Displaying items by tag: kids camp
Camp is so different than home because often at school children hangout with kids that are homogeneous. Thats right all the same, same age, same gender, same community and more. Opportunities to make friends are not much more than others in class or down the block. However, at Swift Nature Camp kids get an opportunity to spend time with others, both younger and older and from different parts of the country or world. It is interesting how often the older teens become natural leaders for the younger kids, by “adopting them”.Not only is this true with campers but also for counselors as well. Our staff are generally college aged folks studying to be teachers. They truly look at SNC as a learning opportunity. They are camper centered making them great role models for todays youth. Then consider the SENIOR staff at camp...the oldsters do round out a super community which entices children to make new friends.
So when you are thinking about camp it is easy to think about all the activities. However, Summer Camp is so much more! Children’s summer camp is more like the real world, the social benefits of this multiage, multicultural experience are significant. Research has shown getting children ready for multiage, multicultural world only helps them be more successful in life. Camp provides less competitiveness making it much easier to make and keep your summer camp friends.
Ask any camper what makes Swift Nature Camp so special and they will tell you it’s “the new camp friends”. But ask them why any? And they will tell you it’s because they accept me for who I am often unlike my friends at home. I can do stuff at camp that I can never tell my friends back home about.
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Visit: Swift Nature Camp Website
Famed author Richard Louv, of Last Child in the Woods: is alarmed by this untouching of nature. He calls it Nature-deficit disorder and sad situation in child development. He feels there is a link between lack of outdoor play and increase in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
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Famed author Richard Louv, of Last Child in the Woods: is alarmed by this untouching of nature. He calls it Nature-deficit disorder and sad situation in child development. He feels there is a link between lack of outdoor play and and increase in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
Anyone can read a book about ecology or see a film about wild animals. But, today's children are missing contact with the outside world. Children learn more rapidly through natural curiosity, experimentation and discovery, rather than a classroom lecture. That's just part of the benefits that nature and the outdoors impart onto kids. And much of this can be done with guided purposeful hands on play.
The Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition is working to develop an Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin that will address the environmental education needs of Wisconsin's
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The Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition is working to develop an Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin that will address the environmental education needs of Wisconsin's
permalink=”http://www.swiftnaturecamp.com/blog”>
pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade schools and will pay special attention to creating more opportunities to get kids outside. The Plan will recommend a comprehensive strategy to ensure every child graduates with the environmental skills and knowledge needed to contribute to a sustainable future.
Many parents believe that children need to spend more time outside in nature. They are looking for summer programs to supplement these state goals. Environmental Summer Camps are just one way parent can do this.
Wisconsin has a strong environmental education foundation already established, with active schools, supporting organizations, and abundant opportunities to get outside in rural and urban settings. The Environmental Literacy Plan will build upon these strengths, and suggest priorities for present and future attention. It will lay out the next steps towards fulfilling on our State's commitment to ensure all people in Wisconsin are environmentally literate.
State Superintendent Evers has formally asked the Coalition to develop the Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin. A Steering Committee meets each month to draft the Plan. The Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition Steering Committee is made up of representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation, Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Environmental Science Teachers Network, Milwaukee Public Schools, the Green Charter School Network, and the US EPA's Environmental Educationand Training Partnership. The broader Coalition is kept updated on progress, provides input and feedback to guide the plan development, and ultimately, willplay a key role in implementing and evaluating Wisconsin's Environmental Literacy Plan.
Wisconsin's Environmental Literacy Plan will be compliant with the pending national No Child Left Inside (NCLI) legislation. The No Child Left Inside Act requires States develop, implement, and evaluate a State Environmental Literacy Plan in order to be eligible to receive funding associated with the Act. Currently, the bill suggests an appropriation of $100 million to support the State Environmental Literacy Plans. You can learn more about the national NCLI Act and its various provisions and requirements here: www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=948.
Much of the information was supplied by "EE IN WISCONSIN", A guide to Wisconsin's environmental education organizations, programs, materials, and professionals. For more information about Wisconsin's NCLI Coalition, contact Jesse Haney (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
If you are looking for Summer Camp for your children, please see SummerCampAdvice.com a FREE reference. Selecting the right summer camp is so important so be sure to do your homework, it will pay off in the end.
