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Often, winter is dark, long, and boring. Locating fun and exciting things to engage in during this time can be an arduous task. What’s more, the short days and extreme cold weather during this season result in unhealthy habits. These include leading a sedentary lifestyle, overeating, and oversleeping. Still, there are various fun things that children can engage in during winter sleep away camp. Find out some of the exciting things you and your children can engage in during winter.
Outdoor Activities for Winter
- Sledding
- Going for a winter hike
- Ice skating
- Building snow fort
- Building snowman
- Engaging in downhill cross-country skiing
- Snow tubing
- Ice fishing
- Snowshoeing
- Playing pond hockey
- Stargazing
- Snowboarding
Indoor Activities for Winter
When the weather conditions become unbearable, children will be forced to stay indoors and engage in indoor related activities. These include;
- Learning craft making
- Engaging in cooking lessons
- Selecting online workout videos which students can engage in
- Visiting an indoor water park
- Reading at least one book per day
- Engaging in indoor swimming
The Importance of Cultural Diversity
Culture is all about the things that; shape us and our identity and influence human behavior. It’s the way of human beings. Culture can be defined as the shared values, beliefs, norms, language, material objects, and behaviors that are dispensed from one generation to the other.
Understanding Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is also known as multiculturalism. It’s described as a set of behaviors and beliefs that acknowledge, and respect the existence of diverse organizations or groups. A winter camp is a classic example of areas where cultural diversity applies.
Here, students from different countries, racial and religious backgrounds converge at the camp and engage in various activities. Children attending winter camp will learn various things about cultural diversity. These include;
- Acknowledging the plentiful diversity of cultures
- Supporting the contribution of diverse groups
- Respecting each other’s differences
- Appreciating what other cultures have to offer
- Celebrating each other’s differences to accomplish unity in diversity
- Recognizing the effectiveness of cultural contributions and expressions
- Allowing students to bolster themselves and encourage others to accomplish their ultimate potential by analyzing their biases.
- Importance of Cultural Diversity
Cultural diversity is critical because schools, workplaces, and countries, in general, comprise of different racial, cultural, and ethnic groups. Children engage and learn from one another. Children will still need a certain level of understanding of each other.
This will expedite cooperation and collaboration. By learning about other cultures, campers will understand various aspects around the world, and dismiss the personal biases and negative stereotypes about various groups.
Snowboarding and Skiing Safety Tips for Campers
Snowboarding and skiing are some of the popular winter activities you can engage in during a winter camp in Verbier, Switzerland. There are numerous risks involved in these activities and both adults and children are injured while engaging in these activities. Here are some facts about snowboarding and skiing you should know.
- Downhill skiing and snowboarding are among the top injury causes emanating from winter-related activities
- There’s a growing concern in the number of spinal cord and brain injuries resulting from snowboarding and skiing related injuries across the world.
- Beginners are highly likely to get injured during their first day of skiing along the slopes
How to be Safe while Engaging in Winter Activities
Safety begins with having the right equipment. Wear the right gear such as goggles, a helmet, snowboarding wrist guards, and a helmet. Helmets are critical when it comes to skiing. It reduces the risk of head injury in campers and this is why your child should always wear a good quality snowboarding and skiing helmet.
Proper use of helmets can prevent severe head injuries. Guides and supervisors at the skiing site should set an example by wearing a helmet. This allows the children to know the importance of staying safe. When choosing a helmet for your child’s winter camp, ensure they fit properly. Ensure the helmet you choose has a certification to guarantee quality and excellent performance.
The helmet design has evolved over the years with various innovations such as; better protection and enhanced fit adjustment. Modern-day helmets come complete with technology which reduces crash impact from any angle or direction. With these improvements, helmets have become more user-friendly. This means that your child should be able to wear one with minimal struggle.
Teach your child how to inspect their equipment before they go on a skiing escapade. Remember, some injuries happen as a result of poorly adjusted bindings. Your child should know how to adjust snowboards and skis to their correct skiing ability and weight.
