Our Day Camp Program

With over 50 years of experience in personalized growth and outdoor adventure at Colvig Silver Camps, we have designed a day camp consistent with our core values. Our program focuses on our players’ physical, social, and emotional connections with themselves, each other, and the world around them.

FUN is our medium, and our 600 acre site is our playground. From our basecamp tent, our players embark on one-week adventures that include various activities, around camp and on the adjacent San Juan National Forest:

• Group problem solving at our challenge course
• Swimming and boating at our lake
• Learning basic care and horseback riding at our arena
• Climbing at our 40’ climbing wall
• Shooting at our dedicated archery range
• Exploring our valley by trail or by creek.

What further makes our program unique is the addition of a significant free-play component. To steal a phrase,
“Play is the business of childhood.” Currently, we often hear and see that “business” is not good. Recognizing this condition, our quest for deeper developmental value in our summer experience leads us to a model where we take advantage of every available chance to help our players self-guide their adventure.

The additional focus on free-play allows dynamic opportunities for players to grow. It is an active and intentional return to one of the primary ways that children learn how to learn. In the “Clinical Report on The Importance of Play,” the American Academy of Pediatrics lists the many benefits of free-play for children:

• Healthy cognitive development
• Use of creativity and expansion of imagination
• Practice with decision-making skills
• Increases in confidence
• Development of social skills in learning to share and resolve conflicts
• Interaction with the world around them

Our free-play model, the connections that we strive for, and the ability to individualize the experience for every camper, are all enabled by a higher level of attention that we provide with a 4:1 camper to staff ratio, a group size limited to 16 players, and a carefully selected staff. As our players journey through the day, our approach and our 4 staff provide them ample time to let their imaginations roam and explore in different individual directions, even within the scheduled activities. By facilitating a process of discovery and opportunity, rather than dictating a curriculum, our players’ choices become an integral part of each day’s adventure.

In this manner they connect, they explore, and they grow, by returning to what we know is one the best things for them to do in the summer,

Daily Schedule

Each session provides endless opportunity to inspire the players’ imagination and guide their wonderings and wanderings within that session’s structured activities, thus making every session its own unique journey. A typical day in camp:

• 8:30 arrival and check in with a song, joke, or thought of welcome to initiate the day’s adventure.
• A morning activity, maybe a horseback ride, that turns into a knighting ceremony, or a slosh in the creek where they discover how to make face paint from colored rocks.
• An activity following lunch, maybe a hike to a rock outcropping with plenty of space to create an imaginary playground or an afternoon of arts and crafts under a shady tree.
• 3:00 pickup after an end of the day reflection period discussing what went well, what they would want to explore more, and what they might want to share with family on the way home.
• The last afternoon of every session is a time to celebrate with Popsicles and Performances! We’ll celeberate the session with songs, skits, poems, and activities and share a special snack!