Many parents believe that children need to spend more time outside in nature. They are looking for summer programs to supplement these state goals. Environmental Summer Camps are just one way parent can do this.
Wisconsin has a strong environmental education foundation already established, with active schools, supporting organizations, and abundant opportunities to get outside in rural and urban settings. The Environmental Literacy Plan will build upon these strengths, and suggest priorities for present and future attention. It will lay out the next steps towards fulfilling on our State's commitment to ensure all people in Wisconsin are environmentally literate.
State Superintendent Evers has formally asked the Coalition to develop the Environmental Literacy Plan for Wisconsin. A Steering Committee meets each month to draft the Plan. The Wisconsin No Child Left Inside Coalition Steering Committee is made up of representatives from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin Center for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, Wisconsin Environmental Education Foundation, Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Wisconsin Environmental Science Teachers Network, Milwaukee Public Schools, the Green Charter School Network, and the US EPA's Environmental Educationand Training Partnership. The broader Coalition is kept updated on progress, provides input and feedback to guide the plan development, and ultimately, willplay a key role in implementing and evaluating Wisconsin's Environmental Literacy Plan.
Wisconsin's Environmental Literacy Plan will be compliant with the pending national No Child Left Inside (NCLI) legislation. The No Child Left Inside Act requires States develop, implement, and evaluate a State Environmental Literacy Plan in order to be eligible to receive funding associated with the Act. Currently, the bill suggests an appropriation of $100 million to support the State Environmental Literacy Plans. You can learn more about the national NCLI Act and its various provisions and requirements here: www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=948.
Much of the information was supplied by "EE IN WISCONSIN", A guide to Wisconsin's environmental education organizations, programs, materials, and professionals. For more information about Wisconsin's NCLI Coalition, contact Jesse Haney (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).
If you are looking for Summer Camp for your children, please see SummerCampAdvice.com a FREE reference. Selecting the right summer camp is so important so be sure to do your homework, it will pay off in the end.
Summer camp can be a bridge to the world over which a child can carry the seeds of attributes already planted at home and in school. The right summer camp can be the ideal first step away from home and family, because a good summer camp is still a safe environment for learning independence. Summer camp is a place for fun and the joy and passion of growth free from the stress of modern fascination for achievement.......
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Camp is a respite from the technology that can rule a child’s life and distract from human attributes rather than being a tool to implement them. A camper can discover and develop attributes like these over the course of every summer and have a great deal of fun doing so.
Affirmation: Sometimes one simple word of affirmation can change an entire life. Recognition from outside can turn into recognition from the inside. also known as confidence.
Art: Everyone who wants to create… can. The world just needs more people who want to, and a child who is free from the pressure of competitive achievement is free to be creative.
Challenge: Encourage a child to dream big dreams. In turn, they will accomplish more than they thought possible… and probably even more than you thought possible.
Compassion/Justice: Life isn’t fair. It never will be – there are just too many variables. But when a wrong has been committed or a playing field can be leveled, we want our children to be active in helping to level it.
Contentment: The need for more material things can be contagious. Therefore, one of the greatest gifts we can give children is a genuinely content appreciation for with what they have… leaving them to find out who they are.
Curiosity: Children need a safe place outside the home to ask questions about who, what, where, how, why, and why not. “Stop asking so many questions” are words that need never be heard.
Determination: One of the greatest determining factors of success is the exercise of will. Children flourish when they are given independent opportunities to learn how to find the source of determination within themselves and exercise that determination.
Discipline: Discipline is really a form of concentration learned from the ground up, in arenas that include appropriate behaviors, how to get along with others, how to get results, and how to achieve dreams. Properly encouraged, self discipline can come to be developed into an self sustaining habit.
Encouragement: Words are powerful. They can create or they can destroy. The simple words that a counselor or mentor might choose to speak can offer encouragement and create positive thoughts for a child to build from.
Finding Beauty: Beauty surrounds us. A natural environment can inspire our children find beauty in everything they see and in everyone they meet there.
Generosity: The experience of generosity is a great way for a child to learn it. Generosity is a consistent quality of heart regardless of whether the medium that reflects it is time, energy or material things.
