Summer camp is magical. At camp, children rediscover their creative powers, become more self-confident, grow to be more independent, and get a chance to experience the power of play.

Yet even if your kids aren’t enrolled in a summer day camp (or can’t sign up this year, due to the pandemic), you can re-create some of that summer camp magic at home.

Starting on Monday, July 6, 2020, Active for Life will be publishing free weekly “Day Camp At Home” activity plans designed for busy families like yours.

Every week, we’ll be sharing new ideas for games, activities, arts and crafts, book recommendations, and more. You can find a new weekly plan on our homepage every Monday between July 6 and August 24. Or, sign up for our free activity newsletter to get it in your inbox at the start of each week!

Follow along with us as we explore these themes (here’s a printable colouring sheet [PDF] your child can fill in as you go, if you wish):

• Week 1: Animal Planet
• Week 2: Music Makers
• Week 3: Exploration
• Week 4: Olympic Games
  
• Week 5: Going Green
• Week 6: Under the Sea
• Week 7: Splish, Splash!
• August 24: Where the Wild Things Are

Pick and choose among the activities or tackle them all — you choose what works best for you and your child! And if you’re working from home, don’t worry: we will always include an easy independent play activity for your child to do on their own or with limited support too.

What to expect

We will be focusing on developing skills, confidence and a love of movement — all critical building blocks to develop physical literacy.

We’ll also provide suggestions on how to adapt the games for younger children and different abilities, how to play in smaller spaces if you don’t have a big backyard — and ways to increase the intensity of play if your family likes a challenge!

We want these activities to be easy and fun for everyone, so all the games and activities will use supplies you likely have at home or are available at your local store.

Can’t find a certain item? Be creative with what you DO have — the most important part is that your child is engaged and having fun.

Tips for a great day camp (at home) experience

There are so many benefits for you and your child when you play together.

To be a great partner in play:

• Follow your child’s lead: You may find your child dives right into one activity and is lukewarm to another. That’s okay! Follow your child’s lead by giving them a choice in what activities they would like to do and/or how they complete them (as long as it is safe to do so).
• Be aware of energy levels: Planning independent play activities or arts and crafts projects are a natural fit when your child usually has downtime. This means you may want to plan for more active games and activities in the morning or later in the afternoon, or whenever your child’s energy is at its highest.
• Be flexible: If an activity takes a different direction or the weather isn’t cooperating, choose to be flexible and go with wherever your adventure takes you!
• Make changes (if required): Feel free to change games and activities to be more or less challenging, shorter or longer in duration, or better suited to the space you are playing in (we will be sharing some easy modifications in each of our weekly activity plans!).
• Have a back-up plan: Even the best-laid plans run into challenges, so it is important to have a back-up plan (and it doesn’t need to be fancy!) It can be as simple as playing with sidewalk chalk, taking a walk through your community, or grabbing some household items for loose parts play.

How to include children of different ages or abilities

Keeping all your children engaged in the same activity can be hard, but here are some tips that may help.

For older children:

• Use this opportunity to help build leadership skills in your older child. If your older child is responsible, and it is safe to do so, hand off the activity/activities and have them take the lead (always be sure to be close enough to offer support if required). 
• Make activities more challenging for older children by changing the rules, the equipment and supplies or how they complete the activity. 

For younger children:

• Ask your older kids to suggest ways to modify the activity to make it easier for younger siblings to join in.
• Give young kids “helper” roles to set up games or equipment, or have them be the official photographer or videographer for activities they aren’t old enough to do.

For children who need additional support (i.e. children with different abilities, injuries, etc.):

• Feel free to modify games as necessary: substitute larger or softer balls that are easier to grab, use props like pool noodles to make it easier for children in wheelchairs to extend their reach when playing games like tag, or tweak the rules a bit to reward cooperative play.
• If your child is in a cast or if their mobility is limited for other reasons, build games around what they can do. (For more on this, read: 14 games kids in casts can do to keep active.)

We hope this has gotten you excited to take part in Active for Life Day Camp (at Home)! We will see all you eager beavers back on July 6, 2020 to get all your ducks in a row for Active for Life Day Camp At Home: “Animal Planet” edition.

Meet the at-home day camp activity planners

Active for Life’s weekly Summer Day Camp (At Home!) series was created by Jen Goeres, a physical education teacher, and Jen Smith, a recreation program specialist. We also run WordPLAY Consulting, which aims to bring the power of play to sport, recreation, and education providers across Canada. We each have over 20 years of experience working with children and youth in sport and recreation and also have children of our own. 

For both of us, the magic of summer camp has been a part of our lives for over thirty years, as campers, counselors, and supervisors, and we are so excited to be bringing together some of our best camp games and activities to help keep your child active and engaged this summer… at home!