Life at the Bay

The word “camp” may conjure up memories of slurry porridge and compulsory exercise, but fortunately there is one camp in South Africa that will have your kids remembering the complete opposite. In addition to their delicious dining experience, Sugar Bay Kids Camp is also unique in the following seven ways: 1. Activities are not compulsory Sugar Bay offers over 100 activities, none of which are compulsory. This means that your children are free to choose what they would enjoy every day. Sugar Bay has all the usual camp activities like ropes obstacle courses, paintball, arts & crafts, BMXing, and kayaking, but they also have activities that are not found at most camps like water slides and a 4-station bungee trampoline. 2. This camp has a beach! One of the best perks about Sugar Bay is that it has private access to the lagoon and beach. If you live inland and your children seldom have the opportunity to see the ocean, they will love being...

Kids’ and Teens’ summer camp, Sugar Bay Resort, is one of the only American-styled summer camps in South Africa and offers a variety of over one hundred activities to their campers. The activities are split into two different categories; Land activities and Water activities. Sugar Bay Resort tries to accommodate all types of campers with varying preferences. Land activities are offered at camp, usually on the premises and accommodate the campers who are not fond of being in the water, as well as those who are weaker swimmers. Most land activities are indoors, which makes them perfect to keep campers entertained on a rainy day. Here are the Top 5 land activities offered at Sugar Bay: 1. Bungee-Trampoline Bungee-trampoline jumping is the kids' favourite activity at Sugar Bay. Not only are trampolines fun to bounce off on, but, they are great for the physical fitness of both adults and children. Trampolines are used regularly by athletes such as skaters, dancers, divers, and gymnasts ...

These beautiful elastic bracelets are always catching our eyes, however, on close inspection, may seem rather difficult to make.    Surprisingly, they are really simple to create and a pretty cool version of the usual string friendship bracelets we make at camp. Create a loom band bracelet in 5 simple steps:   You will need: C-Clip (Which usually comes with a loom band kit) 20 – 30 bands in your choice of colour(s) Step 1: Pick your colour sequence. We noted that most of our campers love creating rainbow-themed loom bands.    Step 2: Twist one band into a figure "8" and fold it over so it forms a circle. Slide this circle inside the C-clip. This is the beginning of your bracelet. We'll call this band #1.    Step 3:    Pinch one band between your fingers. Slide this band (#2) halfway through the circle you made in Step 2. Pull the ends up and hold them together.    Step 4:    Pi...

Ever experienced those moments when you had to patiently wait for something without being bored? We all have those moments, especially at camp. Some things can go a little off-schedule like the time lunch is served or how long we may have to wait before the excursion bus arrives. This is why, the Sugar Bay Shoe Game is the perfect game to get campers energized and pass time with lots of fun. You can play this game by following these 5 simple steps: Step 1: Line up 4 chairs to form a plus sign with a two meter space between each pair. Step 2: Place a water bottle in the middle of the plus sign. Step 3: Place a shoe on each of the chairs. Step 4: Divide the campers into 4 equal groups. Each group would have to represent 1 chair. Give each camper a number according to the number of participants in each group. Step 5: Call up each number individually. These participants representing the numbers would have to hop onto their chair and use the shoe to try and knock over the bott...

  Life at Sugar Bay is just as the name describes it, sweet and sunshine filled all by the sea. We love creating camp crafts and tasty treats as part of our Arts & Crafts program run almost daily at camp.    One of our favourite DIY camp tasty treats has to be Sherbet Straws. They’re so simple to create and will give you a quick pop of sweetness whenever you’re feeling a little down.    Here’s how to create: Sugar Bay Sherbet Straws You will need: Ingredients: Candle, Matches or Lighter Plastic straws Sheet of paper Tablespoon Small round empty jar Citric acid (for sour sherbet) Icing sugar (for sweet sherbet) Super C candy Method: Step 1: Seal one end of your straw   Light up your candle using matches under adult supervision. Place a sheet of paper on a hard surface to avoid making a mess and make cleaning up easy. Heat up the tablespoon by placing it over the candle. Use the heated spoon to seal one end of the stra...

