Background: Summer camps engage millions of youth in enrichment opportunities during the summertime while employing a substantial young adult workforce to provide high-quality programs and services to camp participants. Workplace fatigue has been implicated in camp-related injury and illness events, yet few studies have targeted fatigue among camp…

Many children experience summer learning loss during the summer as measured by grade-level equivalents on standardized tests. Camp-based reading programs are a promising strategy to reduce summer learning loss. Situated within a positive youth development (PYD) theoretical approach, this study explored the efficacy of a U.S. camp-based reading…

Geospatial and Robotics Technologies for the 21st Century (GEAR-Tech-21), teaches science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) through robotics, global positioning systems (GPS), and geographic information systems (GIS) activities for youth in grades 5-8. Participants use a robotics kit, handheld GPS devices, and GIS technology to…

Camps have long addressed multiple components of young people's development, including spiritual development. In particular, transcendental communion with nature and the outdoors may provide one pathway for young people's spiritual development. The physical, mental, social, and spiritual growth of young people has been at the core of camps for…

Shooting sports teach discipline and responsibility, permit universal participation, and are popular with campers, yet are declining because of certification, cost, and safety issues. BB guns and air rifles are safer and quieter, need less space, can be used indoors, and are inexpensive compared to small-bore rifles. New target systems reduce…

Camp Adventure is an international youth organization that trains college students to work as camp counselors at camps on U.S. military bases. Diary excerpts from four camp counselors (three who worked in Panama and one in the United States) reveal how they adapted to diversity in people, locales, and cultures. (LP)

The 4-H handbook focuses on factors to consider and things to be done when developing a camping program. Since the emphasis, structure, and administration of 4-H camping varies, the booklet is flexible enough to be adapted to different state, district, and county situations. Major topics are camping's importance to extension education,…

Government regulation of children's summer camps, particularly involving health and safety standards, is discussed in a series of brief interviews with camp directors and representatives of camp associations. Transcribed from the National Public Radio weekly broadcast, "Options in Education," the program includes a lengthy montage of…

State laws and regulations applicable to youth camp operations provided by state agencies are organized in this Compendium under ten major headings; personnel; program safety; personal health, first aid, and medical services; site and facilities; sanitation; food service; transportation; primitive camping and out-of-camp trips; day camping; and…

Describes survey made as part of Youth Conservation Corps evaluation. Compares personal benefits of residential camping with benefits of nonresidential camps. Concludes residential participants benefited in different ways and to greater extent than nonresidential campers. Residential camping benefits measurable at least nine months after…

Organized camping for youth and adults has demonstrated economic benefits for many communities. A questionnaire was sent to various agencies and private individuals to collect information on the economic feasibility of organized camps. The data indicated that 300 organized camps in Wisconsin contributed approximately $51 million to the state's…

The word "summer" brings to mind images of a relaxed, unstructured season--a time markedly different from other seasons of the year. In the United States, we have a particularly entrenched notion that summer is different--a notion reflected in popular assumptions about summer as a "break" and reinforced by carefree depictions…