Learn more about how summer camp battles "summer brain drain," which is a relapse of skills that kids often experience over the summer months. Great pointers on the benefits of summer camps!

1. Summer Camps: Turning Brain
Drain Into Brain Gain
Harrisburg Area YMCA

2. Turning Brain Drain Into Brain Gain

3. Each year, as students close in on those coveted summer months, old schoolyard rhymes
about summer vacation seem to make their way around the classroom. After all, Alice
Cooper’s 70s’ classic is a celebratory tune that resonates with every generation:
“School’s out for summer!”
You’d be hard pressed to find a kid that isn’t excited about summer vacation, about the
promise of swimming pools, warm nights and of course – no school work. Although kids
may be counting down the days until summer’s here at last, parents are feeling the
pressure from that same ticking clock.
For parents, summer vacation means having to find new ways to occupy their child’s time
– time that was previously devoted to the classroom. Although kids are more than happy
to burn hours away watching TV or playing video games, the reality is that these activities
can actually do more harm than good. In fact, kids that end up inactive and under
stimulated during the summer end up suffering in t
Summer Brain Drain

4. What Is Summer Brain Drain?

5.  While it may sound like something out of a cartoon,
there’s actually some hard science behind it. In a
nutshell, brain drain is a relapse of skills over the
summer months. Kids that aren’t being actively
engaged over the summer months, whether through
summer school or day camp programs, have a much
harder time retaining the lessons learned throughout
the school year than those who do.
What is Summer Brain Drain?

6.  To give you a better idea of how brain drain can affect your
child, consider this: During the summer months, if
students aren’t being engaged, they lose around two
months of grade-level math skills. It isn’t just math –
reading comprehension suffers too.
 When researchers took a closer look at the effects of
summer learning loss, they found that over half of the
achievement gap between kids from higher-income
households vs. lower-income households could be traced
back to unequal access to summer learning options.
The Effects of Brain Drain

7.  No parent wants to see his or her child struggle,
especially when it comes to learning. So how can
parents stop summer learning loss and turn the
summer brain drain into a brain gain?
Summer Camps and Brain Gain:
Educational Benefits

8.  The answer lies in a strong summer camp program.
Summer camp has proven to be an effective weapon
in the battle against brain drain, offering a fun and
encouraging environment for children to learn and
grow.
 Here are just a few examples of the educational
benefits of enrolling your child in a summer camp
program:
Summer Camps and Brain Gain:
Educational Benefits

9.  As a low-stress, often encouraging environment,
summer camp helps kids feel comfortable in learning
to accept new challenges, even if it means they don’t
succeed on their first try. In this supportive
surrounding, they learn how to better face obstacles
in the future and how hard work can pay off in the
long run.
Challenge Accepted!

10.  Because kids are engaged at camp, they don’t have
the opportunity to slip into the bad habits of brain
drain – their minds and bodies are continually being
challenged in new and exciting ways. This helps them
stay sharp, so that when the school year comes
around, they’re easily able to transition into their
classroom environment.
Double Down

11.  While a classroom setting may be intimidating for
some, summer camp is a great opportunity for kids to
increase their involvement when it comes to reading,
problem solving and teamwork because it removes
the stress of the classroom but can retain the
important lessons learned there.
Increased Involvement

12. While summer camp can be a power tool for summer learning-loss
prevention, it also can benefit your child’s developmental growth.
According to the Search Institute, children actually have seven
developmental needs:
 Physical Activity
 Competence and Achievement
 Self-Definition
 Creative Self-Expression
 Positive Social Interactions
 Structure and Clear Limits
 Meaningful Participation
Summer Camps and Brain Gain:
Developmental Benefits

13. Summer camp can address each of these needs, and
can do so in a nurturing, fun environment. Let’s take a
closer look, and see how summer camp can provide
growth opportunities for each need:
Summer Camps and Brain Gain:
Developmental Benefits

14. Physical Activity: Almost all summer camps have
physical activity integrated into their daily curriculum,
whether it’s planned activities like swimming, hiking or
sailing or organized sports like kickball, basketball or
freeze-tag.
Physical Activity

15. Competence and Achievement: We already know that
kids at camp feel more comfortable in the low-stress
surroundings than they can during the school year.
Their increased sense of security in a camp environment
makes them more willing to try new things, to explore
new worlds and to push themselves to achieve goals
that they may never have thought were possible.
Competence and Achievement

16. Self-Definition: Summer camp seems to have a
powerful effect on a child’s sense of independence.
Without parents or teachers guiding their decisions,
kids can use their time at summer camp to make their
own decisions, albeit small, in a low-stress environment.
This not only teaches them how to rely on themselves,
but it also slowly begins to shape their future self.
Self Definition

