With summer just around the corner, it may be time to start looking for summer activities when the kids are out of school. But finding summer camps in New York can be challenging. You want to ensure your child has fun while receiving lessons about adulthood, responsibility, and commitment, all of which are excellent skills to possess later in life.
But what activities combine life lessons and necessary skills for the future? Summer should be about having fun, right? So how can you connect life lessons with summer fun?
Clover Brooke farm camp is where children can learn valuable life skills and lessons about caring for animals, the relationship between humans and nature, and the importance of farmwork, before finishing off with arts, crafts, hikes, and more.
Farm Fun For Kids: What is Farm Camp?
Farm summer camps for kids are a summer camp experience that helps children learn valuable lessons about farming, animal-human relationships, ethical regenerative agriculture, and more. Farm camp involves a hands-on practice that benefits a farm, community, and environment packed into a fun kid's summer camp.
The Farm Life
Like most summer camps for kids, a farm camp focuses daily on something new about farm life and animal husbandry through curiosity and exploration while maintaining the importance of being a regenerative farmer.
Fun and Formative
Farm summer camps for kids can help teach children about the relationship between farmers, animals, nature, and their communities. Children can learn where their produce comes from, the challenges farmers face, how to safely handle and humanely treat animals of various sizes, and have the chance to run wild through a fantastic countryside filled with goats, bunnies, llamas, alpacas, and more.
Farming Over Summer: What Will Kids Get to Do?
So, what can you expect from a kid's summer camp experience in a farm camp? Unlike traditional summer camps in New York, farm camp is about education and fun. As mentioned, children should be able to combine the two by interacting with nurtured animals, guided by educators, and learning why farming and husbandry are essential to everyday comfort.
But what are the specific details? Why is a farm one of the best summer camps for kids?
You Get to Play with Animals
The most compelling reason for many kids is the chance to play and interact with animals, some of which you cannot have as pets or see at the park. Many summer camps for kids don't have alpacas, llamas, bunnies, sheep, goats, barn cats, and more hanging out alongside campers and teaching them valuable lessons about animal husbandry, respect, and behavior.
Many children do not understand how to raise animals properly. Most do not regularly interact with other livestock. Seeing and learning how these animals are taken care of can open their minds to new experiences and expand their knowledge so they can apply those lessons later in life. It will also give them a deeper appreciation for farmers and their many daily responsibilities.
But we mentioned respect and behavior, didn't we? By attending a farm summer camp for kids, children will learn about animal behavior and how to care for the softer animals on the farm. Bunnies and barn cats are smaller than goats, alpacas and llamas and require different handling skills. Children will learn to notice when an animal is sick, when it needs space, how to feed it properly, and more.
Every day will be a new adventure and experience while working with animals since every camper gets their own set of daily chores around the farm.
Teaches Life Skills
Alongside animal husbandry, children will also learn how to identify healthy soil and understand the interdependency of farmers, animals, and nature alongside their local communities. Children learn patience, compromise, and how to be gentle by working with animals. Some animals are tiny and delicate, so children will learn to properly care for them without causing harm.
As children grow older, these lessons translate into a stronger, more open mind. Lessons learned about compromise, compassion, and the inner workings of one of society's oldest professions can help answer and inspire new thought-provoking questions in young adults.
Combines Education with Fun
Finally, children who come to farm camps will learn more than just animal husbandry and farm chores. They will learn about animal waterways, soil health, and the interdependency between farmers, nature, and animals. They will combine these lessons with fun activities such as hiking, crafts, and more.
These simple interactions educate children in several ways. Campers understand the importance of supporting locally-grown food and produce by learning about the interdependency of farmers, animals, and their communities. By working alongside animals, feeding, brushing, and walking them, they understand why it is essential to care for animals and support the humane treatment of our most important partners.
Best of all, the end of the camp will involve children creating their farms to show their parents how farms operate. As a result, it culminates the amazing fun of farm camp and helps share the incredible knowledge children gathered over the summer.
Out to Pasture: Is Farm Camp Right for Your Children?
Absolutely! Summer camps for kids should be fun, informative, and something they are excited to attend. There is no short supply of summer camps in New York, but the one that will provide children with the most fun and engagement is our farm camp at Clover Brooke Farms.
Clover Brooke Farm has provided children and adults with weeks of quality, well-managed activities that are still raved about long after they have ended. We are excited to offer fun, interactive, and educational farm experiences utilizing the FFC: Fearless Farmers Curriculum.
Scheduling Farm Camp
Contact us to secure your child's spot in our farm summer camps for kids. Children must be between the ages of seven and twelve to register. Our farm camp is almost thirty-eight hours of unforgettable experiences for the future farmer or lover of all things fuzzy and sweet. Meet our passionate educators and let your children enjoy an experience they will never forget.