Their world

• Sponges for information, questioning and curious
• Learning to reason and understand their environment
• More aware of the feelings, actions and motivations of others
• Focusing more on how peers see them
• Stronger physically, more co-ordinated and agile (conquering the monkey bars, learning how to throw and catch a ball)
• Learning to read and write

Their concerns

• Separation from parents
• Specific fears—of the dark, of the unknown
• Crave familiar food, toys, activities

What camp offers

• Children learn to take part in more structured activities, such as crafts or field trips
• Learning to take turns, to share and to consider the feelings of others
• Encourages trust in adults other than parents
• Increases confidence and comfort level about being apart from parents
• Teaches children to take care of themselves, such as keeping track of the contents of a backpack
• Some overnight camps offer short, partial-week stays as a gentle first experience for their youngest campers