Summer Outdoor Camps for Kids
Dr. John Woods 06.20.17
So, school is out and it’s summertime. That automatically means a week or two of summer camps for a lot of kids. There are all kinds of summer camps for youth. These include sports camps, band camp, science camps, camping camps, and everything else. However, there is a growing popularity of specific camps for kids targeting a wide variety of outdoor skills and experiences.
These outdoor camps are helping to give “city” kids or “couch” kids the simple opportunity to participate in outdoor activities. With ever changing demographics in terms of family profiles an amazing number of children never get the chance to enjoy the great outdoors offering a wide variety of outdoor experiences.
These camps offer a wide variety of outdoor skills events. The long list of potential camp activities includes training to shoot, shotgunning, rimfires, hunting skills including state hunter safety course certification, wildlife identification, birding, game calling, outdoors safety, live shooting, fishing, canoeing, fishing, camping skills, orienteering/compass use, outdoor food preparation, archery, fire building, knot tying, and host of other skills only limited by the camp host’s creativity.
One such camp held at Tara Wildlife north of Vicksburg, Mississippi along the Mississippi River gives kids a complete package of outdoor skills. This noted white-tailed deer archery hunting destination site has put on summer camps for kids for years. The staff includes seasoned veteran outdoors people to teach all kids a full curriculum of outdoor skills. At the center of all of their camps is fun. Every summer camp fills up quickly. Check out www.tarawildlife.com.
Another summer outdoors camp for special kids is Center Ridge Outpost camp in Smith County, Mississippi in a rural farming area south of Raleigh. This camp also involves kids with numerous outdoor experiences including fun stuff like swimming and outdoor sports, but also archery shooting, campfires, outdoor safety, trail walks, and horseback riding. The main mission is to get kids outdoors away from the electronic games and watching television. Check them out at www.teaam.org.
With a big push on by numerous state wildlife agencies to involve more youth in outdoor sports specifically hunting and fishing, shooting and archery, these summer camps focusing on getting kids outside are a good start toward these agendas of outdoors youth participation. Just opening the eyes of kids for a few days of exposure to the great outdoors is a winning mission.
