Searching Behind the Fun
Amalia Csaplar
Think back to the days where life was all about learning through fun. All that mattered was finding a good hiding spot for the next game of hide and go seek, perfecting a strategy for name-memorizing ice breakers, or braving up to try the tallest waterslide in the park. Many children spend their early years focusing on fun and games, all the while oblivious to the tools which can be unintentionally picked up from this focus. While some people believe that by playing games in general, whether it be in a private or public setting, children become riled up and therefore, difficult to control, in the community of summer camp, the tradition of engaging children in camp activities and playing group games throughout the day is an important one. This tradition has been an interesting one to researchers such as Nicole Zarrett, Peter Scales, Sarah Feinstein, Mary Clark, and Elizabeth Mitchell as, in the summer camp community, these games have been seen to increase social interaction and physical activity, self-recognition, confidence, and even significant growth in special needs children.
Summer camp games and activities as a whole play an important role in becoming comfortable with social interactions as well as regular physical activity, which are very important in the summer camp community. In 2013 a study was conducted by Nicole Zarrett, Carl Sorensen and Brittany Skiles, in which four summer day camps in urban areas of North Carolina were monitored in order to determine the benefits of group engagement on social interactions and physical activity of the day campers. During the study daily activities were observed by two individuals for four days over a two-week period. On the days where observations were being conducted, the observers would assess the physical activity levels of the campers every 15 minutes as well as staff interactions and the condition of the climate. At the end of the study, it was found that most days involved little physical activity of the campers and large amounts of counselor observation rather than involvement with the group. However, on the days where the staff interaction was more focused on both rigorous and group activities which required little authority and involved both campers and counselors, the physical activity and social interaction levels were much higher throughout all of the camps (Zarrett et al. 2013). Because these camps generally lacked the common expectation for playing games, this study is able to highlight the benefits of games on physical activity and social involvement. It shows how group activities and games encourage children to be both physically and socially involved with their peers and counselors, which ultimately brings the summer camp community together. When paired with the norm of low staff involvement, the rare occasions of group activities are able to show their positive effects on the increase of physical activity and social interactions at summer camp.
Along with helping children to become comfortable with social interactions and physical activities, summer camp activities have a standing reputation for helping kids find hidden talents and strengths along with helping kids find out who they are as a person. In an article titled “Benefits of Camp: Psychological Aspects” posted by the American Camp Association, Peter Scales PhD mentions how he believed “the biggest plus of camp is that camps help young people discover and explore their talents, interests, and values” (Benefits of Camp). Often times the large variety of games and activities involved in summer camp lead children to a deeper understanding of who they are. This can be seen through the never-ending opportunities to try new activities and games. Taking part in new and different games may help them find their strengths while social interactions with staff and other campers may lead to the discovery of their personal values. This aspect, as recognized by Peter Scales as well, is especially important to the summer camp community, as it is often overlooked in school settings.
Furthermore, confidence, a tool important to the summer camp community, can be strengthened through camp games and activities. In her article “Why You Should Send Your Child to Summer Camp” Sarah Feinstein discusses the impacts of summer camp on the confidence of children. She says “camp is all about learning new things and taking healthy risks” (Feinstein). Being encouraged by the camp counselors to take healthy risks is ultimately what boosts the confidence of the campers. Similarly, she discusses how the absence of parents in these situations allow the kids to build their confidence by choosing to take part in the camp activities without their parents hovering over them. This is crucial to building confidence since many times children feel as though they need to hold themselves back in order to be and act like the person their parents want them to be. In a similar article titled “How Summer Camp Can Help Improve Self Confidence” many of the same ideas are reiterated. Just participating in camp and its games allows the children to gain self-confidence. The article states “every day, they are surrounded by people who love, support, and encourage them” (How Summer). In a sense all summer camp activities and games have their own support team made up of all of the campers and staff. The campers know there will always be someone there to give them support or pick them up when they fall. Once again, this aspect of participating in camp games and activities, is important to the summer camp community as it helps children to step out of their comfort zone, for they know everyone in camp has their back.
