How To Run A Successful Summer Camp

Several people asked me to put together an article about running a successful summer camp. Along with other articles I have in mind, I would like to make them available to the greatest amount of people.

Running a summer camp takes gumption, even if it is for a week or two. It can be exhausting. It is not for the feint of heart or the hobbyists. It is of course for the professional business owner, a good option in extending their programs into the summer months.

Last year, I saw first hand how much joy and fun a summer camp could bring to the children whom I usually taught to dance.

I’ve generated a checklist of things to do before you go ahead with your summer camp plans.

1. Find a rental place and negotiate for an extension of hours. Kids sometimes need to be dropped off at seven in the morning and picked up as late as five thirty. That’s the nature of the business. So when you are trying to find a rental place, you will have to point out the fact that limited business hours don’t make sense. Try to get a package together that will suit both you and the renter.

2. Once you have a place in mind, get your fire check. Find out what if any kind of equiptment you need. Most small extinguishers are not even permitted as the main extinguishers in home daycare environments. So a fire inspection is an affordable way to find out quickly what you need to get. Often times, stoves that don’t have proper venting need to be fixed up. You can make this a condition of your lease.

3. Try to figure out affordable ways to advertise within the schools. Most static magazines ads don’t truly work. What does work is direct marketing. You will get farther just by personally handing out flyers or sending them through to schools than posting a huge ad in a newspaper.

4. Try to generate some newsworthliness to see if you can get some free advertising by the local TV station.

5. Consult provincial or state listings about age and also the amount of kids you can have. Then, wisely crunch the numbers and figure out how many staff you can have.

6. Hire your staff. Consider their qualifications in the area they will be instructing but also watch them around kids when they’re not ‘on’ to find out if they have compassionate hearts. If they don’t, you don’t need them. In as much as possible in this situation, realize that this is daycare and you will want to have adults for your staff as much as possible. On the one hand, it isn’t illegal to hire teenagers for these positions and I have personally worked with phenomenal teenagers. It’s about the liability factor. Adults tend to look at a situation and judge it for safety. That is a skills teenagers need to learn…so why not pair both adults and teenagers for maximum safety.

7. Figure out a price to make it work.

8. Get your ads up at grocery stores. Talk to parents. Get your message out and make sure your message is simple.

9. Based on staff, plan your days. Remember to leave lots of open spots for general fun or kids going through sprinklers. There is nothing that will generate more enthusiasm for your daycamp than water.

10. Train your staff in Meet and Greet. As the owner of this business, dress differently but put staff in uniforms. Also, the day camp may be in an open area around a higher population. In this case, have parents buy a shirt with your logo on it so that children are easily recognizable.

11. Buy your insurance. You need at least two million liability, no exceptions.

12. If you are providing food, start pricing out the food. Remember offering something as simple as a glass of milk or a handful of fruit as a snack can make a parent sign up for an extra week. Imagine not having to pack a lunch for your child. Now that’s a summer camp everybody wants to send their children to.

13. As money comes in from registrations, immediately put the money in the bank and make money orders for the rent. Do not pay the rent early, just keep it so you know you have it and do likewise with the staff members. Put the money away in a safety box to make sure it is available when you need it.

14. Another good idea is the weekly assembly, especially when catering to a Fine Arts or Dancing type of lessons. Make sure your assembly is on time, quick and shows maximum improvements from children. Everybody deserves to see their children shine.

Phyllis Ventresca is the proprietor of Philamena School of Dance and Fine Arts at Philamena School of Dance She will once again be offering summer camps in the Barrie area.

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