👀 Touring a camp: what to look for (and what to ask)

A camp tour is a performance - the camp knows you're coming, and you're seeing the show. That's fine. The trick is that the real information is in the details nobody staged. I learned my favorite tests on my own tours, and I'll give them to you.

The director test

On one tour years ago, the director walked us all around camp - and didn't call a single child by name the whole time. Then, at the soccer field, he clapped and yelled "Great job, Goalie!" Goalie. Because he didn't know the boy's name. And that is when we realized: not for us.

At a great camp, the director can't walk ten feet without calling kids by name - and without kids yelling theirs back. Watch for it. It's the clearest sign there is of a camp where kids are known, not just enrolled.

The mayonnaise test

At another camp, I walked through the dining hall before lunch - and there were open jars of mayonnaise already sitting out on the tables, in the summer heat, at least an hour before any campers would arrive. A small thing? Maybe. But if that's what food safety looks like on the day they KNOW a visitor is coming, what does the kitchen look like in week five?

The little unstaged details ARE the tour: the state of the bathrooms, whether equipment is put away, whether the infirmary is clean, how counselors talk to kids when they don't know you're watching.

The flip-flop test

This one sounds silly, but stick with me: glance at the flip-flops lined up poolside. Designer, or Old Navy? Neither answer is wrong - but it's one of the fastest reads there is on a camp's culture. Some camps are designer-everything, and that is totally OK. But, if it isn't, know that your child will be living in it all summer - the labels, the gear, the visiting-day haul - and "keeping up" can quietly become part of the experience. Decide what you want your child exposed to, and pick the camp where your family's normal is normal.

Listen for the cheer

Spirit is a big part of camp - maybe THE part. On a summer tour you should hear it: cheering at lineup, singing in the dining hall, a camp cheer that everyone knows. A quiet camp in July is telling you something. If you don't hear the spirit, ask about it - and if the answer is a shrug, that's your answer.

Watch the staff while you walk, too. Are counselors IN it - playing, coaching, cheering with their kids - or standing off to the side in a clump, watching from a distance? Engaged staff is the difference between a camp that supervises childhood and a camp that creates it.

Ask about Color War

If you don't know Color War yet, you will: at most camps it's the biggest event of the summer. The whole camp splits into teams for days of competition, songs, and traditions kids talk about all year - and at many camps, the surprise "breakout" announcing it is the stuff of legend. It's a BIG deal for most campers (not all, and that's fine), so get the details: When is it, and how many days? How are teams picked? Are all ages involved, and what's it like for a first-year camper? A camp that lights up telling you about its Color War traditions is telling you something wonderful.

Questions worth asking the director

• ✔What percentage of campers return each year? (High return rate = happy families. Ask it. Good camps love this question.)
• ✔What percentage of staff returns? Kids fall in love with counselors - a camp that keeps its staff is doing something right.
• ✔How do you handle homesickness in the first week?
• ✔How and when will I hear from camp - photos, emails, phone calls? What if I'm worried mid-summer?
• ✔How do you hire and screen staff, and what's the counselor-to-camper ratio in the bunk?
• ✔What happens when a child doesn't love an activity, or two bunkmates don't get along?

The staff questions nobody thinks to ask

Counselors get nights off - they should, they're working the hardest job of their lives. But the details of how a camp handles it tell you how seriously it takes supervision, so ask directly:

• ✔What's the protocol for staff nights out - and exactly who is watching the bunk while counselors are off? There should be a crisp, immediate answer: an on-duty schedule, named coverage, no hesitation.
• ✔What's the alcohol policy for staff coming back from a night out? Is there any kind of check? A serious camp has a serious answer - it's your child's bedroom they're walking back into.

Health, medicine, and the nearest hospital

Camps are often in the middle of nowhere - that's the point. But 'the boonies' and 'a plan' have to come together, so ask:

• ✔Where is the nearest hospital, and how far? If camp is remote, what exactly happens in an emergency - who drives, who calls you, and when?
• ✔Is there a doctor on premises, or on call? What does the infirmary look like, and who staffs it overnight? (Peek at it on the tour - cleanliness counts double here.)
• ✔How is medication handled? Who stores it, who gives it, how do they make sure the right kid gets the right dose at the right time?
• ✔How do you handle special dietary and health needs - allergies, celiac, diabetes, asthma? Listen for a system (trained staff, labeled kitchen lines, care plans), not just a vague response.

Money and trips

• ✔Is the price all-inclusive, or are trips, canteen, laundry, and transportation extra? Get the real total before you fall in love.
• ✔Do campers leave camp for trips - and where to? Ask about destinations, how far, and how they're supervised. (I planned camp trips professionally in my group-travel days - the trip list tells you a lot about a camp's ambition AND its judgment.)
• ✔Which bus companies does the camp use - to and from camp, and on trips? Are they licensed and insured? Get the company names: this is my group-travel side talking, and parents can actually look up a bus company's federal safety record for free at the Department of Transportation's website (search 'FMCSA company snapshot'). A camp that answers this question without blinking is a camp that vetted its buses.
• ✔On overnight trips, do counselors sleep in the hotel room with campers, or do campers room together with staff next door? There's no one right answer - some parents love a counselor in the room, some prefer campers together with staff adjacent - but decide what YOU want, and ask which one this camp does.
• ✔And on those hotel nights: who's making sure kids stay in their rooms? Ask if the camp hires security or posts night staff on every floor. From my camp-trip-planning days I can tell you - the good ones do, and they're proud to say so.
• ✔Ask WHICH hotels they use, and how they pick them. When I planned camp trips, my company had hard rules: no rooms with balconies, no windows that open, no stoves in the room - and never a motel-style property where rooms open to the outside. Rooms accessed only from inside the building, period. Ask the camp what their hotel rules are. If they don't have any, you just learned something.

You can call all of this over the top. But when your child leaves camp on a trip, you are putting them in the hands of strangers - and their safety has to be your most important concern. Once you've enrolled and your child is already on the bus, it's too late to start investigating. Ask every one of these questions before you sign.

And yes - talk to the campers

If you tour in summer, campers are the most honest people on the property. Ask a couple of them what the best part of camp is, and what the worst part is. Kids answer the second question honestly every single time - and how comfortable they are talking to a visiting adult tells you plenty all by itself.

After every tour, sit in the car and write down what you saw before you drive away. Then come home and see if the reviews match your gut.

And you don't have to remember any of this - I made you a handy printable checklist with a score line for everything in this article, plus room for notes and your child's take. Print one page per camp, bring it on every tour, and fill it in before you leave the parking lot:

🖨️ Print the free Camp Tour Checklist →