With the autumn chill in the air, we’re looking back at warmer days and a summer full of learning, exploration, and adventure at HFH Summer Day Camps.
From swimming lessons and museum visits to music, art, sports, and themed celebrations, kids at Allie’s Place, Prospect, and Saratoga Family Residences enjoyed a wide range of activities throughout the summer. Each week brought new opportunities for day campers to discover interests, develop skills, build friendships, and explore new places.
Camp days began with Morning Rally, where everyone came together for movement, songs, and announcements before heading into the day’s activities. Throughout the week, campers rotated through arts and crafts, dance, sports, outdoor recreation, and group games led by camp staff and activity specialists.
Whether painting with friends, practicing new dance moves, or competing in a lively game of musical chairs, the kids had plenty of opportunities to stay active, get creative, and spend time together.
“I like when we go to the park, and do lots of arts and crafts,” one camper shared.
Weekly themes brought an extra layer of creativity to camp activities. During Spy Week, campers at Prospect put their detective skills to the test, crawling and climbing through a maze of yarn “laser beams” and learning how to identify different fingerprint patterns by examining their own prints.
The summer also included some out-of-season celebrations! For Christmas in July, Prospect campers welcomed a special visit from Santa, created holiday art, and received presents under the tree. At Saratoga, campers celebrated with hot cocoa, cookie decorating, a festive pizza party, and gifts. A few weeks later, Saratoga’s Summerween celebration brought costumes and trick-or-treating through the building, with staff members joining in on the festivities.
Community partners also brought new experiences directly to camp. Through weekly Afro-Latin percussion classes with Belongó at Allie’s Place and Prospect, the kids learned about traditional instruments and their origins while exploring music and rhythms from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and beyond.
Other special visits included STEM experiments with Drizzle Weather, dance classes with DMF Youth, and theater activities with TADA! Youth Theater. During Superhero Week, NYPD Community Affairs officers visited Allie’s Place and Prospect, answering campers’ questions about their work and introducing them to youth programs and opportunities within the department.
One of the summer’s most anticipated activities was swimming. Each week, campers at Allie’s Place and Prospect attended lessons at Goldfish Swim School, while Saratoga campers visited Saf-T-Swim.
For some, it was their first time learning to swim. Others had the opportunity to strengthen their existing skills. Lessons emphasized water safety, swimming techniques, and building confidence in the water, with free swim afterward giving everyone time to enjoy the pool with their friends.
Jaydeliz, one of the campers, shared some of the skills she learned and her favorite parts of the summer:
“Swimming has been fun, we have been learning a lot of skills. We learned how to do a backstroke and freestyle. Also drumming class. Overall, the trips have been really good.”
Beyond the pool, field trips took campers to destinations throughout New York City and beyond. The kids explored wildlife and habitats at the Bronx and Queens Zoos, learned about history and science at the Intrepid Museum, and took on climbing courses and outdoor challenges at TreEscape Adventure Park.
Campers also experienced theater through TADA!, explored the outdoors with Urban Park Rangers, and enjoyed opportunities to discover new places and activities outside of their everyday surroundings.
For Za’liah, a camper at Allie’s Place, the trip to the TADA! theater was especially memorable.
“It was a new experience for me. I never went to a play before. I liked how they were acting and how the play went. It was cool … it was amazing. I want to act more. I want to be an actress.”
HFH Summer Day Camps brought together familiar summer favorites and opportunities to try something new. Whether learning to swim, discovering a new interest, or spending an afternoon outdoors with friends, campers had a summer filled with opportunities to learn, play, explore, and grow.
