Summer Camps in Canada

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

The secret to a successful summer camp experience is achieving a good
match between the child’s expectations and the camp’s features.
That’s what this guide is all about. All camps boast of fresh air,
recreational activities, and companionship. To a parent and/or child
those terms might suggest images of swimming, pine woods, and canoe
trips. For the camp operator, the same description may mean baseball,
farm fields, and group prayer sessions.

This guide helps with the critical selection process by giving details
on more than 300 residential summer camps, Canada-wide. For each,
there’s a table covering address, phone, contact person, accreditation
and affiliation, fees, accommodation (e.g., tents, cabins), objectives,
activities, medical and special-needs facilities, ages accepted, number
of campers, number of staff, counselor–camper ratio, and more. A key
piece of information given for each camp is its specialty (e.g.,
traditional, wilderness experience, special needs, Christian experience,
music, arts, science, language education, sports, and horseback riding).
These data make closing in on an appropriate camp a painless task,
saving the time and expense of making inquiries of dozens of camps by
phone or mail.

The activities section for each listing is also valuable. This lets the
reader know at a glance if the camp experience being offered includes
prospecting for fossils, creative writing, chapel services, or
mini-golf, for example.

The guide is organized by province, with a cross-Canada alphabetical
listing and an index by specialty. Other lists quickly identify camps
catering to those with specific medical conditions (cancer, blindness,
asthma, burns, diabetes, hemophilia, etc.). A list of camping
associations and introductory material on such topics as how to select a
camp, what to pack, and what expenses to expect round out the guide.

Summer Camps in Canada belongs in every public and school library and
should be owned by every family in a position to consider camps outside
their immediate area.