Location
YMCA Camp Colman is a little less than an hour and a half from Seattle on the Key Peninsula in the beautiful south Puget Sound region of Washington State. We're 40 minutes from Tacoma, WA, 25 minutes from Gig Harbor, 15 minutes from Key Center and 5 minuets from Home.
Camp sits on over 100 acres including over a half mile of beach. We also have a 6 acre lagoon, which we use for swimming, boating, paddle boarding and almost all things water related (except for the Polar Bear swim, which takes place in the sound!). Our campfire pit and newly expanded lodge sit facing west, overlooking the Puget Sound and Olympic mountains.
(This is the view, looking out from the top of the dock on the lagoon)
Programs
At YMCA Camp Colman we run a traditional resident camping program. The majority of our campers are between the ages of 6 years old and 14 years old and come for one week sessions - though some stay for longer periods of time.
A camper’s day is filled with a mix of group activities that campers can sign up for individually, cabin recreation time, "mixers" (open rec/choice time), and large camp activities. We place an emphasis on character development, community and teaching the YMCA core values – Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Caring. You will live in a cabin with 10-12 kids and a co-counselor. Your job focuses on this group of campers and you will assist with teaching camp skills and leading activities.
Finally, we have four teen programs offered at Colman that stive to teach teens leadership and team building skills. Two of these five programs have an off site canoeing, sailing, and/or biking trip. The other two are camp based programs that focus on giving teens experience working with campers.
At YMCA Camp Colman we run a traditional resident camping program. The majority of our campers are between the ages of 6 years old and 14 years old and come for one week sessions - though some stay for longer periods of time.
A camper’s day is filled with a mix of group activities that campers can sign up for individually, cabin recreation time, "mixers" (open rec/choice time), and large camp activities. We place an emphasis on character development, community and teaching the YMCA core values – Respect, Responsibility, Honesty and Caring. You will live in a cabin with 10-12 kids and a co-counselor. Your job focuses on this group of campers and you will assist with teaching camp skills and leading activities.
Along with our traditional camp, we offer a variety of "specialty" camps though out the summer.
Specialty and camps this summer include:
Pirate Camp - Campers will spend the week on the crew of the S.S. Colman, burying treasure, singing pirate shanties and creating treasure maps.
Creative Arts Camp - Campers will get to experience a wide variety of art forms, which could include drama, painting, dance, drawing, music, etc.
Nature Adventures Camp - Campers will get to experience the natural environment we have at camp through such activities as forest ecology lessons, fort building, marine/touch tank exploration, and practicing outdoor living skills (ex. using a compass).
Nature Adventures Camp - Campers will get to experience the natural environment we have at camp through such activities as forest ecology lessons, fort building, marine/touch tank exploration, and practicing outdoor living skills (ex. using a compass).
Mind you, not all campers who come during specialty weeks will be there for specialty camp, which means that as staff you could have a varying degree on involvement in each camp. If you happen to LOVE pirates, worry not! We will do everything we can to make sure you are involved in pirate camp.
In addition to these special weeks, we also have two theme weeks. One week is called Navigator and Pioneer Week, also known as N n' P Week. N n' P Week divides the entire camp into two teams and is dedicated to healthy competition, all camp games and sportsmanship. All staff are included in this week, as well as all campers.
The other theme week is Wizard Week. Wizard Week gives campers a chance to experience the wizard magic right at camp! Directors and counselors will take on personas, give points to different houses and award the house cup at the end of the week.
The other theme week is Wizard Week. Wizard Week gives campers a chance to experience the wizard magic right at camp! Directors and counselors will take on personas, give points to different houses and award the house cup at the end of the week.
Finally, we have four teen programs offered at Colman that stive to teach teens leadership and team building skills. Two of these five programs have an off site canoeing, sailing, and/or biking trip. The other two are camp based programs that focus on giving teens experience working with campers.