Honesty/Integrity: Children who learn the value and importance of honesty at a young age have a far greater opportunity to become honest adults. And honest adults who deal truthfully with others tend to feel better about themselves, enjoy their lives more, and sleep better at night.
Hope: Hope means knowing that things will get better and improve and believing it. Hope is the source of strength, endurance, and resolve. And in the desperately difficult times of life, it calls us to press onward.
Imagination: If we’ve learned anything in recent years, it’s that life is changing faster and faster with every passing day. The world of tomorrow will look nothing like the world today. And the people with imagination are the ones not just living it, they are creating it.
Intentionality: This word means the habit of pausing to find the intent behind each of the ongoing choices that comprise our lives. It is the moment of reflection toward one’s own source: slow down, consider who you are, your environment, where you are going and how to get there.
Lifelong Learning: A passion for learning is different from just studying to earn a grade or please teachers. It begins in the home and school but can be splendidly expanded at summer camp. A camper has fun being safely exposed, asking questions, analyzing the answers that expose more and having more fun doing it all again. In other words, learn to love learning itself.
Meals Together: Meals together provide an unparalleled opportunity for relationships to grow, the likes of which can not be found anywhere else.
Nature: Children who learn to appreciate the world around them take care of the world around them.
Opportunity: Kids need opportunities to experience new things so they can find out what they enjoy and what they are good at.
Optimism: Pessimists don’t change the world. Optimists do.
Pride: Celebrate the little things in life. After all, it is the little accomplishments in life that become the big accomplishments. Pride in the process is as important as pride in the results.
Room to make mistakes: Kids are kids. That’s what makes them so much fun… and so desperately in need of our patience. We need to give them room to experiment, explore, and make mistakes early, when consequences are so much less severe.
Self-Esteem: People who learn to value themselves are more likely to have self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. As a result, they are more likely to become adults who respect their own values and stick to them… even when no one else does.
Sense of Humor: We need to provoke laughter with children and laugh with them everyday… for our sake and theirs.
Spirituality: Faith elevates our view of the universe, our world, and our lives. We would be wise to instill into our kids that they are more than just flesh and blood taking up space. They are also made of mind, heart, soul, and will. And decisions in their life should be based on more than just what everyone else with flesh and blood is doing.
Stability: A stable environment becomes the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives. Just as they need to know their place in the family, children need an opportunity to learn how to make their place amongst their peers. Children benefit from having a safe place to learn how stability is made and maintained outside the home.
Time: Time is the only real currency.Children can learn to believe to respect the value of time long before they come to realize how quickly it can pass.
Undivided Attention: There is no substitute for undivided attention, whether it comes from a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or a camp counselor.
Uniqueness: What makes us different is what makes us special. Uniqueness should not be hidden. It should be proudly displayed for the world to see, appreciate, and enjoy.
A Welcoming Place: To know that you are always welcome in a place is among the sweetest and most life-giving assurances in the world.
Along with lifelong friendships, the recognition and development of these attributes is the lasting gift of a child’s experience at summer camp. A kids summer camp is the most fun possible way a child gets to experience what it is to be human.
Summer camp is usually thought of in terms of all the traditional activities and facilities that come to our mind, and those elements are indeed part of what makes the experience memorable. But the true essence of the experience of summer camp is human connection. The attributes in this article are qualities that are rediscovered and expanded by interaction with counselors, staff and other campers in a natural setting. The best summer camps are carefully staffed and creatively programmed by directors with this concept in mind. As one director put it, “Our hope is to give the world better people one camper at a time.”
Affirmation: Sometimes one simple word of affirmation can change an entire life. Recognition from outside can turn into recognition from the inside. also known as confidence.
Art: Everyone who wants to create… can. The world just needs more people who want to, and a child who is free from the pressure of competitive achievement is free to be creative.
Challenge: Encourage a child to dream big dreams. In turn, they will accomplish more than they thought possible… and probably even more than you thought possible.
Compassion/Justice: Life isn’t fair. It never will be – there are just too many variables. But when a wrong has been committed or a playing field can be leveled, we want our children to be active in helping to level it.