Summer camp isn’t just a holiday destination for kids where they sit around campfires and make s’mores. Sugar Bay Resort, a holiday camp specifically designed for kids and teens believes that sport is a vital part of camp and should be implemented in every camping program.    Their interest in sport is evident as they recently renovated a storage area into a beautiful indoor sports hall. The sports hall at the camp is twenty-five by fifteen meters in length and can accommodate two-hundred campers. It was also fitted with marked, sprung flooring which plays an essential role in protecting the growing bodies of young children from lifelong injuries caused by the energy generated over time by participation in sports. These injuries include shin splints, fractures, an array of knee problems, tendonitis, and ankle sprains.    It is estimated that there are more than thirty million obese children in developing countries, and, since Sugar Bay is located in South Af...

The summer camp environment is very different from a schooling environment. Children usually attend summer camp during their school breaks, as a relaxing and fun retreat.  Here are 3 elements that play a major role in how children let go of their problems at summer camp:   1. Atmosphere   At summer camp, the environment is very casual; there is no pressure to wear uniforms or to be strictly guided by a set of rules, as it is in the schooling environment. This allows children to be themselves without any restrictions, hence, they do not feel pressurized to live up to any standards. This atmosphere allows them to let go of their usual tension and enjoy the liberty which they do not have at school. Most summer camps are located in natural serene settings, near lakes and lagoons which are very relaxing and calming to the body, mind, and soul. This atmosphere is certainly a break away from the hustle and bustle of the polluted urban jungles and is great to set anyone...

  Here at Sugar Bay, we love soaking up the sun and live for sunshine-filled days when we can head down to the beach and catch some waves or cool down by splashing through our waterslides.    Most of all, we love the sunshine because they light up our beautiful sun catchers!    One of our favourite crafts to make during Arts & Crafts classes are sun catchers, which is why we decided to show you how we do it, camp style.  DIY Sun Catchers   You will need: Transparent plastic sheet Black Liquid Lead Paint (All colours) Paint Brushes Method: 1. Pick an image you want to duplicate    Depending on the theme at camp, we have a variety of simple pictures printed out which campers get to choose from and decide which one they would like to turn into a sun catcher. You can search the internet for pictures or make copies from colouring books. These images need to be easy to trace....

  We kicked off the spring break in the first week of October by hosting one holiday camp with a fresh and exciting theme.    Upside Down week: 1-8 October   This week, our theme was “Upside Down” and the main focus of the theme was getting campers to see the world from another perspective, which was highlighted by an activity, implemented daily called “ Thunk of the day ”. We hosted a total of 57 campers this week and had the most fun turning everything upside down. The campers participated in and enjoyed many activities integrated around the theme, such as; Upside Down activities, Upside Down meals, Upside Down programs and Upside Down set-up. They were also taken on a themed excursion to 22 Jump Street, indoor trampoline arena in Ballito, where they had fun flipping upside down and bouncing around on the trampolines. The highlight of this week was certainly having lunch for breakfast and breakfast for lunch towards the middle of camp. Turning the menu ups...

In celebration of Sugar Bay’s super sweet sixteenth, Sugar Bay Directors, Zoe & Nic Ellender gifted camp with another fabulous feature, as they do every year.    This year, however, they felt generous and decided to gift Sugar Bay with not one, but two incredible features; 1. New Indoor Sports Hall  What was once just an empty, sheltered room with sports equipment was transformed into a brand new indoor sports hall. The Directors had a longing to renovate this space in order to accommodate outdoor sporting activities indoors on rainy days. The sports hall has been fitted with beautiful, marked sprung flooring, 25 by 15 meters in length and will be perfect to host a multitude of sporting activities and campers at once.    The new indoor sports hall will feature the following activities: Indoor climbing wall Indoor basketball Indoor soccer Indoor volleyball Indoor ultimate Frisbee In the pipelin...