In the past, summer day camps were a great way to go relax and make friends. However, while they are still fun and great ways to make friends, they have of necessity evolved over the years to match the interests of the kids that are attending. What does the future hold for summer day camps?
To an extent, the future is unpredictable. However, with current trends and watching the way the world is changing, it is possible to make some general predictions.
Here is what we predict summer day camps will hold in ten years.
Adventure Summer Day Camps
A lot of kids today do not like to sit back and idly let life pass them by. If this was about the future of summer camps in general, travel camps might make the list, but as far as day camps go, adventure camps are getting more and more popular and likely will grow bigger still.
Adventure camps are designed to stimulate today’s youth. Depending on the camp attended, students might learn snow sports, water sports, or any other number of high-thrill adventures. There will also likely be multiple adventurous option from which to choose.
Examples of what campers might be able to do at an adventure summer day camp include
- Kayaking and canoeing
- Water skiing and wakeboarding
- Driving jet skis
- White water rafting
- Horseback riding
- Hiking
- Skiing and snowboarding
- Rock climbing and canyoneering
- Scuba diving and snorkeling
- Zip lining and
- Many more.
During an adventure camp, campers will have plenty of opportunities to explore activities that are not often open to them on a day to day basis.
More Intense Sports Camps
Summer sports camps have always been around and most likely will stay popular in the future. However, there are some ways that these camps might change. For example, to be a good athlete, students are starting younger, working harder, and picking one or two sports to focus on year round instead of playing many different sports during their regular season.
Travel teams are growing in popularity and try outs for these teams can be intense. This is true even on teams for kids as young as six or seven. A kid that wants a shot at varsity teams, travel spots, college scholarships, or professional contracts have to start early, play all year, and work hard – or else they have to be overly naturally talented, and even then they probably need to do the three things that everyone else needs to do to stand out.
What does this mean for summer sports camps? It means they will need to get more intense in order to keep up with the demand felt by their campers.
Summer sports camps are likely to get more intense. Work outs might be harder, instructors might be more prestigious, and the skills taught might be more intricate.
Day Camps Revolving Around Technology and Fantasy
Technology is everywhere and has been so for a while. However, while it has been in our worlds for a long time, it is still constantly evolving. Summer day camps will likely focus more on these topics in the future. Similarly, subculture events that were once considered more “nerdy” or unpopular are growing more mainstream. This will likely also be reflected in summer camp schedules.
Topics at these camps might include any of the following, just to name a few
- App creation and management
- Computer programming and web design
- Graphic novel and anime creation
- Video games
- Role-playing games, e.g., Dungeons and Dragons
- Cosplay – i.e., costume play, where participants dress in costumes to represent a specific character often fantasy based such as a fairy or a comic book character.
- Space camps and
- Inventing camps
Career-Based Summer Day Camps
Similar to the world of sports, school and education are getting more competitive. In order to get into the best schools, students not only need top grades and test scores, they need extracurricular activities, volunteer experience, and good references. Students are deciding what they want to do and be at much earlier ages and, in some cases, are picking specialized high schools that are known for programs in the desired subject. There are computer and science schools, arts schools, and math and technology schools, just to name a few.
To attract these students, summer day camps need to keep up with this demand. Camps are likely to be created that focuses on these skills and creates a learning environment that will give ambitious students the chance to get a leg up on their competition.
Camps that are focused on school skills such as computers, science, math, and literature, along with camps designed for test prep are likely to become more and more common and popular.
Simple Day Camps
While most of the potential future camps on this list are futuristic and competitive based, as the world becomes more hectic and busy, there could be a need for a place to return to simpler times.
Similarly, parents or grandparents might want their children to escape from technology and see how things worked back in the old days. Because of this, summer day camps that are much simpler in nature could become popular.
This could mean a return to camps where swimming and arts and crafts rule the day while s’mores over bonfires rule the night. It might also mean that camps pop up that teach kids about the life before electricity and technology, where kids learn how to milk cows and chop wood, among other former life skills.
However these camps chose to operate, there will likely remain a need for camps of the past.
Who knows what the future really holds? All we can do is guess. And then look back at this post ten years from now to see if our predictions came true. But what we can say with almost full certainty is that summer camps are still likely to offer a fun place for campers to go to meet friends with similar interests and to stay out of trouble.