At Tamarack, the program grows with the campers. As they age, our campers gain access to new activities and greater challenges, and our Explorers are no exception! Similar to the Munchkin program, the Explorer program focuses on developing skills in a variety of athletic and creative activities, improving their swimming skills, and continuing to develop their social and emotional intelligence. Campers entering the 1 st grade are introduced to our Climbing Tower, Zipline, and Giant Swing as well as the game of GAGA (a Tamarack tradition)! As they are entering 2nd grade, our campers have CHOICE built into their schedules. Choice is the period where the campers select the activity they would like to participate in; their CHOICE selection lasts for that week and then the following week they are able to select another activity. Explorer Athletics Our 1st and 2nd graders participate in smaller versions of traditional sports. We use smaller fields and courts with age appropriate equipment. This allows our campers to experience success while learning the basics of the games. Athletic Specialists who lead the activities are trained to spend part of the period teaching a new skill and use the remainder of that period to play a game that emphasizes that new skill. Tamarack counselors participate in all the activities right along with the campers, helping the specialists create and validate success opportunities for our campers. Visit our website to learn More about Tamarack Athletics Creative Arts Just imagine what your child can create in our air-conditioned arts studios. Your child will be exposed to a variety of artistic activities in our classrooms led by art teachers. At least once a week, our campers attend Ceramics, Music, Cooking, Drama, Nature, Dance, Digital Photography, Jewelry Making, Computers, and more. All of our Explorer Girl groups perform a Dance routine in our annual Dance and Drama Production, which is no small production! It is traditionally held the 6 th week of camp in the evening at a local venue, complete with professional sound and lighting! ( Click here to learn more about our Dance and Drama Production ) Visit our website to Learn More about Tamarack Creative Arts Learn to Swim At Oak Crest, our Learn-to-Swim Program is one of the cornerstones of the Tamarack experience. Our aquatic facility is second to done! Our Explorers enjoy our brand new, state of art 12,000 square foot Pool. Our Aquatic Facility has water depths starting at 1 foot all the way up to 6 feet deep so we are able to start all of our swimmers in standing depth water and then move them into deeper water as their skills progress. Every morning, our Explorers participate in a 40-minute swim lesson lead by our certified swim instructions with the assistance of the group counselors, and in the afternoon, the groups return for free swim. Swim lessons are based on skill, not age, so we are able to challenge swimmers of all levels. We teach and train our own instructors every year and our swim techniques are based not only on the American Red Cross but over 25 years of practical experience in getting children to learn how to swim. Visit our website to Learn more about the Tamarack Aquatic Program. Climbing Tower and Confidence Course As an Explorer, Tamarack campers are introduced to our Climbing Tower for the first time! We intentionally design the Explorer group schedules so they go to the Climbing Tower towards the end of the week after they have visited our Confidence Course. The Tamarack Confidence Course contains many of the same challenges as our High Ropes Course but it is only 5 feet off the ground so our campers are able to become comfortable with being on belay and traversing the elements while still close to the ground. Our ropes courses are inspected before each season by the same company that built the courses and daily by our certified ropes instructors, who also lead the groups through all of our ropes courses. Visit our website to Learn More about the Tamarack Ropes Courses Social Development The most magical thing about camp is that children learn to get along with others in a group setting and in doing so become more confident and independent. While travelling from activity to activity, the group will also work on building friendships, working together, sharing, and learning to interact in a respectful way with other campers and staff. Tamarack offers a caring environment where children learn the emotional and social skills necessary to succeed in life.