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| Glen Herbert
Editor/Writer, Our Kids Media
July, 2020 |
It’s true that online programming provides families with diversions, fun things to do, new things to learn. What’s perhaps not as obvious is that it offers much more than that. From a craft video to an online tuck shop, online programming grants a sense of connection to the camp, and the culture that has been fostered there. The familiar faces, and the knowledge that camp is still there, can be a real comfort, especially for younger campers.
The examples are as varied as the camps themselves. Ember at Camp Mini-Yo-We paddled out to Dead Man’s Island to read a story, part of their stories series. Mini-Yo-We also created the Home Adventures program, reaching out to campers, community, and friends with 1000 hand-delivered activity kits. Camp Couchiching hosts daily flagpole assemblies. Camp Tanamakoon posted some really lovely songs in a series, “Good Night Campers” such as this one and this one. (And here’s a delightful puzzler: Who can name the tune that this one, “There is Another World Revolving,” is written to?) Glen Bernard Camp created an online tuck shop, delightfully using staff as models for the merch.
Again, the lasting benefit of all these projects—the one that will resonate for years rather than weeks or days—is that they offer a unique window onto the camps’ cultures, communities, and reasons for being.
Which is why, frankly, they need to be shared. To that end:
- Be sure to record online events, as they can continue to draw an audience. Just to give a sense, the audience for a Wenonah campfire tripled in the week after it was posted, that is, the active audience—the people that dialed it up live—was quickly eclipsed by the passive audience. Then hashtag it #BringCampHome #LetThereAlwaysBeCamp and mention @ourkidsnet so that we can share it, too.
- Share it with us! I for one am impressed on a daily basis by all the unique programs, and all the talent brought to them. We’ve been posting these to our Virtual programs hub and will share them through social feeds and mailing list.
- Over 30 new specialties and activities—music production, virtual reality, drone technology, health sciences, disc golf, and many more additions have been made to the control panel. These will build out the list of traditional activities while allowing camps to appear on more refined searches, including those specific to COVID-era programming. We’ve also revised the structure and grouping of the activity lists to enhance clarity. Please log in to check all these new additions under “Specialty” and or “Activities.”
- Now more than ever, the authentic perspectives of your current community will play a key role in ongoing engagement. You can add Reviews to your profile from campers, parents, and staff members. Feel free to add as many and as varied reviews to your profile as you can—this is truly a case of the more the merrier—and include interesting titles to engage readers. We’ll be adding these to the camp review hub in the coming months.
- Our Kids Go to Camp’s character traits hub coming soon. What does that mean? We’re creating a series of pages focused on character traits recently added to your cpanel. We’re currently interviewing experts, camp leaders, and camp alumni, who will share insight into how camps encourage kids’ self-regulation, independence, responsibility, courage, resilience, interpersonal skills, curiosity, creativity, physical literacy, generosity, tolerance, and religious faith. This will be a compelling new way for parents to understand the value of camp, beyond our existing focus on activities, types, and locations.
- Make sure families know which programs are still running (in-person or virtual) and if you’ve had to temporarily close programming by logging in to your control panel and updating your Programs & Sessions. These can include:
Family programs, facility rentals
New initiatives from organized activities to virtual events
Activities for home delivery
Copyright © 2020 Our Kids Media, All rights reserved
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