No matter the circumstances, summer planning is almost always a puzzle. Balancing fun, enrichment, logistics, and your child’s interests is a feat all its own, and 2021 presents an additional challenge in considering COVID safety. How do you tap into the myriad of developmental benefits camp provides while prioritizing your family’s health? Increasingly, families are finding a solution in outdoor summer camps.
As COVID-19 is primarily spread by respiratory droplets, the increased ventilation of outdoor summer camps offer lower transmission risk than indoor-only programs. Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control recommends outdoor activities whenever possible, in combination with additional health and safety measures such as cohorting, sanitization, and physical distancing.
At Camp Galileo, we’re taking our award-winning programming outside for a summer camp adventure that minimizes risk while maximizing fun.
“Each team will have an outdoor home base this year as an anchor for their cohort’s team experience during the day,” explained Marie McDonald, a Galileo VP of Operations. “With Group Leaders leading their camper cohorts through the day, we’re putting more effort and energy than ever into building camp magic into the small group experience. That includes training staff to lead games, build culture, and foster community within their teams with an increased number of team bonding and activity times.”
But what of the immersive, hands-on art and engineering projects and design challenges that many families consider the hallmark of Camp Galileo? Jamie Diy, Galileo’s Director of Curriculum, explained how Camp G’s curriculum was adapted for an outdoor camp setting. “We’ve designed activities that use simpler materials and construction techniques to deal with constraints like wind and a lack of electrical outlets,” Jamie described.
“What hasn’t changed,” Jamie continued, “is our commitment to making sure each project, whether done indoors or outdoors, is fun, open-ended, and focused on teaching innovation skills. We’re excited about all the rich, creative projects we’ve been able to come up with using just a few basic materials!”
Of course, a summer camp is only as good as its instructors. “As always, we’re focused on finding the best and the brightest staff around— those who care about our mission who also know how to make camp a magical and safe experience for all of our campers,” shared Liz Marsh, Outreach Manager and former Camp Director. “We’re interviewing, hiring, and training staff who will continue to balance the emotional and social needs of our campers while also keeping them safe and cool as we spend more time creating and learning outside in 2021.”
After a long year of distance learning and online hangouts, it’s time for some real-life fun. We are so excited to welcome campers back to Camp Galileo in 2021. Across our in-person camps, kids will engage in innovation-sparking art, science and outdoor challenges that build creative confidence, nurture social development and deliver the big summer fun they crave—all in small groups that put safety first.
Ready to enroll? Find the camp near you!
If you’re not quite ready to return to in-person summer camps or simply looking to fill a few extra days in your child’s schedule, check out the ever-evolving schedule of real-time activities at Galileo Online.
We provide summer camps in Berkeley all the way to Chicago! Be sure to find the location closest to you.
