Healthy Kids • YMCA Camps and Outdoor Education
YMCA Summer Day Camps: A Place to Grow
18 April 2016 - by Elizabeth Burrows
This will be the YMCA of Greater Toronto’s biggest Summer Day Camps season yet, with 43 indoor and outdoor locations across the GTA. Each summer we grow to include more communities and campers in the day camp fun; this summer we will welcome approximately 3,000 campers to Day Camps each week.
Skye and Stirling are two of those campers. Ten-year-old Skye will be joining in her sixth summer with YMCA Camps, while younger sister, 7-year-old Stirling, will enjoy her third summer. During their years at camp, the two girls have had the chance to explore a variety of different programs at a few different indoor and outdoor camp locations.
Skye loves how everyone at camp is able to try a variety of fun activities.
Every specialty camp program available is designed for campers to focus on their chosen activity each day, but also allows them to participate in traditional camp activities, swimming and theme days each week.
Skye and Stirling have tried many of the different specialty programs YMCA Day Camps have to offer, including cooking camp, horseback riding and the Creative Arts, Dance and Drama program (CADD) that includes a special theme day performance at the end of each session.
Stirling loves CADD, because, as she says, “You get to dance and then you get to perform.” Each session CADD campers, along with their counsellors, work hard to create and plan the show they perform to their family and friends at the end of the session. This allows them to create a role for themselves that makes them feel comfortable and confident.
Stirling says she would tell other children who are considering coming to camp that,“It’s very fun because you get to do everything!” This summer, she is most looking forward to participating in cooking camp, which she saw her older sister enjoy last summer.
In this program, campers are able to take a hands-on approach to all aspects of cooking and food preparation. They cook and sample a selection of meals throughout the week, while learning about food safety and techniques. At the end of the week they go home with a recipe book of their own creations.
In addition to all the fun programs on offer, YMCA Summer Day Camps allow children to develop confidence in a fun, inclusive and accepting environment, while building relationships with other campers. Skye loves seeing the friends she has made throughout her years at camp.
To learn more about all of the wonderful Summer Day Camp programs offered across the GTA, visit the Day Camps website. Registration is open, and financial assistance is available!
Skye and Stirling are two of those campers. Ten-year-old Skye will be joining in her sixth summer with YMCA Camps, while younger sister, 7-year-old Stirling, will enjoy her third summer. During their years at camp, the two girls have had the chance to explore a variety of different programs at a few different indoor and outdoor camp locations.
Skye loves how everyone at camp is able to try a variety of fun activities.
“We can run around and they have different kinds of activities," she says. "Even if you’re in sports you still get to do crafts.”
Every specialty camp program available is designed for campers to focus on their chosen activity each day, but also allows them to participate in traditional camp activities, swimming and theme days each week.
Skye and Stirling have tried many of the different specialty programs YMCA Day Camps have to offer, including cooking camp, horseback riding and the Creative Arts, Dance and Drama program (CADD) that includes a special theme day performance at the end of each session.
Stirling loves CADD, because, as she says, “You get to dance and then you get to perform.” Each session CADD campers, along with their counsellors, work hard to create and plan the show they perform to their family and friends at the end of the session. This allows them to create a role for themselves that makes them feel comfortable and confident.
Stirling says she would tell other children who are considering coming to camp that,“It’s very fun because you get to do everything!” This summer, she is most looking forward to participating in cooking camp, which she saw her older sister enjoy last summer.
“I’m most looking forward to cooking, I’m going to get to do five days of making stuff!”
In this program, campers are able to take a hands-on approach to all aspects of cooking and food preparation. They cook and sample a selection of meals throughout the week, while learning about food safety and techniques. At the end of the week they go home with a recipe book of their own creations.
In addition to all the fun programs on offer, YMCA Summer Day Camps allow children to develop confidence in a fun, inclusive and accepting environment, while building relationships with other campers. Skye loves seeing the friends she has made throughout her years at camp.
“It’s important to see my friends because I don’t get to see them because they go to a different school than me and I only get to see them during the summer”
To learn more about all of the wonderful Summer Day Camp programs offered across the GTA, visit the Day Camps website. Registration is open, and financial assistance is available!
