IGNITE SUMMER CAMPS

While other countries value and highlight empathy & gratitude based programming in their schools, the United States is slow to catch up. Studies show that practicing gratitude can actually make people feel happier. Our kids are engulfed in screens and technology, but are losing the basic abilities to connect and communicate. We created Ignite to balance children’s lives. We wanted to create a spark again, and awaken our campers up to a world of opportunity and self love. This is where your children come to recharge after a year of stress. We will teach them how to be mindful, how to be in tune with their surroundings, and how media influences their behaviors.

Ignite is a summer camp for kids in 3rd through 7th grade. Unlike other camps, our main focus is to teach 6 emotional touchstones to our campers in every ounce of our programming. These touchstones include gratitude, empathy, active listening & communication, empowered inclusion, & self love. Our mornings are filled with workshop and projects that emphasize this important learning foundations.

Activities range from podcast creations, hip hop workshops, live looping stations, drum circles, vision boarding and non profit partner opportunities. Afternoons are spent allowing your child to choose the activity of their choice in a field trip, STEM, Creative Arts, or Outdoor Team Game. Each week, campers will take an excursion to either kayaking, stand up paddling, rock climbing, or bowling. All of our activities are put in the curriculum with intention, and are meant to inspire discussion, inner reflection, and increase growth mindset.

CHECK OUT OUR CAMPS LISTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.

EARLY BIRD RATE UNTIL APRIL 1ST! HURRY LIMITED SPOTS! $140 PER WEEK!

Camp Information:

There are 8 individual camp sessions. Each are listed below with dates and details. Camp sessions are Monday - Friday. We start promptly at 8:00am and end at 4:30pm. An aftercare program is available until 5:45pm for an additional fee. If your child(ren) are not picked up by 4:40pm (5:55 for aftercare), you will be charged a Late Pick Up Fee of $5 per 10-minute increment, per child. Late Pick Up Fees must be paid by drop off the following business day with cash or check.

Cost & Cancellation Policy:

The Early Bird Rate is $140 per camp until April 1, 2020. After April 1, 2020, each camp session is $165 per week. Aftercare for additional care from 4:30 to 5:45 PM is an additional $25 per week. Please check out our Camp Cancellation Policy for our refund policy.

Meals & Snacks :

Campers must bring their own morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack. CAMP IS A NUT FREE ZONE.

Location & Check-in :

We are located in downtown Madison, Wisconsin, with convenient curb-side drop off and pick up at 101 N. Carroll Street. Camp Staff will be present from 8:00-8:30am and 4:00-4:30pm, and will sign your child(ren) in and out at your car. State issued Identification is required for pick up/drop off.

Camp Fearless Dreamers

A camp to ignite your child’s wildest dreams and aspirations - June 22 - June 26

This camp centers around our campers’ dreams and aspirations. We will touch into their creative spirits and help them realize that creativity is not about being perfect, but about persistence. We will study the works of fearless dreamers who came before us and tell their stories by creating skits to share as groups. Campers will have a series of workshops and activities where they will use music, writing or artwork to dare to dream about who they will become. We will have a hip hop inspired workshop for the kids to really get in tune with their inner self confidence. Campers will end the week making vision boards and creating a plan to follow their dreams into the next year.

Camp Gratitude

A camp to ignite the grateful spirit of your child. - July 6 - July 10

There have been numerous studies that have shown that the practice of gratitude can create happier and more optimistic children. The practice of gratitude can increase engagement in schoolwork and hobbies, turn into higher grade output, and decrease depression, materialism and entitlement. So, how can we foster more gratitude in children? All of our camps do daily appreciation journaling, but we wanted to take this idea a step further this week. We will create pages for a Gratitude Scrapbook focusing on different areas of a child’s life. We will create a drum circle where we also intertwine messages of self love and positivity. Campers will spend time delving into deep topics about the weight of baggage each of us holds and how we can help support our peers in times of need. Children will create a variety of different gratitude jars or boards to bring home to continue their practice as a family.

