Giggles that is the big issue with day camps. The kids show up fully rested and ready every day. Well most of them do. lol Do not get burnt out trying to help over night. Remember use the down time to prep and recharge.
There is zero room for error in day camp. One bad day and the kid wont come back to camp. In over night camp a bad first day can be lost to 5 amazing days. In day camp they go home to talk to their parents and its over.
Honestly here is what I learned about what parents want from camp. They want their kids to do all the stuff on the flyers. I learned the kids had to swim every day and have some kind of big activity like climbing wall, BB guns, archery, etc.
We just ended up skipping events like the fire department. Because it took away from the big activities.
Remember to put a lot of thought into the pick up/drop off process. Two things first you want to make sure the right kid goes to the right places. Second it needs to be a fun time. Play some music and have games going. Card games and board games are great for small areas. You want that to be just as much fun as the rest of the day at camp.
Sadly many camps forget about that part and the kids end up waiting a hour board and it kills everything positive you did all day.
Remember Day camp needs to be your main focus. Over night can be fun but don't let it pull you away from getting day camp ready.
I know over night camp makes more per kid but day camp feeds the over night program with new kids.
Have the over night director stop by on Thursday at lunch to talk about over night camp to the kids.
