Sleep Away Camp Without Electronics
November 13, 2013
At our sleep away camp in NH we look forward to unplugging every summer. At Camps Kenwood and Evergreen our goal is to create the most developmentally impactful experience possible, and to do that we need our campers to disconnect from their video screens. Summers without electronics help our campers form stronger, more meaningful friendships, and it may also be a necessary part of healthy brain development! We ask that children leave their electronics at home, including iphones, ipads, blackberries, cell phones, kindles, laptops, PSPs, Gameboys, and all other mobile communication devices.
It’s quite beautiful to see how quickly our campers from NYC, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami and Barcelona are able to put their plugged-in lives behind them. When campers arrive at Kenwood and Evergreen we immediately begin to connect them to their peers and counselors. We engage them in fun, exciting icebreaker games that foster social cohesion and help them immediately begin new friendships. And then we introduce them to the many forms of positive, unstructured play that is available at our summer camp in NH. Our well-trained counselors initiate games of catch, ping pong, roofball, run the bases, and horse. Other counselors bring out their guitars and find campers to jam and sing with. Some of our counselors sit under trees with a small group of campers to talk and listen, and in doing so model how to hang out in fun and socially appropriate ways. This all takes place during the first hour of each summer at Camps Kenwood and Evergreen. Amazingly, after just a day or two of this new dynamic, our campers stop missing their electronics and even report that they no longer even think of them at all!
Imagine the gift you can give your child of a sleep away camp without electronic devices. Imagine your child having a summer of no texting, no video games, no instagram, no television. Give them the opportunity to live for 7 whole weeks each year totally unplugged. Let their brains know that a life without touch screens is not only possible, but maybe even beneficial!
Now we do love music at Camps Kenwood and Evergreen, so campers are welcome to bring mp3 devices such as ipods, provided that they aren’t WIFI capable, and do not contain any videos, games or photos. Part of the Kenwood & Evergreen sleep away camp experience is sharing your music with friends, discovering new artists, and having dance parties during your free time.
Some campers choose to relax at bedtime by listening to music on their headphones. We do ask that mp3 players and ipods stay in the bunk, and that never walk around our campus with their ears tuning out the world around them. Our overnight summer camps are a place to interact with those around you!