Camp Diversity & Inclusion

Camp Changemakers

Camp IRL Communication

Camp Love Your Light

Camp Climateers

Camp Empathy

A camp to ignite the inclusive spirit of your child. - July 13 - July 17

Join us for a week of camp that celebrates the many different faces of Madison’s cultural communities. This week we will dive into topics of race, discrimination, inclusion and empathy. We will meet community leaders from all different backgrounds including but not limited to Hmong, African American, Asian, and deaf communities. Campers will be divided into small groups and be tasked to create a podcast episode on their interview subject. Groups will have workshops on interview techniques and showcase their active listening skills in this weeklong project. We will discuss & roleplay ways to reach out to those who are different from us and end the week writing a rap about diversity and inclusion as a group!

A camp to ignite the spirit of community movement building in your child. - July 20 - July 24

We are going to take to the streets to create change in our community. We will coordinate a fundraising campaign for a local non profit and learn the effective ways to run a fundraising initiative by running our own lemonade stand downtown. Campers will also break into groups to focus in on different area non-profits that have a focus on helping kids. Kids will produce a short skit that addresses their chosen non-profit’s goals. The skits will be recorded on video for the students to edit and present to their non profit. Campers will learn how non-profits work and the importance of fundraising. Campers will use group brainstorming to discuss other ways they can support area non profits and clubs at their schools. This camp is a great precursor for any child interested in applying for our annual Powerhouse Board.

A camp to ignite your child’s active listening skills. - June 22 - June 26

This week will focus on teaching kids the now forgotten art of communication. We want to remind them that relationships are built on love, empathy, and compassion. We will test our knowledge on how to be an active listener, and showcase ways to show patience, compassion and empathy through community service. We will learn how others communicate and explore an immersion experience where we will see what it is like to be deaf or hard of hearing for a morning. Students will participate in a sign language workshop. We will work on a week long project where campers will interview a volunteer Senior from the Madison Senior Center. They will create a podcast highlighting their interview subject and their lives. Every afternoon we will play a variety of communication games and learn the importance of the act of noticing. We will brainstorm ways to be more active in our approaches with peers and learn common etiquette in regards to communication.

A camp to ignite self esteem & self confidence in your child. - June 22 - June 26

Too often, kids are confronted by media and peers with ideas of who they need to be. We wanted to combat the pressure by creating a camp that celebrates each child’s inner light. Our week will be a mix of traditional camp games and powerful projects meant to help harness the power of intentional positive inner dialogue. To start the week, campers will find their voice using a variety of different mediums. We will take a field trip to Chazen Art Museum to develop our ekphrastic poetry sides. We will also go on a self love scavenger hunt. We will take photos on this self discovery walk of different items that represent our self image. Campers will create art pieces to identify how to defeat media messages on their self worth and expected norms. As with all our camps, kids will have a choice to do a STEM project, art project, or Scratch Computer Programming lab in the afternoons. Unlike other camps that only focus on one skill development, we incorporate a variety of interests in a week of camp. It’s our goal to appeal to a wide variety of kids and to create space that allows for inclusion. We’ll end our days with a daily appreciation journaling session.

A camp to ignite the spirit of environmental awareness in your child. - Aug 17 - Aug 21

Climate change is a very real and will have a huge impact on our future generations. We will look to local solutions to help create change for our future. After meeting area non profit leaders, we will explore ways we can make a greener & more cherished Madison. We will be highlighting the Madison Senior Center’s beekeeping program and speaking to a local beekeeper. Kids will go on a pollinator plant scavenger hunt and earn a pizza party! The kids will make projects of ways they can make a difference in their own homes and create a collage to help their families learn ways they can make better choices. Campers will make reusable grocery bags out of old t-shirts to bring home. Finally, we will end the week learning about fair trade by talking to local shop owners, and responsible and conscious shopping.

A camp to ignite the giving and understanding spirit of your child. - Aug 24 - Aug 28

Empathy is defined as being able to understand others’ feelings. Kids these days are not able to have the social connections that preceded a time where technology was so prevalent. We want to help rectify that situation by focusing in on what connects us. Studies show that chlidren with higher levels of empathy can perform better in school, have more engagement in the classroom, improve communication skills and increase social behavior. Children can increase their emotional literacy by recognizing the feelings of others and this can even cause them to score higher academically and be more resilient. Throughout the week, we will learn about ways other people from around the world live and creating dioramas of different bedrooms of children around the world. We will do a choose your adventure life choice game where you work in pairs to live in the life of another person and discuss how we can be kinder to our peers. We will also play a variety of games and create skits where we roleplay bullying situations and intervention techniques.