Hey, Swimmers! 

Swimming is easily the #1 activity of choice for summer campers all over the country. After all, few activities bring you the refreshing splash that epitomizes the summer season the way Swimming does. While this activity is incredibly fun and loved by many, it does have the potential of danger for inexperienced swimmers. Be sure to go over these basic water safety tips before heading off to camp! 

Of course any good camp sees to that their campers follow essential safety swimming practices. They categorize swimmers and place them in appropriate instruction groups and water depths. They set swimmers up in buddy pairs. And they have likely trained all their staff in emergency water rescue. 

That being said, mistakes can happen anywhere. Camps are doing their part to keep your campers safe. Do your part by sitting down with your camper and going over basic water safety to ensure their safety in the water at camp. 

In Good Company
Playing in the water is fun, but should never be enjoyed alone. Teach your child to swim in buddy pairs and that there must always be a properly-trained adult lifeguard present. 

Swimming Lessons
Teach your child to swim. Even the youngest day campers can learn to swim. Before the camp season starts, bring your child to some lessons at the local municipal pool, YMCA, or club. Children will likely become better swimmers at camp, but learning basics prior to camp is a plus. 

Best Behavior
Reinforce your expectation that your son or daughter will follow all of the camp’s aquatic rules, such as: No Diving in Shallow Water, No Running on the Dock or Deck, Always Wear a Life Jacket in Boats, etc. 

Make sure to instill these means of safety so that your camper can have some good, safe fun in the water at camp! Make a splash, kids! As always, thanks for reading and happy camping! 

- John

Hey, Camp Folks! 

It’s been interesting, going around the office here at Everything Summer Camp and asking what camp activities people would be most excited about if they had the opportunity to go to summer camp now, as an adult. I’ve talked with a handful of people so far including Anita, our Shipping manager, about going camping and our Vice President, Mark, about going up a mountain. Today we’ll go over the activities that Ed, the president of our company, would be most interested in. 

Capture-the-Flag
Ed’s immediate first answer hearkened back to his own summer camp experiences around the age of 13 when he and his camp friends were introduced to Capture-the-Flag. “We took it to new levels of strategy and trickery,” he smiled. 

Mountain Biking
Ed enjoys seeing the sights on a bike. He said he recently got the chance to ride an electric bike which was a really cool experience. Electric bikes assist the rider’s pedal-power, coming in extra handy for strenuous mountain biking excursions! 

Woodworking
Ed’s always been naturally drawn to woodworking as you may gather from his position at a factory that manufactures trunks. Ed himself has built a number of very cool pieces from wood like his live-edge table from a rough slab of wood. He plans to build his kids farm tables from trees felled on his own land. Pretty cool! 

While he didn’t have as much to say about other activities as he did Woodworking, Mountain Biking, and Capture-the-Flag, Ed also expressed interested in other common summer camp activities such as Horseback Riding, Gardening, and Trapshooting. 

Do you love the same camp activities as Ed? His picks are very essential summer camp experiences—likely to be found wherever you’re headed for camp! As always, thanks for reading and happy camping! 

- John

Hey, Camp Fans! 

Bob’s been in our Shipping Department since 2018. Always ready to attack the workday, he goes through each order he ships with a careful eye and efficient consistency. He comes from a laundry list of experience, so he comes in pretty handy out in our warehouse—one of few at our company brave enough to drive the forklift. But enough work talk! Today we’re talking about what camp activities Bob would sign himself up for if he were to go to camp right now. 

Without much hesitation, Bob gave me two activities that he would try his hand at nowadays if given then opportunity: Zip Line and Snorkeling. 

Zipline
Bob’s never zip lined before and it sounds like a real thrill to him. He had the chance to do it back when he was 14 but he opted out. When the time came that he had his own son, he watched him do a zip line and really regretted not doing it when he had the chance. From that point on he’s always regretted not having done a zip line. I happened to write a recent Blog post about zip lining that you can check out by clicking here. 

