A Typical Day at Summer Camp Working as a Special Needs Camp Counsellor
Hey! I’m Sophia, I’m 22 and last summer I spent two months working in Ontario at a special needs camp.
Each camp’s schedule can be set up differently and so every day can be different at camp or follow a pattern. Depending on your role your day-to-day will vary, so this is just an example guide on what a typical day at camp looked like for me!
Morning routine
I normally would wake up at 7.40am (counsellors would wake up and get ready before getting the campers up). I’d text my family, get ready and then at 8.00am I helped my co-counsellors go round and say good morning to all our campers.
Once our campers were awake, we prompted everyone to get up, get dressed and get ready for breakfast. While my campers were getting ready, I usually filled out the activity sheet in our cabin which included all the activities the campers had for the day. This was super helpful for campers being able to visualise the day ahead, but also for us to know what everyone had and where they needed to go.
We would go to breakfast at 8.30am, an absolute favourite at camp was the French toast and maple syrup. When everyone finished eating, we would go back to the cabin to complete daily cabin chores and make sure our campers were ready for the day!
Activity 1, Activity 2 and Lunch
At 9.45am we would head to our first activity. Campers usually filled out a sheet at the start of each week with what activities they wanted to do. If I was helping out at tubing, I would go down to the ski-beach with the campers who had picked this activity. I would make sure all the campers had their life jackets on properly and helped campers get on the tube. Then, if one of my campers wanted me to go on the tube with them, I could join in which was super fun.
At 11.00am we would go to Activity 2, for example swimming. During swim we would usually go on the water trampoline, jump off the dock, and cool off in the water.
At 12.15pm we would go back to the cabin to get ready for lunch.
Rest hour, Activity 3 and Activity 4
Rest hour would be after lunch until 2.15pm. During rest hour some campers would stay in the cabin, and others would prefer doing something more active, like fishing or floor hockey.
Activity 3 would be after rest hour which may have been something like biking! Depending on how many campers we had, we would decide where to go, for example down camp road (which was 6km).
At 3.45pm we would have a snack, which could be a well-deserved ice cream after the long bike ride. Then we had Activity 4, for example Arts and Crafts. A&C was definitely my favourite activity to lead; the campers love making friendship bracelets!
Dinner, Evening Programme, Activity 5 and bedtime routine
At 5.30pm we would go back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. After dinner we would have an evening activity such as the weekly camp talent show which was always lots of fun, especially when the campers in my cabin performed!
At 8.00pm we had Activity 5, which was an hour where each cabin could choose what to do. For example if my campers wanted to go for a boat ride, we could take the ski-boat out, do some loops of the lake and watch the sunset.
Then it would be time for bed-time snack, and from 9.00-10.00pm we got everyone ready for bed. Some of our campers required more support than others with bed-time routines, so if needed, we supported campers individually with showering, brushing their teeth and getting ready for bed. Then we would play some card games and lights-out at 10.00pm.
Free time
After the campers went to sleep at 10.00pm, the counsellor would have free time For example, one night there was a staff “Boat and float” activity. It was pitch black and the stars were out, we got our swimming costumes and lifejackets on and one of the senior staff took us out on the boat into the middle of the lake! We would jump in (it was surprisingly warm) and float in the water looking up at the stars - it was one of the best experiences of my life!
So that is what one of my days as a camp counsellor looked like! Obviously this will vary with the camp you go to, but I hope this has been helpful in giving you an idea of what a day-in-the-life of a camp counsellor might look like.
It has been one of the best experiences of my life and I truly recommend taking that (slightly scary) first step on your journey to Canada. You won’t regret it.
