Juniors (3rd & 4th Graders)

Junior campers receive instruction in a variety of creative and athletic activities, swim twice a day (swim instruction in the morning and free swim in the afternoon), and are introduced to our more advanced activities, such as Archery, Mountain Biking, Skate Boarding, High Ropes, and much more for the first time! Adventurers also have CHOICE built into their schedule, allowing them to select which activities they would like to participate in more frequently and advance their skills.

Another privilege of being an Adventurer are Late Nights! For the Junior Late Night, we invite the Junior campers to stay late and have the run of the camp with a special dinner, extra swim, games, a special event and a twilight campfire complete with S’mores!

Junior Athletics

Our Adventurers are able to experience a wide variety of athletic activities on our full size fields. Once a week, Adventurer groups have Soccer, Football, Pickleball, Lacrosse, Archery, Basketball, Hockey, and more on their schedule. Athletic Specialists lead the activities, spending part of the period teaching a new skill and use the remaining time to play a game that emphasizes that new skill. Tamarack counselors participate in all of the activities right alongside the campers, helping the specialists create and validate success opportunities for our campers.

Bike Program

The Tamarack Bike Program is designed to meet the needs of every skill level. Our experienced instructors provide one-on-one attention allowing beginner bikers to gain the confidence they need. As their ability grows, the campers are lead on ride around camp, through obstacle courses and eventually on our mountain bike trails. Tamarack provides appropriately sized bikes and helmets.

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Creative Arts

Just imagine what your child can create in our air-conditioned Arts Studios. Your child will be exposed to a variety of artistic activities in air-conditioned classrooms led by art teachers. Our campers attend Ceramics, Music, Cooking, Drama, Nature, Camper vs Wild, Dance, Digital Photography, Jewelry Making, Video Editing and more at least once a week.

All of our Junior Girl groups perform a Dance routine in our annual Dance and Drama Production, which is no small production! It is traditionally held the 6 ^th week of camp in the evening at a local venue, complete with professional sound and lighting!

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Learn to Swim

Our Learn to Swim Program is one of the cornerstones of the Tamarack experience. Our state of the art aquatic facility is second to none! Juniors swim in our brand new, state of art Aquatic Facility build to meet the needs of beginner swimmers all the way up through accomplished competitive swimmers. We have the capability to start all of our swimmers in standing depth water and then move them into deeper water as their skills progress.

Every morning, our Juniors participate in a 40-minute swim lesson lead by our certified swim instructions with the assistance of their group counselors. Swim lessons are based on skill, not age, so we are able to challenge swimmers of all levels. We teach and train our own instructors every year and our coaching techniques are based not only on the American Red Cross but over 25 years of practical experience in getting children to learn how to swim. Adventurers return to the pools in the afternoon for free swim.

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Ropes Courses

Juniors are able to experience all of the Tamarack Ropes Courses. The Confidence Course is 5’ off the ground and allows campers to become comfortable on belay and traverse many of the same elements as our High Ropes Course. The Ropes Course boasts a 200’ Zipline, Horizontal & Vertical Climbing Walls, and a Giant Swing! The High Ropes course contains even more mid-air challenges.

Our ropes courses are inspected and certified for safety before each season by the same company that built them and daily by our certified ropes instructors, who also lead the groups through all of our ropes courses.

Choice

During Choice, campers are able to select an activity to participate in for the period during that week. Each week our campers can select a new Choice from an ever changing list of activities. In addition to the variety of athletic and creative activities, Juniors can also choose to have a role in our annual Drama Production or participate in a special Dance routine.

Social Development

Throughout the day, the campers in each group have to work together, communicate and support each other. The active role our counselors play creates an inclusive environment where campers learn to interact respectfully and communicate effectively with other campers and staff members. It is in these shared experiences that the group forms intense bonds and life-long friendships. Tamarack has zero tolerance for bullying and prides itself on providing a caring environment that allows children to learn the emotional and social skills necessary to succeed in life.