Voyagers (1st & 2nd Graders)
Mission: Create a summer experience for our families so exceptional that it creates campers for life!
At Pine Grove, the program grows with the campers. As they age, our campers gain access to new activities and greater challenges, and our Voyagers are no exception! Similar to the Pinecone program, the Voyager 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 1st grade are introduced to our Climbing Tower, Zipline, and Giant Swing as well as the game of GAGA (a Pine Grove tradition)! As they are entering 2nd grade, our campers have CLUB built into their schedules. CLUB is the period when the campers select the activity they would like to participate in; their CLUB selection lasts for that week and then the following week they are able to select another activity.
Voyager 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. Pine Grove counselors participate in all the activities right along with the campers, helping the specialists create and validate success opportunities for our campers.
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 air conditioned classrooms led by art teachers. At least once a week, our campers attend Ceramics, Music, Cooking, Drama, Nature, Dance, Digital Photography, Arts and Crafts, Computers, and more.
All of our Voyager Girl groups perform a Dance routine in our annual Dance and Drama Production. This is no small production! It is traditionally held the 6th week of camp in the evening at Pine Grove’s very own indoor theater, complete with professional sound and lighting!
Learn to Swim
At Pine Grove, our Learn-to-Swim Program is one of the cornerstones of the Pine Grove experience. Our aquatic facility is second to none! Our Voyagers enjoy our state of art 12,000 square foot Aquatic Complex built exclusively for our 3-8 year olds. Our Aquatic Complex 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 Voyagers 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.
Climbing Tower and Confidence Course
As a Voyager, Pine Grove campers are introduced to our Climbing Tower for the first time! We intentionally design the Voyager group schedules so they go to the Climbing Tower towards the end of the summer after they have visited our Confidence Course. The Pine Grove 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.
Social Development
The most magical aspect of camp is that children learn to get along with others in a group setting and in doing so become more confident and independent. While traveling 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. Pine Grove offers a caring environment where children learn the emotional and social skills necessary to succeed in life.