Snorkeling
Bob went snorkeling in the Bahamas when he was 52 years old. He said he was absolutely astonished at all the cool sights to see like the coral reef, giant sea shells with sea creatures living inside, starfish, and an endless list of other foreign creatures and landscape. Bob was blown away by the abundance. “All this stuff LIVES down here?!!” he said, imitating his initial reaction. 

These were the only two activities that he had anything to say about, but he threw out some other activities he would sign up for like Fishing, Kayaking, Hiking, Cooking, Gardening, and—of course—Baseball. Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the summer! What camp activities are you excited for this season? Let us know in the comments and, as always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks! Happy camping! 

- John

Hey, Camp Adventurers! 

Much like Archery and Horseback Riding, Zip Lining is something of a classic summer camp staple activity. It’s one of those iconic camp activities that kids look back on as a truly thrilling moment that they achieved because they dared to! 

Ziplines have been used for centuries to move people and goods rather quickly over hilly terrain, mountains, woods, lakes, rivers, canyons, etc. This rather ancient and innovative invention is still used today, but typically associated less nowadays as goods transportation and more so as fun!    

Here are some interesting facts about Zip Lining: 

Biology to the Max
Believe it or not, Zip Lines were popularized in the field of Biology. Scientists doing research in the Costa Rican rainforest were literally able to zip around to different areas and observe the surrounding nature without disturbing the animals or plant life! Pretty cool, huh? 

We used to Zip Line to School
There are some children in China who Zip Line to school over the Nujiang River. Talk about a morning wake-up call! You’d arrive at school wide awake and alert after your morning zip. 

A Long Zip Trip
Zip Lines are extraordinary fun and usually completed in about 20 seconds or less. The longest Zip Line in the world is the 1.3-mile Eye of the Tiger in Peru. That’s nearly 6500 feet! It takes longer than a minute to reach then end site. 

Do you plan to travel by zip this summer at camp? It takes a bit of courage and possibly fear-conquering to hang tight and soar across the land! But it’s sure to be a memory that will last. Let us know in the comments about any Zip Line experience you’ve had or hope to have in the coming camp season. As always, thanks for reading, Camp Folks. And happy camping! 

- John

Hey, Camp Folks! 

Staying hard at work with an assortment of responsibilities, Amy is our Graphic Artist—a role that keeps her very busy with creating graphics and managing them on our website, photography requests to show off our great products in clear detail, laying out emails as well as our brochure, and a laundry list more. But we’re not talking about work today! 

Today we’re going to find out what Amy would do if she got to go to summer camp right now as an adult. Amy couldn’t settle on any one camp activity so she gave me a laundry list of fun stuff. Check out the busy schedule she would make for herself: 

Archery
At the top of the list, Amy gave me Archery. “I’ve had archery experience though other camps/activities (girl scouts and high school gym class),” she told me. “I really enjoyed that.”  

Softball
A very close second was Softball. “I played in high school and bar leagues and miss it so much!” she said. “My dad spent many hours in the backyard teaching me all of the basic skills before joining the high school team.” 

Pottery
Pottery was one that Amy’s always had interest in and wanted to try. She’s simply never had the chance before. It would definitely be on her list of camp fun. 

Fishing and Canoeing
“I’ve always loved to fish” Amy told me. “It’s always been a family activity – starting when I was about two years old! Every year our family vacation was spent fishing on a lake in Northern WI. We are hoping our kids enjoy it as well. We recently bought a canoe and I have found it very relaxing.” 

Knitting, Sewing, and Woodworking
“These are all skills my parents have and I’d like to learn more so I can pass those skills onto my own kids,” said Amy. “My mom taught me to sew but I really expanded my skills when I started at my first job in 2007 (at Nancy’s Notions). I’ve since taught my husband some basic sewing machine skills! I can do basic woodworking that I learned from my dad, but I have no knitting skills.” 

She’s off to learn and have a bunch of fun! Do you love any of the same camp activities as Amy? Will you be enjoying any of these essential summer camp experiences this coming summer! Comment below to let us know. As always, thanks for reading and happy camping! 

- John