camps Director at Asphalt Green for seven years. Asphalt Green offers Summer Day Camps for kids at its Upper East Side and Battery Park City campuses.