Australia Summer camps are largely non-existent in Australia, because the Australian summer break (known as the Christmas holidays) only lasts six weeks, and occurs over Christmas and the New Year, shorter than in North America. Most children participate in School-camps, Girl Guide/scout camps, or school holiday camps with some religious groups (such as the Salvation Army and Seventh-Day Adventists) holding week-long Summer Camps. Girl Guides and Scouts offer 'jamborees' which are camps over 1 to 2 weeks. Multiple-week camps are next to unheard of. Many of Australia's youth music organizations hold annual rehearsal camps in summer including the Australian Youth Orchestra's National Music Camp and Gondwana Choirs Gondwana National Choral School. Other than the Seventh-Day Adventist Summer Camps, most holiday camps are referred to as "Adventure Camps", because they largely do not occur over summer. Many groups hold holiday day-camps for Primary aged children, and often run week-long adventure camps during the Spring, Autumn and Winter breaks. Australian Defence Force Cadets often and almost exclusively (excepting school-based units) run their extended camps and courses over school holiday periods, which provide food and lodging for cadets over the course of the camp. However, these camps or field exercises often last only one or two weeks and thus do not fill up the majority of the school holidays. This allows the cadets (who are aged 12–18 years and therefore mostly attend school) to attend the camps whilst still completing normal schooling.
Canada summer camp, July 1941 In
Canada, summer camps are very popular. About 70% of Canadian camps tend to be affiliated with organizations, while the rest are private. There are also many summer camps for ESL students. Summer camp fairs are held throughout Canada, usually during the winter months. Parents and children can meet camp directors and collect information about summer camps. Admission to these fairs is typically free, and the camps on display vary in their cost from completely subsidized fees to quite expensive. Some camps are specifically designed to reduce
Summer learning loss, particularly in literacy and mathematics. For example, the Council of
Ontario Directors of Education (CODE) published the results of their study entitled
The Ontario Summer Literacy Learning Project 2010. Then, in 2014 they published a Program Planning Guide to help Boards implement
Summer Learning Programs (SLP). After three years of delivering the SLP, they concluded that the programs a) make a difference for students experiencing literacy challenges, b) minimize summer learning losses, and c) in many cases, increase literacy achievements. In recent years the project has included both French and English classes, blended literacy & numeracy, robotics, coding, student mentors, Indigenous activities and English Language Learning, and reports are available online.
Chile The Chilean
Inglés Abre Puertas (English Opens Doors) program from the
Ministry of Education runs each January and July English-language Summer and Winter camps, respectively. The camps take place during the students' vacations, and "are designed to give talented Chilean public high school students the chance to practice English in a more hands-on way through interactive activities including role-playing exercises, field trips, group projects, and competitive games."
China Most of the summer camps are sponsored by the educational bureau. However, nowadays, there are more privately held camp programs. The traditional camps are only open to the selected students within individual school districts. In recent years, programs have started that are open to kids from different backgrounds and regions. There are also programs tailored for international students who are interested in learning Chinese language and culture.
Cyprus In
Cyprus, summer camps are widely used for children. They usually are situated in the Troodos Mountains area and more specific around
Platres. The church, government and organised groups provide funds for many children so that they can join summer camps for free.
Czech Republic There is a long-standing tradition of summer camps in the
Czech Republic. Most commonly, campers are accommodated in tents standing on so-called "podsada". It was invented in 1913 and nowadays it is widely used across the Czech Republic, but also in some other European states such as
Slovakia. These camps are usually situated in meadows surrounded by forests far away from cities and civilisation in general. Even though there is almost no possibility to use electrical devices and no facilities such as hot water, the popularity of those camps is still increasing.
Finland ,
Finland Many Finnish
non-governmental organizations arrange summer camps for children in a wide variety of age brackets. Major organizers of summer camps are the scouts, sports teams and the orthodox and evangelic-Lutheran churches. The concept of summer camps arose with the rapid post-WWII
urbanization and
industrialization Finland experienced. The reason behind this was that Finnish pedagogues of that period, influenced by the values of the largely agrarian pre-WWII society, were convinced that an urban lifestyle was harmful to the development of children. The idea behind summer camps was to ensure that children had experiences of the countryside, experiences that would aid in development into a decent citizen. One Finnish tradition also arose soon after WWII, was confirmation camps. Confirmation camps, religious camps for 13–16 years old youths organized by the local churches, aimed to combine the traditional concept of confirmation school and the newer concept of summer camps in order to battle secularization of the society. The concept was successful enough to such an extent that today, 90% of all youths participate in confirmation camps. The camps require their participants to learn certain religious texts, such as the catechism, and the
Lord's Prayer. There are a number of
non-religious alternatives for confirmation camps, such as the
Prometheus Camp, which aim to generate a positive intellectual and social atmosphere for the participants of the camp without religious tuition.