· Avoid Borrowing Equipment
If your child doesn’t own skiing equipment, the best thing you can do is rent equipment from a reputable resort or ski shop. For instance, ensure that boots fit well and that their bindings are properly adjusted. Here are more tips to help your child stay safe while out on a winter sleep away camp.
· Adhere to the Snowsports Highway Code
The International Ski Federation has come up with 10 rules of snowboarding and ski conduct. These are rules are as legally binding as road rules are to car drivers. Both adult and young skiers should be conversant with these rules before heading to the slopes. As a skier, one of the rules you need to abide by is to modify your speed and skiing level to the overall conditions and your ability. It’s worth remembering that the snowboarder or skier at the front always has the priority.
· Understand how to Avoid Collisions
Snowboarders and skiers should survey and get conversant with the surroundings. If you are a skillful snowboarder or skier, you may want to take more time to evaluate the area. One of the main causes of collision during skiing is doing it uncontrollably. Skiers who don’t look upwards before setting off are likely to collide with other skiers. Both snowboarders and skiers should inspect the way to ensure it’s clear before setting off.
· Be Honest About Your Ability
Poorly adjusted ski bindings contribute to many knee and leg injuries. The applicable DIN (Deutsches Institut für Normung) setting is a complex equation of ability, age, weight, and height. Always be honest with these three factors when getting you or your child fitted. Further, you should know your child’s weight in pounds and kilos.
· Be on the Lookout for Ice
If your children will be skiing in rocklike packed snow, ensure your child’s skis are appropriately tuned. A qualified shop technician should also sharpen the edges. If you are conversant with the process however, you can go ahead and do it yourself.
As snowboarders and skiers make their way through the snow, they end up leaving large sections of ice. While experienced skiers can navigate through these edges, beginners should stick along the powdered snow.
· A Body Armour will come in Handy
Is your child an adventurous skier or snowboarder? If this is the case, they may want to engage in freestyle snowboard and ski talent during their winter camp competitions. Often, this will involve performing various tricks off the piste’s edge. The more adventurous skiers will be more interested in hitting the terrain park. In this case, you should ensure your child has a spine protector. This should be as lightweight as possible.
· Exercise Caution while Skiing Off Piste
Amid warnings, many skiers will often ski away from the recommended runs without seeking assistance from a qualified guide. Do so in extreme snow conditions can be overly risky. During the onset of snow, however, you will still need to be on the lookout for rocks and tree stumps.
Whether your child is experienced or a beginner, skiing along a broken glacial terrain without a local guide can be risky. According to Henry Schniewind, an avalanche expert, stopping people from off-piste can be an arduous task. It’s for this reason that there should be guides to help skiers recognize the risky areas.
· Pack the Necessary Kit Ideal for Off Piste Skiing
Campers who choose to ski off-piste will need the following essential items. These include; a shovel, a collapsible three-meter probe, and an avalanche receiver. Further, they should understand how to use them. Experts recommend a two or three-hour practical training forum to ensure skiers are conversant with the equipment. At Les Elfes camp, we never ski off piste due to the nature of the camp safety regulations. But, you’ll still get to ski a lot of powder!
Skiers and snowboarders should go through a refresher course annually. Skiers should also pack an avalanche airbag system, comprising of a large balloon that can escalate when a cord is pulled. These are specially designed to enlarge the wearer and enable them to rise above the snow. To reinforce safety, skiers need an avalanche rescue system.
This is a microchip system that you can source locally at a cheap price. Often, it’s located inside technical ski clothing. Rescue helicopters come with robust technical equipment that can help identify a buried skier. However, having individual safety gadgets accelerates the rescue mission in case of an unfortunate incident.
Finally
Parents can counter the boring winter season by sending their children to winter sleep away camp. Here, they will meet other children from various parts of the world, with different cultural background and identities. This will allow them to interact with, and learn numerous things about one another. At the end of the winter camp, the campers will have mastered a vast range of lessons regarding cultural diversity. Still, they will learn how to appreciate others regardless of their diversity.
