Camps provide educational, recreational activities

Staff report

The YMCA of Youngs-town’s annual summer camp programs for children age 3 to 13 begin Monday at the Davis Family YMCA in Boardman off McClurg Road and at Austintown Middle School, 800 S. Raccoon Road.

The Y’s summer camp programs are designed to help children extend the learning, fun and character-building experience during the school year into the summer months, said Aaron Shields, youth and teen director at the Davis Family YMCA.

“Camp activities are designed to keep children’s minds and bodies active while nurturing the Y’s core values: caring, honesty, respect, responsibility and faith,” Shields said.

Last year, more than 400 campers participated in the Davis Family YMCA’s 10- and 11-week Day Camp, Camp Curiosity and Camp Neehi programs.

Day Camp is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday for campers between 6 and 13. The program is designed to engage the creative spirit of every child through a wide range of activities, including arts and crafts, swimming, outdoor adventure, summer learning loss prevention activities, and weekly field trips.

Camp Curiosity, for campers 6 through 11, is 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and is an arts and science enrichment program that prevents summer learning loss through fun skills geared toward math, reading, history, and creative art activities, science experiments and outdoor activities and swim time.

Camp Neehi is 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for campers 3 through 5. The enrichment program designed for preschoolers offers arts and crafts, science, games, story time, outdoor adventures and swim time.

For the first time, the Davis Family YMCA is offering a six-week summer day camp for children 6 through 13 at Austintown Middle School, also starting Monday. The six-week program includes breakfast and lunch, weekly field trips, weekly swim day, outdoor adventure and summer learning fun.

The registration deadline for all camps is the Friday before the week children plan to attend. Camp brochures and registration information can be found at www.youngstownymca.org. Registration can be completed online or in person at Davis Family YMCA, 45 McClurg Road, Boardman.