17. Creative Self-Expression: Arts and crafts, sing-a-long
sessions, talent shows: These are just a few examples of
the way summer camps offer kids the opportunity for
creative self-expression. Again, thanks to the safe and
accepting environment of summer camp, children are
more likely to branch out in their attempts at
expressing themselves.
Creative Self-Expression

18. Positive Social Interactions: What better place for your
child to learn about how to interact with others in a
positive way than at summer camp? Camps do a great
job of bringing together kids from all across the
spectrum and uniting them towards one goal. This helps
kids not only learn how to work as a team, but also
learn how working together in a positive, encouraging
environment can help everyone succeed.
Positive Social Interactions

19. Structure and Clear Limits: For children struggling with
the issues of structure and clear limits, summer camp
can be a great way to ease children into understanding
the importance of these two concepts. Especially since,
in order for everyone to participate as a group,
everyone needs to be respectful of the structure and
limitations of the program.
Structure and Clear Limits

20. Meaningful Participation: Sometimes it’s easy for kids
to feel like their voices don’t matter, especially when
their parents or teachers are the ones making the
decisions. At camp, they can feel like they have a voice
and play an important role in their group. Some camp
programs may assign a group leader for the week, thus
engraining the strong sense of meaningful participation
in each child.
Meaningful Participation

21.  In the summer of 2000, the American Camp
Association surveyed 1,000 parents after their kids
had returned from camp. It asked parents to rank the
top five benefits they saw in their child once they had
completed camp. On a scale of 1-5 – with 1 equaling
strongly disagree and 5 equaling strongly agree –
here’s what they had to say:
Real-Life Experiences

22.  That same year, ACA polled kids from 20 different
summer camp programs, asking them how their camp
experience impacted them:
Real-Life Experiences

23.  Q: Can you think of things you learned and did at
camp last summer that helped you in school this
year?
Real-Life Experiences

24.  “My experiences helped me look at challenging situations
differently and instead of giving up, finding a way around them.” –
14-year-old female
 “I was more confident, wanted to know everything, was excited to
be in school and good grades in 7th grade.” – 12-year-old female
 “I learned better sportsmanship and listening skills that helped me
bring up my grades in behavior.” – 11-year-old male
 “I learned how to be on my own without someone with me all the
time.” – 12-year-old male
Real-Life Experiences

25.  Q: Do you feel different about yourself when you are
at camp?
Real-Life Experiences

26.  “At school there are defined groups of people, but at camp,
everyone feels wanted.” – 15-year-old female
 “Yes, because I’m with people my age and people who respect
everyone.” – 11-year-old male
 “At camp I have a personality that is different from home. I’m
less cautious to do fun or existing things. I don’t feel as long as I
sometimes do at home.” – 14-year-old male
 “At camp I think that I can do more and be proud of myself.” –
13-year-old female
Real-Life Experiences

27. Activities That Battle Brain Drain

28.  When you’re ready to enroll your child in summer
camp, you’ll want to make sure you pay attention to
the camp’s curriculum for the summer. The best
options will involve activities that will stimulate and
engage your child’s mind and body.
 Your summer camp program should offer any of the
following activities in their curriculum:
Activities That Battle Brain Drain

29.  Comprehension lessons – reading hours, science experiments, puzzles
 Physical activity – organized sports, free play, outdoor activities like hiking,
biking, swimming, sailing
 Arts and crafts – painting, coloring, drawing, crafting, building
 Exploration – guided lessons on nature, plants, animals
 Field trips – science museums, libraries, children’s museums, state parks
 Group programs – activities that will encourage team work, working in
groups, working together
Activities That Battle Brain Drain

30.  In addition to these programs, make sure that you inquire about
meal planning. Your kids will probably be spending a large portion
of the day at their summer camp, so ensuring that they’re getting
nutritious, health-conscious meals is important. Summer months
can spell trouble when it comes to watching the kinds of foods your
kid is having. With the temptation of summertime treats, it’s no
wonder that many kids end up gaining weight over the summer
months.
 While there’s no harm in summer camps offering the occasional
hamburger, hot dog or frozen treat, they should also moderate
these kinds of foods, balancing their inclusion on your child’s menu,
while making strong efforts to include plenty of water and fresh
fruits and veggies.
Activities That Battle Brain Drain

31.  With so many proven benefits, it’s hard to say which one
will be the reason to send your child to summer camp.
Maybe it’s to fight off the effects of brain drain. If that’s
the case, then summer camp can offer your child
interesting, interactive and engaging activities and
programs to stimulate their minds. Or maybe it’s to boost
your child’s developmental growth. With creative self-
expression and a welcoming, community environment,
summer camp empowers any child to grow, develop and
learn about themselves and the world around them.
Summer Camp: A World of
Opportunities

32.  The YMCA offers a number of options when
considering summer day camp programs. Each camp
includes themed weeks, weekly field trips, supervised
free swim, arts and crafts, sports, games, science and
nature activities, and weekly learning zones. Learn
more about the camps we offer.
Enroll in Camp Today