Let’s Zoom Into Online Summer Camps With Our Kids!
Written By: Samantha Crawford | May 10, 2020
While summer camp may be virtual this year, the learning, laughter, and fun will be more vital than ever before!
Oh, how the world has changed in just a few short months! Just 10 weeks ago, families were registering their children for baseball season, school drama departments were well into Spring Musical season, and camps were searching for their perfect teams of teachers and counselors to create another fantastic summer of enrichment and adventure for their campers.
With so much change in the world and with summer quickly approaching, camps all over the nation are making the tough decision to either cancel their camp season or move their active, engaging, and in-person programs to an ONLINE FORMAT. Here at Performing Arts Workshops, our campers are at the front of everything we do and we want nothing more than to ensure that they are able to participate in exciting curriculum, engage with familiar faces, both friends and teachers, and to find light and joy in a tumultuous world.
What we as educators and parents have learned over the past two months is that children are very resilient and adaptive when it comes to technological changes. Do they miss seeing their friends in person? Of course they do! Do they miss climbing through the playground at the park? Absolutely! Do they wish things could go back to normal? There is no doubt about it. However, they have embraced this new normal of online interactions with teachers, friends, and family with more grace and openness than we ever could have hoped for.It is our responsibility now to ensure that our children are kept physically safe while still having access to top-notch, live, interactive online programming this summer, so they get through the school vacation energized, emotionally healthy, with rewarding experiences, and with beautiful memories.
So, you may be asking yourself, what are the benefits of your child participating in Zoom Summer Camps this year? The PAW Team has outlined a few of the top benefits of children engaging in online programming during Summer of 2020!
1) HEALTHY BODY, HEALTHY MIND
With all of the Coronavirus restrictions as well as our new norms, it is clear how we keep our children, families, and communities safe: limit contact, social distance, and avoid gatherings. Children attending online summer camps have the opportunity to engage their minds, expand their horizons, and participate in camp with their friends while remaining safely in their own homes. As much as we love to be together, we love doing our best to support one another even more!
2) SOCIAL CONNECTION
Children, much like adults, thrive from connecting with peers and role models. While traditional, in-person summer camp options may be out this year, virtual camps are becoming more and more available. Some camps are providing access to pre-recorded video and content, while others like PAW are providing children the opportunity to connect with their peers and counselors in real-time through Zoom!
3) ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT
Even in a pandemic, we know how important education is to our families and our campers. Virtual summer camps provide campers with the opportunity to practice and improve upon essential school skills including but not limited to: communication, collaboration, technology, active listening, reading, problem solving, writing, and even intellectual stamina.
4) STRUCTURED TIME
In the age of technology, it is so easy for children to spend their summer days in front of a television, behind a video game controller, and scrolling through social media. As a performing arts educational program, we know how important it is for every child to still have access to the life affirming benefits of an arts experience through interactive, teacher led daily workshops.
5) OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE NEW INTERESTS
This summer is the perfect time for your child to give that comedy class a try that they have been considering for ages. If your child thinks music is their calling but has never sung a note or picked up a guitar, PAW’s virtual singing and guitar workshops can provide a nice, low-pressure first experience of the art. The comfort of being at home can provide the perfect chance to jump into something completely new this summer!
6) CONTINUITY IN ROUTINE OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION
Kids have spent the better part of the last two months learning and adjusting to Zoom schooling. Everything from logging in each morning, to submitting assignments, to working on classwork independently (and with parental support, of course) was previously uncharted territory for many of us. Enrolling your child in a virtual summer camp is the perfect way to maintain all that you and your child have learned about engaging in school through Zoom. And, in the event that some schooling and after school programs in the Fall are through Zoom, your children will remain comfortable and you will remain prepared for another term of online instruction!
7) EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION & WELL-BEING
Many summer camps provide children with the perfect opportunity to learn to express themselves in healthy, age appropriate ways. Whether they accomplish this through themes such as science, art, sports, or the performing arts, camp is a key part of the development of emotional intelligence. During these stressful times, it is more important than ever to make sure that our children have a healthy outlet to express themselves, and the tools to use that outlet. Virtual summer camps will be sure to spend time emphasizing the expression of emotion for the well-being of our children.
8) INSPIRATION
Trying new things, engaging with peers, learning from mentors, and exploring passions and interests are perfect times for inspiration to strike! You never know what virtual camp activity, conversation, or moment will inspire your child to pursue a new hobby, to think about the world in a new way, to develop a new passion, or even to think about what they want to be when they grow up!
9) BOREDOM BUSTER
Summer can feel very short, or verrrrrry long. While we know that the Safer At Home Order is going to begin to be lifted in phases, we also know that things will likely not go back to normal overnight. Acknowledging that kids may be spending more time than they are used to at home this summer, it is also important to acknowledge that at some point, they may become bored. Live virtual summer camp is the perfect boredom buster!
10) FUN & LAUGHTER!
At the end of the day, we all want the same thing for children: we want them to find fun, laughter, and happiness during these trying times. Virtual summer camp is sure to provide smiles and giggles as we work through this unprecedented worldwide pandemic together, as a team. As Albus Dumbledore once said, “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Trusted for over 30 years, PAW’s award-winning camps for kids ages 5-14 are going online this summer! PAW’s Virtual Summer Camp will include workshops in Acting, Singing, Dance, Guitar, Magic, Comedy & Debate For Kids!
months is that children are very resilient and adaptive when it comes to technological changes. Do they miss seeing their friends in person? Of course they do! Do they miss climbing through the playground at the park? Absolutely! Do they wish things could go back to normal? There is no doubt about it. However, they have embraced this new normal of online interactions with teachers, friends, and family with more grace and openness than we ever could have hoped for. It is our responsibility now to ensure that our children are kept physically safe while still having access to top-notch, live, interactive online programming this summer, so they get through the school vacation energized, emotionally healthy, with rewarding experiences, and with beautiful memories.
months is that children are very resilient and adaptive when it comes to technological changes. Do they miss seeing their friends in person? Of course they do! Do they miss climbing through the playground at the park? Absolutely! Do they wish things could go back to normal? There is no doubt about it. However, they have embraced this new normal of online interactions with teachers, friends, and family with more grace and openness than we ever could have hoped for.