Over the past year, we have seen so many changes in our daily lives. We work from home, order online more, and virtually socialize with our family and friends through platforms like Zoom and FaceTime. The changes also extend to our kids with online classes, but summer camp is supposed to be about making new friends and trying new things. How can Brick Works bring the summer camp experience fully online so that your child still gets a great experience?
Interacting With Others Is Important For Mental Health
While it might not be the same, meeting new friends and trying new things virtually is important for mental health.
Kids have lost much of the ice breaking and awkwardness of meeting new people for the first time during their first days of summer camp. While this might sound like a good thing, those little first moments of seeing and meeting many new people can help develop social skills. Building these skills during the COVID-19 pandemic is vital. Kids have been stuck inside for so long with not much to do, so we feel that providing those moments of interacting with new kids and camp counselors can still help maintain the feeling of social exploration virtually. Making new friends and memories is the heart of what Brick Work's camp is all bout.
Developing Skills With Media Kids Have Fun With
Between video games, YouTube and music, kids already understand the biggest platforms on the internet.
With virtual camp, a significant difference is that since your child can't physically be with us and their fellow campers, we need to ensure that we base our courses on what kids already enjoy doing. That's why Brick Works we have many camp options in 2021, tailored to the kids' interests. Video games, YouTube and music, are some of the fastest-growing industries, and for a good reason.
With our designed camps around popular games like Fortnite and Minecraft, kids who love building and creating already online with friends can take the next step and learn from our expert counselor. Developing in these games can help lead to even more considerable interest in game design for the future. Most next-generation game developers will start by designing and building maps through games; (such as Fortnite and Minecraft) because they enjoy creating at a fundamental level.
Kids love watching YouTube already, so let's show them the skills it takes to become like their favourite YouTube creators. What about music? It changes drastically from generation to generation, so we here at Brick Works know how difficult it can be for parents to understand new music. So, we take experts in digital music and help kids get started, all from a single app on the iPad, GarageBand.
Catering For The Next Generation Of Hobbies That Can Have Career Paths
While we don’t want our camps to be about pushing kids on a career path (they are kids after all, it’s all about fun!), we want to show them the skills that can be fun and be helpful down the road.
If Brick Works turned back time ten years, many of these camps would be like full-time hobbies for kids. But with the pandemic moving jobs even further to online remote positions, kids can turn their interests and
hobbies into potential jumping spots to future jobs and careers. Here is a couple of examples of camps we provide that we couldn't even imagine being more than hobbies ten years ago.
Minecraft Builders Camp – This camp is for all kids who love to be creative and build anything they can imagine. From big cities to complex electrical grids, anything is possible in Minecraft, and all of these skills can be fun and creative.
Introduction to Photoshop & Graphic Design – Using your imagination and creating something new or taking something old and making it different is the heart of this camp. Both photoshop and graphic design are huge careers, with both expanding as we move more businesses online. If your child loves art and creating, this is just the online version of that.
YouTube Video Editing – What was once a way for people to share homemade videos is now big business. Video editing and managing a YouTube channel is challenging work, but the grind can have a big payoff if
done right. This camp can teach your kids the importance of building a brand for themselves and editing videos with style. Once you learn to video edit, there are so many paths you can take with those skills.
Learning To Balance Screen Time In The Summer
With so many screens your child can access, we want them to learn the benefits of a balanced lifestyle too.
We know how pleasant the weather is this time of year. We want kids to balance the time they spend learning with us online with the time they enjoy outside. With more of the world continuing to do everything online like school, jobs, and hobbies, we need to teach kids the value of finding balance with screens. While many of our camps are virtual, we are looking to teach kids the difference between learning while having fun online is not the same as mindless screen time. While we want kids to enjoy free time with friends online during the summer, we want to encourage them to get outdoors after the camp's end of the day. The importance of achieving a balance in learning time with screens and still going outside to play throughout the summer is a top priority.
We know that virtual camps are a significant change for many who enjoy sending kids to summer camps. We hope to show parents that their kids can learn and develop friendships through a summer camp that is all virtual and want to see more in-person camps return safely next year. Keep an eye open for updates surrounding our in-person camp openings by signing up for our newsletter here (newsletter signup is at the bottom of this page). Brick Works continues to explore all options to make camp and what your child already loves the same.