https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/imagine-child-tree-fertilize-unstructured-outdoor-play-character-development

Ask anyone who has attended a camp as a child or youth about his or her experiences and you will receive many different responses. Camp has many meanings because of the personal nature of the...

https://www.acacamps.org/research/help-camp-research/aca-research-forum

The 2025 Camp Research Forum will be held in conjunction with the American Camp Association National Conference, February 18-21, in Dallas, TX.

https://www.acacamps.org/about/get-involved/awards/eleanor-p-eells-award-excellence-evaluation-research

The Eleanor P. Eells Award for Excellence in Evaluation & Research is designed to honor programs in which camp professionals conduct or apply meaningful, quality research or evaluation to...

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/how-camps-include-character

ACA built a survey to learn more from the field about how character already shows up at camp. In this blog, we share results from the survey and what we are learning so far

https://www.acacamps.org/blog/everything-everywhere-all-once-how-summer-camps-help-emerging-adults

Growing up requires many important developmental stages and steps one must master. Camp can help.

https://www.acacamps.org/research/get-involved-camp-research

The ACA research team considers itself a hub that connects researchers and youth development professionals from a wide variety of organizations.  We are small but mighty! Read more about the...

https://www.acacamps.org/events-education/online-learning

ACA's online professional development offerings and services provide self-directed and learning experiences designed for youth development professionals working in camps, afterschool programs,...

https://www.acacamps.org/events-education/online-learning/online-course/trauma-informed-care-camp

DESCRIPTION:  In ACA’s 2017 Emerging Issues Report, the top issue facing camps is campers’ Mental, Emotional, and Social Health (Browne, Bialeschki & Wilson, 2017)....

https://www.acacamps.org/events-education/online-learning/recorded-webinar/avoiding-parent-trap-working-difficult-parents

Most camp parents are wonderful, but at every camp, there are a few who are some degree of difficult. From parents who demand special exceptions to parents who are wholly disengaged from their child'...

https://www.acacamps.org/events-education/online-learning/recorded-webinar/back-basics-creating-cohesive-staff-community

While this sounds so simple, why is it often so hard?  Community building is what camp is all about.  Yet, all of the ice-breakers and fun games in the world don’t guarantee that staff will...