Taste of Maine Camps: Rookie Sessions

Ready to send your children to overnight camp but you or they are hesitant about half or full summer? Enter Rookie Camp – the opportunity for campers to dip their toe into the water and try it out. Maine Camp Experience has 40 incredible overnight camps and many offer shorter sessions that provide campers with a taste of the camp experience. Try 1 Day, a 3-Night Stay, 10 Days, or 2 Weeks.

Different types of FREE rookie sessions:

- 1 day – spend the day at a Maine Camp! In a single day, prospective campers get a feeling of what it’s like to be a camper. They tour the camp, meet and hang out with current campers, and enjoy activities and meals. They experience activities such as tubing on a Maine lake, shooting hoops on the basketball court, painting a picture at arts and crafts, and climbing the camp’s rock wall. There’s no doubt that kids come away from a rookie day full of new friends, new experiences, and new excitement for the summer ahead. - 4Day/3Night Rookie camp – available to prospective campers who haven’t yet completed fifth grade … one of our Maine Camps offers kids the chance to spend three nights and four days – for free – at camp. Campers enjoy land and water sports, arts, outdoor adventures, and more during activity periods. They eat meals at camp, participate in special events, and fun evening activities. After swimming, sailing, playing soccer and tennis, cooking, dancing, and so much more – kids can’t wait to become campers and will surely say, “sign me up for summer ’24!”

Shorter stay sessions:

Several Maine Camps also offer a  shorter stay option  for first time, younger campers usually below 4^th or 5^th grade. 

- For full summer camps (6-7 weeks), some camps may offer first timers a 3 or 4-week session;  - At half-summer camps (3-4 weeks), 10 days-to-2 weeks may be an option.  - Shorter session options are available at several camps (coed, girls, boys, and brother/sister). Based on availability, many camps give the option to extend to the full session if the child wants to stay.  - And, some Maine Camps offer short sessions of approximately 2 weeks in campers’ first year AND throughout campers’ ensuing years.  Contact our Campcierge® for recommendations: laurie@mainecampexperience.com

Our Campcierge® can direct families to camps that have the desired session length and which have availability - laurie@mainecampexperience.com

And, of course, our camps offer tours so families can gain familiarility. It puts children and adults at ease, and gets prospective campers excited for the summer ahead. 

Whether your child is ready for full summer, half summer, or a shorter taste of Maine Camps, NOW is the time to research and enroll.

Maine Camp Experience Resources & Tools

You can share your own Maine camps memories & expressions of gratitude on our Memories of Camp section of our website.

Looking for the perfect Maine camp for your child?  Try out our helpful tool where you can select a camp by choosing: type of camp (girls, boys or coed) and session length (1-8 weeks).  It helps to narrow down a few camps to a manageable list that includes rates.  Then you can research these camps in more depth.  

Next, be sure to  to discuss these camps as well as for free, year-round advice and assistance on choosing a great Maine summer camp for your child.