YMCA of Greater Toronto Summer Day Camps

Stories

• Y Day Camp Hidden Gems

  In the 2017 summer season, YMCA Day Camps is offering an amazing 60 programs at 51 locations across the Greater Toronto Area. In addition to popular camp programs like swimming lessons and creative arts, dance & drama, we also offer a range of exciting and unique camp experiences. Here are three special “hidden gems” in our Day Camps programming that are sure to broaden your child’s horizons this summer:

  Shaw Street Arts Programs (6 – 12 year olds)
  Pottery, Silk Screen and Print Making! 
  View in eGuide

  Our Shaw Street Day Camp’s two pottery programs are perfect for budding artists. In Junior Pottery, campers aged 6 to 8 learn hand-building techniques and let their creative juices flow as they create vases and other functional and decorative ceramic pieces to take home. The Senior Pottery program, for 9-12 year olds, is a more advanced, two-week camp that includes hand building, decorating, and glazing application techniques. They even get to try a pottery wheel!

  Sr. Silk Screen and Print Making is another program designed to please your camper’s artistic side. Campers are introduced to the art and techniques of silk screen and print making, then put these skills to use with hands-on workshops where they make their own cards and shirts to take home.

  Camp Scholar (6 – 12 year olds)

  YMCA Cedar Glen Day Camp, for various grades throughout the summer
  View in eGuide

  Curbing learning loss this summer can have many benefits for your camper. In this program, children will work with an Ontario Certified Teacher in grade-level STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) designed to help campers focus on honing their academic skills, all while having fun in a supportive camp environment.

   

  Read more about some of our “hidden gem” Day Camp programs:

  • Photography, Pioneer, and Environmental Science camps
  • Junior Lifeguard Club, BMX & Multi Sports Extreme, and Global Village
• Youth Leaders Blossum at Y Day Camps

  Fostering youth leaders is a core component of many YMCA of Greater Toronto programs. In honour of Youth Week in Toronto, we’re shining the spotlight on Summer, a YMCA day camp staff member whose experience as a junior leader, advanced leader, and then as a camp counselor exemplifies youth development.

  Summer’s camp leadership journey began four summers ago in the youth leadership program. “Every year I changed,” she remembers. “What was difficult for me one year, became comfortable the next.” Her journey was one of gaining confidence in her abilities, with the support of Day Camps staff. Summer says that, whenever she or another youth leadership program participant felt hesitant to try something new, “it was a team effort in helping everyone feel supported and comfortable.”

  According to a recent internal survey, youth like Summer who join our leadership camp programs experience a significant increase in their teamwork skills, independence, and their ability to set and attain goals. What’s more, 68% of campers said this program had a positive impact on their health. Best of all, though, participants learn leadership skills by example. “To be a good leader, you need to know what a good leader looks like,” Summer says.

  The results of this work are evident for Summer: “Less than 2 years ago I was a youth leader,” she says. “Now, I have been a camp counselor at the Toronto Island YMCA Day Camp and I have worked at the Cooper Koo Family YMCA in Child Minding and have filled in for a dance instructor position for some time. I know that without the program, I would not have had the opportunities I have had this past year with the YMCA.”

  Find out more about Leadership Day Camps.

• How Marcus Learned and Grew at YMCA Day Camps!

  Coping with change can be a tough experience for many kids, so when Marcellus learned that he was moving to a new day camp, he was understandably concerned. Marcellus had made lots of friends at his old camp, and was extremely proud of all the Values Beads he had collected. “He holds the bead bracelet close to his heart,” explains Melissa, Marcellus’s mother. But this doubt and nervousness quickly turned to excitement when Marcellus met “Wiki,” the director of his new day camp: Hampton Enniskillen.

  Located in a conservation area in Hampton, Enniskillen’s program meant Marcellus and his fellow campers got to explore the wooded areas, grassy fields, creeks, ponds, and trails, as well as utilize the Education Centre Classroom facilities. “He learned very quickly that Enniskillen was just as much fun as his old camp,” says Melissa.

  Marcellus’s interest in camp peaked when their group began learning about different types of knots and their uses — especially after he discovered he could earn a bead for mastering this new skill. Wiki describes Marcellus as “constantly hungry for knowledge,” and reports that he was the first camper to use knots to build a shelter, would help counselors set up rope barriers for certain games, and even took time to teach other campers how to do the knots he had learned.

  Melissa noticed that attending YMCA day camp expanded Marcellus’s curiosity. A highlight for her was that every day Marcellus would jump of the bus and into her car with a “Hey mom, guess what?!?” and proceed with story after story of what he learned at camp that day.

  Wiki identifies Marcellus as “a leader” at camp last summer. Marcellus himself is already thinking about taking a leadership role at a camp one day. He says he wants to “be a counsellor, because I like being a leader and it looks like a lot of fun.” We are excited to see what Marcellus can achieve this summer, and to hear all about his “Hey Mom, guess what?!?” stories.

  Have a “Hey Mom, guess what?!?” story of your own? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. To register for YMCA Day Camps, visit our online eGuide.