How Camp Curious works
(It’s not rocket science, but it’s a science.)
What to do ASAP
Buy your camp tickets soon—they’re going fast!
Decide which weeks you want to attend the camp, or treat yourself to the deal of the summer: a Camp Curious All-Summer Pass. That’s over 150 hours of live instruction and counselor supervision for only a few dollars per hour. You can see the dates and availability for all sessions here.
Scholarships available
Curious has established a Camp Curious Scholarship Fund to ensure that families from all socio-economic backgrounds can enjoy the benefits of Camp Curious. If you think you might qualify, email scholarship@curious.com
Select your camper’s afternoon track
Morning agendas at camp are the same for all campers: games, arts/crafts and STEM projects. But the afternoon session—focused on getting our campers up and exercising, outdoors if possible—is customized for three types of kids: serious soccer players, serious basketball players, and multi-sporty or less-sporty kids. The Multi-sport track will involve a sampler of sports, fitness, hip-hop dance, martial arts and other fun movement related games. You will need to choose your afternoon track when you register for camp.
PRO TIP: All-Summer Pass campers do not have to choose an afternoon track and can switch tracks from week to week, or even day to day when room is available.
Invite your friends, and make new ones
Once you have registered, make sure to invite your friends to join you at Camp Curious. For once, kids can attend camp with their far-away cousins or friends! During the sign up process you can specify up to three “buddies” you would like your camper to be grouped with when possible. Of course, don’t forget that part of the Camp Curious fun is to make new friends from around the world during this time of social isolation.
Save your Camp Curious tickets!
After you are done with the registration process you will receive a ticket id for each week of camp you have purchased (or one All-Summer Pass ticket id. Save your ticket id’s as they will be your, um, ticket into each week’s session.
What to do the week before camp starts
Install the Camp Curious App
You can install the Camp Curious App any time after July 1st, 2020. In order to launch the app, you will need to enter your Camp Curious Ticket ID. The app won’t do much until the first day of your session, but some time the week before your camper’s agenda will show up. Make sure to test your Camp Curious connection before the first day of camp.
IMPORTANT: Campers may use any iOS or Android device to access Camp Curious sessions; or they may also participate using most web browsers.
Look for the Camp Curious Checklist email
The week before your camp session, you will receive a Camp Curious Checklist sent to the email you used to register. This email will go out no later than the Wednesday before your camp starts. It will include details about your camper’s sessions for the week, including any supplies you will need to complete certain projects. It will also include the lunch menu for the week.
Get any missing ingredients for optimal fun
There are no specialty items needed to participate in Camp Curious sessions, but projects may use inexpensive everyday items like soap, baking soda, crayons, paper plates, colored pencils, glue, duct tape, etc. Make sure you have all the household items included in the Checklist email and give yourself time to visit the grocery, drug or hardware store if necessary.
If you are choosing to participate in the lunch sessions you’ll need to get the ingredients for each day’s meal. They will be mostly inexpensive items that are easy-to-find at any major supermarket.
What to expect the first day of camp
Meet your “home room” counselor
Campers will be assigned to a “home room” counselor in a group of no more than fifteen. Campers will start the day, eat lunch, and finish the day with their home rooms. Home room counselors will also gather feedback from any other counselors your camper interacts with and provide a single point of contact for any issues, concerns or questions you have throughout the week.
Just start having fun—no meeting id’s or passwords
The Camp Curious app is a proprietary video meeting technology that doesn’t require any URL’s, Meeting ID’s or Passwords. Instead it loads your camper’s agenda when you first register, and then moves him/her from session to session each day seamlessly. Campers cannot turn off the camera or mic without closing the app. If your camper closes the app, or uses another one, or takes a bio break longer than a few minutes, a counselor will text you.
Lunch time is fun time
Lunch at Camp Curious is going to be deliciously fun. Guest chefs will be providing instruction each day on how to prepare a nutritious and yummy lunch in thirty minutes, leaving thirty more minutes to eat with your child and interact with their home room friends. Since we can’t supervise cooking from a distance, campers will not be allowed to participate in lunch preparation activities unless a parent is present.
Parents breathe easy (but keep an ear out)
Camp Curious isn’t as freeing for parents as a normal day camp, but then again it doesn’t cost as much (or take as long to drive to). The idea is that we can provide parents with a “mother’s helper” level of child care for a fraction of the price—but with professional instructors and attentive young adult counselors.
However, because we aren’t physically with your child, we ultimately can’t be responsible for their safety. Parents must be present in the same location at all times, and have visual or audial connection with the camper at all times during the day. That said, counselors will have “eyes on” your camper at all times during the day except for lunch (when parents are on duty but may join in our camp lunch experiences).
What you can expect from Camp Curious
A better growth mindset
Camp Curious is modeled on constructive and growth-mindset learning philosophies. That means, for much of the day, your camper will be trying to do things that are new or difficult for him/her. But at Camp Curious, trying and failing is half the fun. It’s how you learn new things, and get better at old ones. In other words, it’s how you grow.
A higher CQ
At Curious, we believe our intelligence is not measured by IQ or rote knowledge—but rather by how curious we are. We call it our CQ, or Curious Quotient. We believe a true education is the process of learning to be lifelong learners… to go through life gathering skills and experiences in different disciplines like wedges in a game of Trivial Pursuit. After a week of Camp Curious your camper will know what we mean!
A happy camper
Above all else, you can expect your Camp Curious camper to finish each day a little tired but a lot excited. We’re so confident that your camper will have fun, we’ve created the 100% Fun Guarantee. If your child completes two full days of Camp Curious and doesn’t want to continue, we’ll give you your money back.