Kids Summer Karate Camp

[Sohan]

Hi everyone,

This summer I am going to direct a new summer camp for children from grades 1-5 in conjunction with our city's rec dept. I have never done this before, and am trying to put together a daily schedule of events to keep the kids interested. Each day lasts from 9-3 with a 45 minute lunch period, with the tentative schedule like this:

8:45--Dropoff

9:00--Welcome

9:15--Karate session 1 (Basics)

10:15--Bathroom/Water Break

10:30--Trail Hike

11:15--Crafts

12:00--Lunch

12:45--Karate Session 2 (Skill Drills)

1:45--Bathroom/Water Break

2:00--Karate Session 3 (Karate Games)

3:00--Parent Pickup

We are not sure of a projected camp size--could be 10 kids or 70. We plan to add additional staff for every 15 children, otherwise it will be me and an assistant leading the camp. We are not sure if the instructors will wear gis (not in the middle of summer for an all-day event) but the kids will definitely be in shorts and a t-shirt. They will provide their own bag lunch and we will charge the parents if they pick the children up late.

I would really appreciate any advice that you have for us regarding the camp. We have all necessary paperwork (waivers, emergency info, etc) so we're OK procedurally. What I really would like to know is if anyone has done this and what their experience is, though I welcome anyone's advice on how they would approach such a camp.

With respect,

Sohan

[Meguro]

How many times a week will this camp be held and for how long? Is this an intensive karate camp for kids or just a day-camp? If this is a Mon-Fri camp, 15 lessons of karate/week may be too much for the little kids, unless of course they signed up for an intensive karate camp. You might want to vary the schedule day to day to give the kids something different to look forward to and avoid that "Groundhog Day" sense of deja vu. I would re-think scheduling a physical activity immediately after lunch and instead introduce story time/nap time. You might also want to reserve one day a week for field trips: fire house, library, police department.

[Orion]

I have to agree with Meguro, if its an all week thing then you might want to change the schedule about a bit. You might want to think about adding some 'games' in. Something like dodgeball or something that keeps them moving and fit but at the same time they need to enjoy it.

[Sohan]

How many times a week will this camp be held and for how long? Is this an intensive karate camp for kids or just a day-camp? If this is a Mon-Fri camp, 15 lessons of karate/week may be too much for the little kids, unless of course they signed up for an intensive karate camp. You might want to vary the schedule day to day to give the kids something different to look forward to and avoid that "Groundhog Day" sense of deja vu. I would re-think scheduling a physical activity immediately after lunch and instead introduce story time/nap time. You might also want to reserve one day a week for field trips: fire house, library, police department.

Each session for the day camp lasts a week M-F, and as I said earlier, from 9AM to 3PM. The focus is on karate, but perhaps 80-90% of the children will likely not have much, if any, MA experience. We can't do field trips because of transportation issues, but I forgot to add that we are going to have a member of our city's fire, police, etc, speak for about 45 minutes each day, and our school's sensei will speak on Friday.

I would like to have a story time but was concerned the older kids would find it boring. Perhaps the guest could meet us immediately after lunch instead. But I do intend to vary the program. Each day the kids will be introduced to something different, but we really want to whet their appetite for MA, regardless of what we do.

With respect,

Sohan

[NothingsShadow]

I think the rough plan you have laid out looks good. It's a good idea to brake up the gaps between the karate sessions with something completely different (especially if most of the kids have little Martial Arts experience). A few ideas I would put in for some fun stuff would be follow the leader (outside around a playground or something if you have access) and something that I remember doing once when I was a kid on a Karate camp was Joke telling (the older ones may need to be warned to keep it clean), it can help everyone to gain some confidence and to get to know each other (if they don't already).

I think the most important thing if your looking to "wet their appetite" is to make the week as fun as possible, obviously is the kids don't enjoy themself they are unlikely to continue training after the camp.

[Sohan]

Here is a new proposed daily schedule of events. Each day lasts from 9AM-3PM with a 45 minute lunch period, with the tentative schedule looking like this:

8:45-- Dropoff

9:00-- Welcome and warmup

9:15-- Karate Session 1 (Basic Skills)

10:00-- Bathroom/Water Break

10:15-- Nature Walk

10:45-- Water Break

11:00-- Organized Play Period

12:00-- Lunch

12:45-- Guest Speaker/Crafts

1:30-- Karate Session 2 (With equipment)

2:15-- Bathroom/Water Break

2:30-- Karate Session 3 (Karate games)

3:00-- Parent Pickup

Parents must provide the children with a bag lunch and water bottle for the day. No refreshments or lunch will be provided. Children must be picked up at 3:00PM each day. Children who are picked up after 3:15 may not be allowed to continue to attend the camp and will not be given a refund. T-shirts will be provided for the children on the first day. The first t-shirt is provided free of charge, each additional shirt is $15.

I appreciate anyone's opinion on this. The advice so far has been great.

With respect,

Sohan

[Rateh]

As an idea, you may want to watch a karate movie or something once or twice during the week. This would also be a good thing to do after lunch, and the younger ones can take their nap time during the movie if they wanted to.

[jaymac]

Another great idea would be maybe to give each child a white belt to wear. They can earn stripes on belt for something they have achieved during your karate lessons. They will think this is cool and maybe you will inherit some new students once camp is over.

[Sohan]

I love the movie idea. I'm hoping we can borrow a TV rack from the local library, because we don't have a good one at the rec center.

Jaymac, I'd like to give the kid belts, but since they're not wearing gis, I'm worried it might look a bit odd. But it might be cool to present white belts to the students at the end of the week as an award for their hard work? What do you think?

With respect,

Sohan

[Aodhan]

I love the movie idea. I'm hoping we can borrow a TV rack from the local library, because we don't have a good one at the rec center.

Jaymac, I'd like to give the kid belts, but since they're not wearing gis, I'm worried it might look a bit odd. But it might be cool to present white belts to the students at the end of the week as an award for their hard work? What do you think?

With respect,

Sohan

I'd do it somewhat differently, I'd give them the belts at the beginning of the week, and give them a goal to shoot for, and use stripes on the belt as "progress" markers. It makes kids really try harder when the one next to them has two stripes and they don't have any. (Of course, the flip side is that the kids feel left out if 20 kids get stripes and 2 don't )

You could do something along the lines of "every kid that earns 5 stripes" during the week gets a free dobok and week of lessons, then make sure that every kid gets at least 5 stripes by the end of the week.

Another thing you can do that kids love is to hand out "good job" awards. We have 3" x 3" square colored papers with different sayings "Great attitude", "Excellent job", etc. When they get x number of papers, they can trade it in for lick and stick tattoos, or other similar low cost toys (Think skeeball tickets).

Oh, and just an FYI, we hashed this over on another board when discussing "movie night" at the dojangh. Technically it is broadcasting a movie for a group for money, which could be considered illegal since you aren't a movie house. Group of friends come over to watch a movie? Great, private showing. Karate group that paid to be there for the fun, and you show a movie? Technically a no no.

Aodhan