What does a summer camp experience offer kids?

• Summer camp can provide a chance for your child to unplug from the digital world they usually inhabit.
• Camp can be a great place to develop emotional intelligence—meaning self-awareness, self-control, empathy, the ability to wait (delayed gratification), the ability to listen, cooperate, share, and work well with others.
• Summer camp can enhance social development, including social skills and resiliency.
• Camps can foster self-reliance

What are some factors to consider when choosing a summer camp?

• Signing your child up for summer camp?  U-M camping health expert offers tips and a  checklist

How do I prepare my child for summer camp?

• Tips for parents:  Prepare your child for camp
• Preparing children for the summer camp experience

What about homesickness and separation anxiety?

• New thinking needed on helping kids avoid or cope with homesickness.  A new report gives children’s doctors and parents specific guidance for helping kids deal with summer camp, hospitalization and other separations
• Sleepovers and Sleep-away Camp:  Helping Children with Separation Anxiety (also in Spanish, Chinese and Korean)
• Opening Day Blues
• For kids:  Homesickness
• For teens:  Homesickness

What are some resources for kids and teens?

• For kids:  Going away to camp
• For kids: Camping and Woods Safety
• For preteens:  Summer camp—Get ready, get packed.
• For teens: Camping Basics

Are there any good books on kids and summer camp?
The Summer Camp Handbook: Everything You Need to Find, Choose and Get Ready for Overnight Camp—and Skip the Homesickness, by Christopher Thurber and Jon Malinowski.
The authors are psychologists and former campers/camp counselors. The book guides parents’ in choosing the right camp for their child, preparing for it, preventing homesickness, and helping their child get the most out of the experience, and even has a special section for kids.

What about kids with special needs?

• YourChild:  Children with Chronic Conditions offers many summer camp resources (see the section on “strategies for coping”, then go down to the bulleted section on supporting friendships and activities with peers).
• Summer Camps for Children with Disabilities—from NICHCY, this resource is updated every year.
• Sleep-Away Camps for Children on Medication

Where can I find more resources?

• YourChild:  Summer Safety
• YourChild:  Parenting over Summer Break

Compiled by Kyla Boyse, RN.  Reviewed by faculty and staff at the University of Michigan.
Updated June 2008

U-M Health System Related Sites:
U-M Pediatrics

Our editorial policy
The information and links we provide are reviewed by University of Michigan developmental and behavioral pediatricians and child psychologists who are experts in child behavioral health. In choosing the links we provide, we use strict criteria to ensure that the information is accurate, and the source is reputable. As much as possible, we focus on information that is based on research. In areas where there is inadequate research, we include information compatible with prevailing expert opinion.

This website is updated regularly, but because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, we cannot be responsible for misinformation that may be accessed through the links provided. As always, this website is not a tool for self-diagnosis, and is not a substitute for professional care.

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