Summer camp counselors spend the summer planning and implementing activities for kids, guiding child behaviors, maintaining camp environments and promote social interactions among campers. Read on to learn more about summer camp counselor responsibilities, qualifications, desired skills, qualities and average pay rate.
Summer Camp Counselor Responsibilities
Planning Activities
A major part of a summer camp counselors job is developing daily activities. Depending on the structure of the summer camp, counselors may be assigned a weekly theme for programming, or they may need to develop their own.
Counselors plan craft activities, group games, STEM challenges, team building activities, and more. When planning for the week, counselors are encourage to use a variety of activities to build on interests and create new hobbies for kids.
Implementing Planned Activities
After a summer camp counselor plans the weekly activities, they then have to implement them. This means getting kids interested and excited about participating in the activity then guiding campers through the activity.
One important part of implementing activities is being flexible. Counselors need to be able to improvise when things do not go as planned. Kids may not be interested in the activities planned, or weather may affect the daily plan, in this case a counselor needs to have an alternative plan
Guide Child Behaviors
Typically, a group of children will paired with each counselor. A counselor needs to be able to address negative behaviors of the children in their care. A camp counselor who can build positive relationships with children will have an easier time dealing with challenging behaviors.
In addition to building relationships a camp counselor can curb undesired behaviors by keep children engaged in activities. When behaviors are disrupting activities to the point that it is making camp less enjoyable for others, the camp counselor can turn to a camp director for assistance.
Maintain Camp Environment
A less glamorous aspect of a camp counselors job, is maintaining the camp environment. Camp counselors ensure that camp is kept clean and every space is left in the same condition they found it in.
Promote Social Interactions between children
Summer camp is a great place for children to make lifelong friends. Part of a camp counselors job is to encourage appropriate social interactions. This includes get to know you games, team building games, cooperative challenges, and summer camp songs. All of these activities promote teamwork and togetherness.
What Qualities Make a Good Summer Camp Counselor?
There are five important qualities that make a good camp counselor: Patience, Caring, energetic, Flexible & detail oriented.
- Patience is a valuable skill when working with children. It is almost guaranteed that everyday a counselor will be dealing with unexpected behaviors, or setbacks. It is important that they practice patience and get things back on track.
- A camp counselor needs to be caring. This seems obvious, but it needs to be included in qualities for a good camp counselor. Counselors need to actually care about the kids they work with.
- Counselors need to be energetic. A day at summer camp be really draining, a good counselor will have the energy to keep going and keep kids engaged and interested in the activities.
- A good counselor is flexible. When things do not go as planned a counselor needs to improvise. Counselors are often face situations that require thinking on their toes and and be flexible with their plans and expectations.
- Camp counselors need to be detail oriented. Yes, I have mentioned above that counselors need to be flexible, they also need to be detail oriented. Attention to detail is an important aspect to being successful as a counselor. They need to know important details about the children they serve as well as plan in detail program activities.
What skills do you need to be a Summer Camp Counselor?
There are three important skills for a summer camp counselor, Leadership, communication, and problem solving.
- Leadership is a vital skill for summer camp counselors. Literally their job is to lead children in activities and social situations. The ability to successfully lead a group of children is pivot to the success of a counselor.
- Communication skills is an important skill for camp counselors. Camp staff need to be able to easily communicate to children and fellow staff members.
- Problem solving is another skill that camp counselors should possess. Counselors need to be able to deal with situations as they arise, and successfully defuse problems.
What Education do you need to be a Summer Camp Counselor?
Most camps require counselors have a high school diploma. Some camps, required counselors to have an associates degree or a bachelors in education, outdoor education, health or other related field. Some camps may require certain college credits.
First aid, CPR, and mandated reporter certification will are mandatory before camp starts. Depending on state regulations the camp will host 20-80 hours of training before the first day of camp. This is to guarantee staff receive adequate training for their positions.
At what age can you be a summer camp counselor?
Most states require that camp counselors are 18 years of age. Some camps may allow people younger, but in general to be a counselors you need to have a high school diploma and be 18 years of age. However, many camps offer a junior camp counselor program where kids ages 15-17 in a support role work to assist counselors.
What experience do you need to be a Summer camp counselor?
Summer camp counselors need to have experience working with children or in social services. Most people hired into a camp counselor have experience in childcare, education or in other positions within the summer camp field.
How much does a camp counselor make an hour?
According to PayScale.Com The average summer camp counselor makes between eight and fourteen dollars an hour and average $9.25. Many websites lead you to believe that camp counselors make $20,000- $36,000 dollars per year, this is misleading. Most camp counselors work for 9-12 weeks during the summer and make on average $9.25 per hour. So if you work 40 hours per week that equals $370 per week or $3330 – $4440 per summer.
