FRIENDSHIPS - THE GOLD OF EXPLORER CAMPS
In this day and age, it seems that the main focus for education is to foster intellectual growth and physical health in order to become happy, successful adults. However, according to Robert Crosnoe of the North Carolina University they also need to develop the social skills necessary for positive relationships with others.
The importance of quality childhood friendships for well-being both during childhood and later in life has been clearly established, so at Explorer Camps we specifically focus on fostering those friendships, along with teaching, modelling, and practicing social skills.
There’s no doubt that children at summer camps have a lot of fun playing outdoors and learning new activities, but experts wanted to know whether they’re also learning life skills during their time at overnight camps. Michael Thompson, Ph.D at the California State University conducted a study that examined the perceived impact of a two-week over-night camp experience on children’s happiness and social skills development.
Participants were 167 children ages 6-15 from six different two-week, over-night summer camps in Arizona, California, and Colorado. The children completed an end-of-camp written survey during the summer of 2014 in which they were asked to rate (1-5) how much they thought their social skills were impacted by their camp stay. Did their social skills, for example, get a lot worse (1) or a lot better (5)?
Participants’ parents went on-line to complete the same survey two to four weeks after their child’s camp stay. Both children and parents reported significant positive changes in the children’s social skills and happiness as a result of their two-week camp experience, and 140 of 147 (95%) children reported improvement in their overall social skills.
Social Skills Improvement
Social Skill | % of Campers Reporting Improvement | Average out of 5 |
Choose people who would be good to be friends with. | 64% (107 out of 156) | 3.91 |
Get to know more things about my friends. | 74% (123 out of 155) | 4.18 |
Enjoy being with my friends. | 69% (115 out of 157) | 4.17 |
Help my friends have a good time when they are with me. | 64% (107 out of 157) | 4.03 |
Find ways to meet people I want to be friends with. | 65% (108 out of 157) | 4.06 |
Get to know people who I might want to become friends with. | 73% (122 out of 157) | 4.10 |
Listen carefully to things that my friends tell me. | 60% (100 out of 156) | 3.94 |
Understand my friends’ emotions. | 62% (103 out of 157) | 4.01 |
Focus on Friendship
Explorer Camp counselors, unlike teachers, view their primary role as one of building friendships and positive experiences. Our trainings focus on how to help campers build social skills. Some of our training sessions include exercises in communication, leadership, and team building, during which counselors are trained to lead “ice-breakers” that help campers get to know one another and connect.
Making friends is an important part of the summer camp experience, and with the help of their counselors, children learn and practice their friend-making skills. Given that Explorer Camp programs emphasize forming new friendships and rekindling old friendships, the finding that children felt their social skills improved as a result of camp supports the hypothesis of this study and anecdotal testimonials. Not surprisingly, all campers (100%) reported making new friends at camp, with 99% of campers’ parents (132/133) reporting the same.
How many new friends did you make at camp?
Number of New Friends | % of campers |
0 | 0% |
1-3 friends | 14% |
4-6 friends | 14% |
7-9 friends | 19% |
10 or more friends | 44% |
Note: 10 children (6%) did not answer the question.
What does this all mean to a parent? Well, your child not only learns important social skills while at summer camp but also makes new friends! There really is no more valuable summer environment than that like you find at Explorer Camps.
