Summer camps offer more than just fun
Beyond entertainment and supervision, summer camps help children stay active and maintain a healthy weight during the holidays.
Key Findings
- Kids who attend summer camps for at least 5 days move more and sit less during the holidays compared to those who don't, leading to healthier habits when school is out.
- The more kids show up at camp, the better the results — those with the highest attendance rates see the biggest improvements in their body mass index (BMI).
- While camps encourage kids to be more active, they don't seem to change overall fitness levels or affect what children eat and drink.
- Camps generally show positive effects, but those specifically designed for children with overweight or obesity and focused on weight loss show even stronger health benefits.
Source*
Eglitis, E., Singh, B., Olds, T. et al. Health effects of children’s summer holiday programs: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 21, 119 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-024-01658-8
*All evidence briefs are informed by one or more peer reviewed research studies. All study publications used to inform this article are listed at the bottom of this brief with links.
What's this about?
During the holidays, families often struggle to maintain the regular activities and regulated meal schedules that teachers and school timetables offer.
Summer holiday camps can boost children's health while also giving them a chance to make new friends and learn new skills during a critical but often overlooked time of year for their well-being.
Childhood obesity is a growing concern worldwide, and many young people aren’t getting the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity.
During the school year, children benefit from structured activities and regular mealtimes. However, families often struggle to maintain similar routines during the holidays, which can lead to less healthy habits.1
Health professionals believe camps could play a crucial role in reducing children’s sitting time and prevent the excess weight gain often associated with the summer months.
To explore this, and examine what health benefits camps actually offer, researchers from the University of South Australia looked at 10 studies from the United States, the UK, Belgium, and Japan.2
They discovered that children who attend at least 5 days of summer camp are slightly more active and have small but noticeable improvements in their body fat percentage and BMI compared to kids who don’t attend camps.
While health gains are seen across different ages and backgrounds, children who attend more frequently reap the greatest benefits.
Interestingly, camps don’t seem to affect how many calories kids consume or the nutritional quality of their diet, nor do they improve ‘cardio-respiratory fitness’ levels — how long children can exercise without tiring.
Additionally, programmes that focus on specific goals and groups, like camps designed for weight management in children with overweight or obesity, show the strongest impacts.
The researchers emphasise the need to increase access to camps among low-income families, and call for investment into policies that support year-round healthy lifestyles, recognising that children's health is influenced by the entire calendar year, not just the academic one.
Research Toolkit
What do you need to know about this study?
Key findings
- CAMPS CURB SITTING TIME
- Camps help kids sit less. Highlighting the health benefits to local councils and community organisations could encourage greater investment in summer programmes for children.
- PROGRAMMES PROMOTE MOVEMENT
- Camps encourage more movement. They help children get the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity when structured opportunities like PE, brain breaks, and ‘energisers’ provided by schools are no longer available.
- ATTENDANCE BOOSTS BENEFITS
- Higher attendance leads to greater health benefits. You could encourage participation by informing families about local, affordable programmes, considering student interests and opportunities that cover significant portions of the school break.
- HEALTHY WEIGHT MAINTENANCE
- Camps contribute to healthy weight maintenance, potentially through regulated mealtimes and structured opportunities for active play and other physical activities.
What else
- FITNESS FOCUS
- Researchers think that typical summer camps might not be long or intense enough to see improvements in this area. Camps with specific health goals should consider the design and length of their activities on offer.
- DIET DESERVES ATTENTION
- Camps don’t seem to have an impact on children’s diet, and more research is needed on how this can be improved. In the meantime, camp providers can talk with students and parents to understand how they can support balanced, healthy meals.
- THINKING BIGGER
- While beneficial, camps should be just one part of the community that promotes healthy living. For instance, children should be able to safely walk, cycle, or scoot to activities, so they can stay active even after the camp day ends.
- TAILORED INTERVENTIONS WORK
- Providers should design camps that cater to varied interests, hobbies, and accessibility needs. Targeted programmes can achieve health goals when designed for specific groups of children.
Related Topics
- School holidays
- Summer
- Summer camp
- Diet
- Physical activity
- Obesity
- Fitness
Research Sources
1. School Health Pulse, 2024. ‘Return to school provides lift for student activity levels’; 2. Eglitis et al., 2024.