France In
France, they are called
colonies de vacances or more recently
centres de vacances. According to the French administration, more than 25% of French children attend this kind of "collective holiday" each year.
Greece In
Greece, summer camps are widely known for offering organized vacations for children. They offer sports activities, entertainment activities, and educational activities. Children 5 – 15 years old can join summer camps and have the opportunity to interact with peers. The Greek government provides funds for many children so that they can join a summer camp, free.
India Summer camps in India are primarily located in the Himalayas in Northern India in the state of Uttarakhand in places like Uroli near Ranikhet, near the Tons river in Purola, near the Ganges in Rishikesh, in Uttarkashi where many peaks like Darba top are located, and in the Shimla region in Himachal Pradesh. In South India, summer camps are popular in Coorg in the state of Karnataka and in Yercaud and Anaikkati in the state of Tamil Nadu. Activities in summer camps in India include rock climbing, backpacking, mountain biking, white water rafting, trekking, ropes, and wilderness craft. Many pre-schools in India such as Season Camps, G MaX, Gurukul Preschool (Hunar Summer Camp ) AppleKids conduct extensive Summer Camps for Kids aged 2 to 12 years. Adventure activities for kids are also popular at the summer camps for age groups of 7 to 18 years. Summer camps focusing on wildlife conservation are getting popular over the years. Many of these summer camps are also held in and around metros like Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Pune.
Ireland Summer camps in Ireland were traditionally in the form of Irish colleges in areas that are officially recognized as speaking Irish as the local language, (called Gaeltachts). They are residential Irish language summer courses that give students the opportunity to be totally immersed in the Irish language, usually for periods of three weeks over the summer months. During these courses, students attend classes and participate in a variety of different activities games, music, art and sport. These courses not only provide students with the ability to improve their language skills but also have proved to be a vehicle for introducing traditional cultural activities (céilís, Irish traditional music, etc.) to a new generation. Whilst Irish colleges are still popular, a greater variety of summer camps are now on offer catering for a range of interests. Sports camps covering Gaelic games as well as rugby and soccer have proven very popular. Arts and crafts, cookery, acting, dance, and outdoor pursuits are some of the other niche camps available. There is also a growing popularity for technical or computer camps. They cover areas such as web design, video production, desktop publishing, etc., reflecting a more modern and diverse Ireland.
Israel Yagur in the 1950s The majority of summer camps in Israel are run by the youth movements and the largest organization is the
Israeli Scouts who are organizing over 40 different overnight camps every summer with more than 80,000 participants. Youth movement summer camps usually take place between 3 and 12 days. There are some longer overnight camps where campers stay for two weeks such as
Camp Kimama, which was founded in
Michmoret, within the youth village of
Mevo'ot Yam. Summer camps in Israel are organized by various youth movements, which can be categorized into secular and religious groups. Religious youth movements, such as
Bnei Akiva and , operate their camps in accordance with
Jewish law (
Halakha); while participants stay at the campsite over
Shabbat, no travel or active programming that violates religious observance takes place. Secular movements also celebrate Shabbat with communal meals and traditional ceremonies, though their activity schedules remain more flexible. Today, there are summer day camps in almost every village and city, most of which are run by the local authority or certain organizations. In addition, there are a lot of church organized camps including many denominations. For example, all evangelical churches (mostly in the Galilee) hold a
Vacation Bible School (VBS) which includes many activities for children. One of the overnight camps is called the Potter's Wheel Camp (PWC) which was originally started by Baptist missionaries at the Baptist Village near
Petah Tikva. This camp continues to serve hundreds of children to this day. A unique aspect of summer camps in Israel is the stringent security protocol. Due to the regional security situation, all organized summer camps are subject to the Summer Camps Law (1990), which requires a business license from local authorities and formal approval from the
Ministry of Education. This process involves mandatory coordination with the Ministry of Education's Situation Room and, in many cases, the presence of armed security guards to protect participants from potential terror threats. High-level coordination with local police and security forces is a standard requirement for these programs.
Italy In Italy, summer camps take place during the students' vacations (usually between June and August).