Along with the general social, physical, self-finding, and confidence bosting benefits, in the summer camp community, this importance of play and engagement has been seen to extend into camp communities of special needs children as well as non-special needs children. In an article titled “Play and Learning in Summer Camps for Children with Special Needs” which was posted in the American Journal of Play in 2010, Mary Kristen Clark and Evangeline E. Nwokah evaluate and discuss many studies which aim to determine the effects of camp and playing games on learning in children with special needs. In order to find qualitative results of growth within the campers, most studies implemented evaluation forms of the campers. These forms were completed at both the start and the end of camp by both the parents and the staff and evaluated the behaviors of the campers. In a three-year evaluation project called the National Camp Evaluation Project which is referenced in the article, the use of evaluation forms showed great learning increases in special needs kids through the implementation of games and play at camp. The article states that “campers experienced significant growth in social skills, communication, domestic responsibility, independence, and self-esteem” from their time participating in camp activities (Clark, 2010). This study shows how crucial the implementation of activities and games in the camp community can be for special needs children as well. The staff was effectively able to use the engagement of the campers in games and activities as tools for learning better social skills, responsibility, and self-esteem. Along with exploring the effects of camp games and involvement of special needs children, in their conclusion Clark and Nwokah compare these benefits to the benefits non-special needs children gain from camp games. They show that even though the camps for special needs children may be structured slightly different than the camps for non-special needs children, often times the benefits overlap on many spectra, making camp and camp games worthwhile for many types of children. No matter what the focus or theme of the camp, games and activities are widely used throughout the community to reach the goals of each individual camp.
Similar to the article written by Clark and Nwokah, a journal titled “Summer Treatment Program Improves Behavior of High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder” focuses on the effects of summer camp games and activities on children with autism. In their study, Elizabeth Mitchel et al. had 20 boys between the ages of 6 and 11 participate in a 6-week summer camp in which the children participated in many camp activities such as playing games as well as activities meant to strengthen social skills. Throughout the 6 weeks, observers collected data on the positive and negative social behaviors of the boys as their time at summer camp went by. The findings of this study showed that at the end of the 6 weeks many improvements had been made by the campers. These improvements included an increase in paying attention, following rules, contribution to the group, and a decrease in complaining (Mitchel et al. 2014). Along with providing supporting evidence to the claim that games are an important tradition in the community of summer camp, this study shows how the tradition of engaging in summer camp can go far beyond the non-special needs camper and show many positive outcomes for special needs children as well.
As seen above, the importance of fun games and activities in the community of summer camp represents much more than meets the eye. In Zarrett’s study summer camp games and involvement showed an increase of social interactions as well as physical activity. Peter Scales gave a tribute to games during summer camp as a reason why children so often find themselves discovering new talents and values. Feinstein discussed the benefits of camp games and activities on the confidence of the campers. And Clark and Nwokah along with Elizabeth Mitchel showed how the benefits of games and activities of summer camp reach children with special needs as well. Each and every one of these elements, from increased social interaction to the discovery of hidden talents are support for the importance of the custom of camp games and activities in the community of summer camp. So next time life triggers a memory that travels back to the days where games and activities came before everything, remember the impact those activities had, especially in the community of summer camp.
Thoughts from the author after completing the project
When I was first assigned the project of analyzing the importance of a custom in a community I was a part of, I felt completely lost. I could think of communities I was a part of by focusing on hobbies I had or groups of people I often surrounded myself in, but I had never before thought of these communities as having customs. In the end I decided to write about the community of summer camp since that was where I currently spent most of my time.
As a summer day camp counselor, I had always known participation was a huge emphasis of camp. But it wasn’t until I started doing research on the importance of engagement in summer camp games and activities that I realized its true value. Before this project I didn’t give much effort into trying to get kids to participate when they would refuse. I always just thought to myself “well that’s their loss, they can just sit and watch everyone else have a blast”. After completing this project however, my outlook has changed completely. I now understand that the custom participation and engagement in camp activities is what makes the community of summer camp what it is. These activities are what bring the kids and staff together as a community and allow them to grow as friends and individuals. So, when kids say they don’t want to play the game or participate in the activity, I give it everything I can to get them to engage.
Looking to the future, I think this project will impact me in more ways than just uping my convincing game in order to get kids to participate. The knowledge I have gained will encourage me to reflect on the customs of all of the communities I find myself a part of. I would like to find myself frequently asking the question “What are the building blocks that this community the way it is?”
Works Cited
American Camp Association. (n.d.). Benefits of Camp: Psychological Aspects. Retrieved July 18, 2017.
Mitchell, Elisabeth, et al. “Summer Treatment Program Improves Behavior of Children with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, vol. 45, no. 8, Aug. 2015, pp. 2295–2310. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s10803- 014–2241–4.
Zarrett, Nicole, et al. “Environmental and Social-Motivational Contextual Factors Related to Youth Physical Activity: Systematic Observations of Summer Day Camps.” International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, vol. 10, Jan. 2013, pp. 63–75. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/1479–5868–10–63.