Contentment: The need for more material things can be contagious. Therefore, one of the greatest gifts we can give children is a genuinely content appreciation for with what they have… leaving them to find out who they are.
Curiosity: Children need a safe place outside the home to ask questions about who, what, where, how, why, and why not. “Stop asking so many questions” are words that need never be heard.
Determination: One of the greatest determining factors of success is the exercise of will. Children flourish when they are given independent opportunities to learn how to find the source of determination within themselves and exercise that determination.
Discipline: Discipline is really a form of concentration learned from the ground up, in arenas that include appropriate behaviors, how to get along with others, how to get results, and how to achieve dreams. Properly encouraged, self discipline can come to be developed into an self sustaining habit.
Encouragement: Words are powerful. They can create or they can destroy. The simple words that a counselor or mentor might choose to speak can offer encouragement and create positive thoughts for a child to build from.
Finding Beauty: Beauty surrounds us. A natural environment can inspire our children find beauty in everything they see and in everyone they meet there.
Generosity: The experience of generosity is a great way for a child to learn it. Generosity is a consistent quality of heart regardless of whether the medium that reflects it is time, energy or material things.
Honesty/Integrity: Children who learn the value and importance of honesty at a young age have a far greater opportunity to become honest adults. And honest adults who deal truthfully with others tend to feel better about themselves, enjoy their lives more, and sleep better at night.
Hope: Hope means knowing that things will get better and improve and believing it. Hope is the source of strength, endurance, and resolve. And in the desperately difficult times of life, it calls us to press onward.
Imagination: If we’ve learned anything in recent years, it’s that life is changing faster and faster with every passing day. The world of tomorrow will look nothing like the world today. And the people with imagination are the ones not just living it, they are creating it.
Intentionality: This word means the habit of pausing to find the intent behind each of the ongoing choices that comprise our lives. It is the moment of reflection toward one’s own source: slow down, consider who you are, your environment, where you are going and how to get there.
Lifelong Learning: A passion for learning is different from just studying to earn a grade or please teachers. It begins in the home and school but can be splendidly expanded at summer camp. A camper has fun being safely exposed, asking questions, analyzing the answers that expose more and having more fun doing it all again. In other words, learn to love learning itself.
Meals Together: Meals together provide an unparalleled opportunity for relationships to grow, the likes of which can not be found anywhere else.
Nature: Children who learn to appreciate the world around them take care of the world around them.
Opportunity: Kids need opportunities to experience new things so they can find out what they enjoy and what they are good at.
Optimism: Pessimists don’t change the world. Optimists do.
Pride: Celebrate the little things in life. After all, it is the little accomplishments in life that become the big accomplishments. Pride in the process is as important as pride in the results.
Room to make mistakes: Kids are kids. That’s what makes them so much fun… and so desperately in need of our patience. We need to give them room to experiment, explore, and make mistakes early, when consequences are so much less severe.
Self-Esteem: People who learn to value themselves are more likely to have self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth. As a result, they are more likely to become adults who respect their own values and stick to them… even when no one else does.
Sense of Humor: We need to provoke laughter with children and laugh with them everyday… for our sake and theirs.
Spirituality: Faith elevates our view of the universe, our world, and our lives. We would be wise to instill into our kids that they are more than just flesh and blood taking up space. They are also made of mind, heart, soul, and will. And decisions in their life should be based on more than just what everyone else with flesh and blood is doing.
Stability: A stable environment becomes the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives. Just as they need to know their place in the family, children need an opportunity to learn how to make their place amongst their peers. Children benefit from having a safe place to learn how stability is made and maintained outside the home.
Time: Time is the only real currency.Children can learn to believe to respect the value of time long before they come to realize how quickly it can pass.
Undivided Attention: There is no substitute for undivided attention, whether it comes from a parent, a teacher, a mentor, or a camp counselor.
Uniqueness: What makes us different is what makes us special. Uniqueness should not be hidden. It should be proudly displayed for the world to see, appreciate, and enjoy.
A Welcoming Place: To know that you are always welcome in a place is among the sweetest and most life-giving assurances in the world.
Along with lifelong friendships, the recognition and development of these attributes is the lasting gift of a child’s experience at summer camp. A kids summer camp is the most fun possible way a child gets to experience what it is to be human.
