Adventure Summer Camps: Adventure camps and summer camps with adventure activities within a broad summer camp program

Adventure Summer Camps

  1. Canoeing and Kayaking
  2. Caving
  3. Challenge Course
  4. Hiking and Backpacking
  5. Mountain Biking
  6. Primitive Skills
  1. Rock Climbing and Rappelling
  2. Sailing
  3. SCUBA
  4. Whitewater Canoeing and Kayaking
  5. Whitewater Rafting
  6. Wilderness Tripping

Adventure Summer Camps

Summer wasn’t meant for sitting on the couch. Help your children stay active and explore the outdoors by giving them the opportunity to attend an adventure camp this season. Going out into nature with a group of peers is good for your health, builds valuable social skills, and creates lifelong memories you just won’t get from your living room.

What exactly is an adventure camp?

All summer camps are an adventure in one way or another, but specifically, outdoor adventure camps focus on developing skills, building confidence, and promoting individual growth through activities and challenges in natural environments. Classic camp pastimes like hiking and kayaking fall under the adventure camp category, as do challenge courses, wilderness tripping, and learning primitive survival skills.

If your kids can handle more excitement, adventure camps centered on mountain biking, rock climbing, or whitewater rafting kick the thrills up a notch. Outdoor camps aren’t all rivers and hills, of course—there are also coastal and lakeside camps for sailing and scuba diving.

Whatever the activity, adventure camps strive to expand a child’s boundaries with an emphasis on learning, team building, overcoming challenges, and improving skills. The ultimate goal is to encourage your child’s personal growth and build their self-confidence.

Are adventure camps good for all ages?

While an individual camp might not be appropriate for every age, there are more than enough different adventure camps for kids, teens, and adults to find the right environment for them. Think carefully about the activity each camp specializes in and whether it’s a good fit for your child—more strenuous ventures like rock climbing might be too much for young kids, for example, but there’s sure to be another camp where they can have fun at a comfortable pace.

Search for Adventure Summer Camps

Now’s the time to start looking at adventure camps for the upcoming summer season. With our camp finder, your family can search by activity, location, or program type (residential, day camptravel, etc.) to find a list of the different outdoor camps for children, teens, or adults in your area. When your family discovers the ideal camp, you’ll see that leaving the sofa for a summer of adventure is truly a breath of fresh air.

Featured Camps

YMCA Camp Foss Residential girls' summer camp

Strafford, New Hampshire

(603) 232-8642 Website
*Oak Acres Children's Camp Residential coed summer camp

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

(902) 368-3727 Website
Red Pine Camp for Girls Residential girls' summer camp

Minocqua, Wisconsin

(952) 270-0579 Website
Martha's Vineyard Ocean Academy Wilderness adventure - United States

Vineyard Haven Harbor

(508 )560-2387 Website
YMCA Camp Surf Coed Camp with Residential & Day Camp Sessions

Imperial Beach, Southern California

(619) 423-5850 Website