Of all the seasons, summer is the one we think of when we imagine carefree fun and good times. The days are long and filled with sunshine, lazy days at the swimming pool, or outdoor adventures with friends. Maybe summer makes you think of biking along a mountain trail, or maybe it reminds you of how you love to lay on the beach listening to the crash of the waves. A Pew Research poll from 2019 found that 57% of Americans like their weather hot, which means that whatever your flavor of summer fun happens to be, it’s likely that this season is one you look forward to.
For kids, especially kids in grade-school, summer means one thing: Summer camp. Many kids spend the whole school year looking forward to summer camp, whether they’re attending an overnight camp or a day camp, and for good reason. Summer camp brings together all the best parts of the season. Kids get to spend all day immersed in fun activities with their friends. Plus, with specialty summer camps, children of all ages can dive into the types of activities they love most—visual art, music, theater, sports, and even robotics.
Though they may not realize it, your kids are actually learning while they have fun at soccer camp or art camp. If your child is creatively inclined, here are a few ways in which art camp will actually boost their development this summer.
Developing Motor Skills
According to the National Library of Medicine, children will be making some impressive developmental leaps during their preschool and grade-school years. They are learning about representative drawing, for example, and developing the fine motor skills they need to write neatly or tie their shoes. All of these skills are honed at art camp. As your child cuts out shapes and glues them into place they’re developing fine motor skills. Sculpting is a combination of both fine and gross motor skills, all while it helps children conceptualize how materials behave in space. Painting, drawing, illustration, and tie-dye all boost your child’s motor skills in different ways that stretch far beyond what they would be practicing elsewhere.
Learning to Understand Complex Directions
Preschoolers can comprehend single, simple directions. Grade-schoolers, though, are beginning to be able to understand more complex instructions. They are also learning to follow multiple directions given at once. Art projects present a fun way to learn this skill as well. Take a cup, fill it with red paint, and place it by the easel is a complex set of directions, for instance, and it’s something that your child is likely to hear at art camp on a regular basis. This is the type of skill that will help your child excel in which they are presented with a complicated situation to maneuver, both in school and everyday life.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
One major area in which children are always evolving is the ability to work well with others. Collaboration isn’t easy, but it’s one of the most important things to master if you want to succeed. Here, as well, art camp is a great safe space for trial and error. Art camp is about personal expression, but it’s also about respecting other kids’ ways of expression and collaborating on group projects. Some projects are just better when they’re done together, and learning to cooperate in order to achieve a more ambitious goal is something that your kids can do—all while making slime or painting a gorgeous mural.
Summer is about joy, but that doesn’t mean that we stop growing during the hotter months. Summer art camp presents the perfect way to boost your kids’ development and have great fun at the same time.
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