How to choose outdoors summer camps in the Bay Area

Up in a tree. Photo by Ryan Arthurs.

If you have a child between the ages of 3 and 11, now is the time to book your 2010 summer camps. An outdoors summer camp would be an even better choice. With busy controlled scheduled lives, few families really enjoy the nature that's available to them and the outdoors take a back seat, becoming a distant vacation dream. This is why outdoors camps are so important for our children. They offer them the possibility to enjoy a rare pleasure: running wild outside.

"When I was a child, I would go outside and play," says Kurt Gantner, founder  of Wanderers Camp, a hiking camp that takes kids to national parks in the Bay Area. "My brother and I had the luxury of lots of land to roam on and this gave us the space to interact with nature, use our imaginations and create our own games, build forts, climb trees, pick berries. Kids today just don't seem to do these types of things."

The feeling is echoed by Scott Wilkinson who created his own camp, the Kids Outdoors Club right at Golden Golden Park out of sheer frustration. "I was frustrated by all 3 of my kids having to take 3 different class sessions at different times on different days, and all classes were only 45 minutes and very expensive, not to mention we were all indoors all the time, between class sessions and the car. So, I set up the club and stood in grassy area with my 3 kids 4 years ago, every day, and let the kids do whatever they wanted."

Author Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder epitomized the lack of nature in our children's lives. If your neighborhood playground is the only place where your child sees live trees and buzzing insects, it might be time to expand your horizons. Enter the outdoors summer camps and their wonderful nature-loving staff!

In choosing an outdoors summer camp, you will want to follow some simple guidelines to make sure that your child will be happy. "Some camps have kids go from activity to activity throughout the day, others are more unstructured," says Jenny Silva, founder of Sign Up For Camp, a new website that acts as a sort of "Open Table" for camps. The website lets you select your child 's grade, some themes, geographical areas and get a list of camps with details (you can even sign up with friends).

This is how Ms. Silva suggests parents start their camp hunt:

• Find the key contact: if you can, talk to the camp director. They are always the key person. Just call and ask questions about how camp days unfold and whether they would be a good fit with your child. Find some camp directors interviews here.
• Listen to your (trusted) friends: if a camp is recommended by friends or word of mouth, make sure your sources share your values. You may want your kids to get dirty and play in the mud while your friends may be looking for the next grade level in math.
• Ask the camper: Talk to your child! After age 6 (even before for some), children know what they like. Do they like mechamics? arts? going to the beach? animals? If your child hates being outside, you may want to choose a camp that offers outside and inside activities. At the end of the day, you don't want your child to be miserable.
• Check energy levels: Is your child high energy or quiet? High energy children will have a harder time focusing on projects all day. Ask for camp day schedules to see if your child would make it through happily. 
• Costs don't (always) have to be an issue: There are a number of camps that offer scholarships. Never assume that they are out of reach. Call to find out.

Now, which outdoors summer camps? They can be divided into three rough categories with some overlap for a few:

• Outdoors summer camps with a nature or environmental education perspective
• Outdoors summer camps with a science or arts angle
• Outdoors summer camps with a "let's play!" attitude

Note that the San Francisco Bay Area hosts dozens of sports-based outdoors summer camps that you can find through sports or community organizations such as the YMCA, the San Francisco Yacht Club, the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco or local recreation centers.