The annual Washington County 4-H Summer Camp took place June 11-14, 2026 at Upham Woods in Wisconsin Dells, WI. With youth campers, teen staff and adult volunteers the camp’s attendance was 108. The highest attendance in over 5 years.
The theme of the upcoming camp was ‘Camp at Sea: Catch the Wave of 4-H!’. The theme was generated by the teen leaders in planning meetings. The teen leaders also presented theme-related educational sessions that they had brainstormed and decided on. Some of those presentations included: sea mammals, fish, aquatic plants; how the Wisc. Dells was formed, and coastal land erosion. They designed their presentations and practiced delivering their presentations at a training session in May.
Day One was met with rain but the 2 buses that departed Washington County were full of energetic youth and they sang camp songs the whole two hour drive. The schedule had a ‘plan b’ that was implemented due to the rain. Day One activities included cabins creating ‘group agreements’ on how they want to treat each other in cabins and throughout camp; tips from the nurse on hydration and sun protection; Flag etiquette and what to expect at daily flag raising/lowering; as well as an orientation from Upham Woods staff on emergency weather procedures. Group games filled the evening which assisted in everyone getting to know each other as well as camp expectations.
Day Two & Three were filled with educational opportunities, recreation and fun (and most scheduled activities had all three components together). Archery, Crafts, Nature, and Waterfront rotations filled the day. The 7th and 8th grade campers known as ‘Outpost’ take off for the day from the younger campers. They experienced a long hike; survival skills such as building a lean-to, fire building with a flint, and cooking lunch over an open fire.
Every evening both the young campers and the Outpost campers came together for dinner, flag-lowering, group dancing (what is Sally Down the Alley?) with a snack and campfire songs/skits to close out the night.
Camp is more than ‘make new friends’, campfires and s’mores. Campers learn interpersonal skills such as cooperation, consensus-building, and dealing with conflict. The activities such as Wacky Water Creatures, Owl Pellets, and Brad the Hawk teach about nature and the science-world around us. Archery and Crafts build confidence, develop a spark for new activity, to improve and also give compliments while peers around them show persistence and drive in wanting to improve at a new activity.
Day Four is closing day with everyone participating in camp clean-up and closing ceremonies with fun awards such as ‘future camp counselor’, ‘cleanest cabin’, and ‘most enthusiastic group’. A final thank you to Upham Woods and its back on the buses…and they sang for the 2 hour ride home!
A big thanks to our adult volunteers for taking off work to attend 4 long days and nights and give total attention to the young campers. Both adult volunteers and the high school teens serving as camp counselors are building relations with young people that are forever etched into those young campers’ memories.
