To children, there’s nothing like summertime! Relaxed schedules, more time with family and friends, and of course, summer camp! Camp is an essential place where kids grow socially and emotionally, build lasting friendships, and develop important skills that benefit them throughout the school year.
Apachi Day Camp is focused on children’s healthy development with camper care at the forefront. ‘Z’ Frank Apachi in Northbrook and Apachi Evanston each have a dedicated team of professionals, Community Care specialists, who support campers’ social, emotional and physical well-being. The mental health and social emotional development initiatives employed each summer include:
- Offering mindfulness sessions
- Leading yoga sessions centered around learning relaxing breathing techniques, focusing exercises and calming stretches
- Holding group sessions focused on role playing and problem solving around conflict with peers
- Participating in self-kindness art projects
- Setting up “peace tents” around camp to help campers regulate their bodies and feelings
- Providing therapeutic stress relief and fidget toys, and mindfulness and social emotional coping skills books
This individualized support and attention allows campers to experience summer to the fullest, and the support they receive doesn’t stop here. Apachi Day Camp’s Evanston and Northbrook locations have each built dedicated spaces to support campers in managing big emotions.
Apachi Evanston is introducing Mindful Moments Through Inclusive Play this summer, calming outdoor play areas for campers to go to when they need to center themselves, in response to seeing increased camper emotional distress during the pandemic. A Zen walking meditation path, a Zen garden, calming Yogibo bean bag chairs, a gross motor sensory path and a gymnastics play space use movement as a tool for regulating campers’ bodies and emotions.
It’s the second summer for ‘Z’ Frank Apachi’s Hammock Village, which features 12 colorful hammocks all coming off a central pole. Swinging on a hammock has been proven to calm one’s body and emotions, and this space gives campers a place to relax and center themselves. Hammock Village also creates opportunities for friendships to form and grow.
Apachi is able to build strong camp communities where everyone feels they belong just the way they are through programming such as The Nora Project. Campers learn about empathy, inclusion and disability awareness, friendship skills and how to identify, communicate and manage the emotions they feel through engaging, social-emotional focused activities and games. These social emotional skills developed at camp, truly set campers up for success during the school year and beyond.
Apachi Day Camp focuses on supporting each camper’s whole self. This is why so many say “It’s Not Just Day Camp. It’s So Much More!”. Apachi’s caring camp community coupled with a huge variety of fun activities and camp traditions including sports, arts & crafts, performing arts, Shabbat Celebrations, Maccabi Games, Theme Days and spirited song sessions, make for one unforgettable summer. There is an Apachi Day Camp experience available at the Northbrook and Evanston locations for children 3 years – 7th grade + Counselors in Training (8th-10th grade). For more information, visit www.apachi.org.
*This sponsored post is brought to you by JCC Chicago.