Summer camp is usually thought of in terms of all the traditional activities and facilities that come to our mind, and those elements are indeed part of what makes the experience memorable. But the true essence of the experience of summer camp is human connection. The attributes in this article are qualities that are rediscovered and expanded by interaction with counselors, staff and other campers in a natural setting. The best summer camps are carefully staffed and creatively programmed by directors with this concept in mind. As one director put it, “Our hope is to give the world better people one camper at a time.”
Summer Camp 2011, looks to be one of the best ever at Swift Nature Camp.
Here are the pics of the Camp T-Shirts. Find the one you like the best and go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/SwiftNatureCamp
and be sure to vote in the POLL area. Please only one vote per camper!
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Here are the pics of the Camp T-Shirts. Find the one you like the best and go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/SwiftNatureCamp
and be sure to vote in the POLL area. Please only one vote per camper!
permalink=”http://www.swiftnaturecamp.com/blog”>
When most folks think of a science they think of school and all those books and studying. However, Swift Nature Camp is all about having Fun while helps children to learn how and why to become good stewards of the environment. It is through direct experience and hands on activities that we inspire kids to be environmentally conscious when they return home. Our first goal is to be a kids summer camp but it is so much more,, it’s our dedication to the environment. Swift Nature Camp is fun with a purpose.
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When Swift Campers think of camp they think of playing outdoors in Nature but they automatically think of the animals in our camp zoo and Nature Center. Our campers are crazy for critters and nature and critters. Not only do we have animals at camp we have guest speakers bring in some animals to camp that we all can appreciate. We have lots of animal related activities and offer the opportunity to interact with animals. Plus, you can even bring your own pet from home. How cool is that? An animal camp that lets you bring your own pets!
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Swift Nature Camp is known for our eagles. Daily we see eagles in the air, in nests and even swooping down to catch a fish in the lake. But how many knew that once it started to get a little colder and the lake freezes over these eagles migrate south in search of food. They as a pair fly south often along the Mississippi River and finally settle on a winter home in Florida.. Cant say that these birds are dumb! Well after we had a camp show in Minneapolis last week we saw plenty of eagles beginning their flight Northbound. So i can surely tell you we will have American Bald Eagles again this summer at Swift Nature Camp. And that is a wonderful opportunity for all of us at Swift.
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Visit: Swift Nature Camp Website
Famed author Richard Louv, of Last Child in the Woods: is alarmed by this untouching of nature. He calls it Nature-deficit disorder and sad situation in child development. He feels there is a link between lack of outdoor play and increase in obesity, attention disorders, and depression.
permalink=”http://www.swiftnaturecamp.com/blog”>
Often Parents are curious if Swift Nature Camp has specific programs for certain aged children. Are SNC programs better for young children- a first time at camp, middle school- looking for new activities or teenagers- searching for teen adventure. Since we feel we do so well in all these areas let us give you a few reasons why.
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Often Parents are curious if Swift Nature Camp has specific programs for certain aged children. Are SNC programs better for young children- a first time at camp, middle school- looking for new activities or teenagers- searching for teen adventure. Since we feel we do so well in all these areas let us give you a few reasons why.- First off we have a Discovery Program that is only for children who have never been to camp before. For this camp we shrink the amount of children at camp making sure that we can give individual attention to each child. We have about 6 children for 2 counselors in each cabin. This program, since it is everyones first time creates a level playing feild for everyone. And since we know it everyones first time at camp we are constantly on the look out for homesickness or other areas of concern.
- For our 3 week programs, again our small size allows us to give individual attention to all, with around 90 children (45 gals, 45 boys). Our children are divided by gender and age group. So a cabin of 10 children will have lets say 9 & 10 year olds. We limit the age groups at camp so that we get an even distribution of campers , younger to older. Then each age group will participate in age appropriate activities and adventure trips. For instance the younger girls may take a canoe trip to a nearby island while the older girls may go to the Apostle Islands for 3 days.
- So you can see how Swift Nature Camp meets every age and gender. If you would like to talk more please give us an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A Wisconsin DNR Property leased by Swift Nature Camp