South Korea Summer camps in South Korea are English Immersion camps where the emphasis is on learning through structured lessons, and especially tailored activities to ensure students use the language as much as possible. South Korea is quite unique with its emphasis on acquiring English speaking skills, and teachers for these 2 to 4 week camps come from all over the English speaking world. Some of the teachers are on vacation from their regular work in South Korea. Others come from their home countries or other countries where they might be working and are on special visas just for the camps. Some employ as many Korean staff as there are native English teachers to ensure the cultural and communication gaps are narrowed. A good camp should provide equipment and well-researched texts for the different levels of students. To maximize the learning time spent there should be no more than 11 students per class. At some of the camps, students sleep at dormitory accommodations, which are monitored all through the night by Korean staff. Other camps are day camps where the majority of students are bused to and from the camp. Teachers spend most of their time with their students. They eat together, play sports together, and supervise them when there are special group activities. Similar camps are also offered during winter vacation. They are certainly no less popular than the summer camps.
Malaysia Summer camps in
Malaysia are not so popular as in other countries. Children & teenagers have fun together by themselves. But now, summer camps are slowly getting attention. The biggest summer camps available are usually for children below 7 years old.
Russia In the
USSR, the first summer camps were created shortly after its establishment and were called
Young Pioneer camps during the Soviet Union's existence. Their number grew throughout the history of the Soviet Union and they numbered more than forty thousand in 1973, with 9,300,000 children attending them during their vacation every year. After the breakup of the USSR, the number of Young Pioneer camps greatly declined. However, many of the major camps still exist. There are 2,726 Residential camps (with 2,000,000 children), and more 40,000 Day camps (3,500,000 children) in Russia (2006). Most of them were united by All-Russian Camp Association "Deti Plus" (Children Plus) in 1994.
Sweden The
Church of Sweden provides confirmation camps, usually combined with outdoor life. Summer camps are often single sport camps.
Tunisia Every year during the summer school holiday, the Youth and Science Association organizes Scientific camps in many regions in Tunisia where children and teenagers can learn new skills, develop their potential and have fun.
United Kingdom , a UK summer camp Summer camps are not a major part of childhood in the United Kingdom in the way they are in North America. The UK school summer holiday is shorter, typically six weeks for state schools. The industry body is called the British Activity Holiday Association. Camps in the UK are also generally less specialised than in the United States and Canada, and most offer a fairly broad multi-activity programme of adventure activities alongside some fun social elements. This is partly because summer camps in the UK grew as an offshoot of the activity holiday industry and were therefore influenced by their adventure-only outdoor program. The UK has for the past few decades had a number of organisations that have established themselves more along the traditional model with a very wide range of holiday options as well as themed camps and major event days. Some religious organisations also run camps throughout the country. The
Titus Trust and its predecessors, has been running evangelical Christian camps for children at
private schools since the 1930s.
Scripture Union also runs camps in the UK, and has been doing so since the end of the nineteenth-century.
West Runton Holidays has been putting on camps in the village of that name since 1919. Some mission activities involve camp-style accommodation, such as United Beach Missions, which seeks to evangelise to holiday-makers on beaches. A number of youth organisations, such as the
Scout Association,
Army Cadet Force and
Air Training Corps, do often run more specialised summer camps for their membership, though these are not usually open to non-members. The Council of Colony Holidays for Schoolchildren ran summer camps called "Colonies" from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. Colonies were not based on outdoor pursuits or the "action-adventure" model, but were multi-activity holidays designed to appeal to a very wide range of children. This organisation was based on the French model, and was unique in the UK in that the young volunteers who worked directly with the children (known as "Monitors") were prepared for their work in training courses designed and run by the organisation. After Colony Holidays folded in the 1980s, Chris Green, one of their former staff, set up ATE Superweeks to provide similar holidays. He also campaigns for summer camps to become more widely supported and to help transform children's lives.
United States church camp in 1861 The
American Camp Association (ACA) reported in 2013 that there are about 7,000 overnight camps and about 5,000 day camps in the U.S., for a total of more than 12,000 camps. These camps are attended each year by more than 11 million children and adults. In the
United States,
youth organizations, such as the
Boy Scouts,
Girl Scouts,
4-H, the
JCC, the
YMCA,
Camp Fire, and several religiously affiliated groups are known for having many camps and integrating them with their own local organizations. Since 2008, the United States has been home to the world's first children's sleep away camp for
transgender children. It is called
Camp Aranu'tiq and serves campers aged 8 to 18. It won the Eleanor P. Eells Award from the
American Camp Association in 2012. ==See also==