CAMP BETH EL IS BACK!! Join the fun! Ages 18 months-5 years June I 6-August 8 Lake of The Woods and Green- woods Camps. "The program really is about developing graph- ics skills, doing graphics pro- gramming and so forth. It is not really for playing games." A major reason parents shell out thousands of dollars to camps each summer is to get their children outside and away from computer games. So why do camps feel this technology should be included in summer activities? "They're a part of everyday life," says Mr. Stevens of Camp Walden. "Computers are part of an attempt to be cre- ative." But not everyone agrees "We sort of resisted going to those kinds of things," says Laurence Cohn, director of Maplehurst Camp. "This is their opportuni- ty to get out and see nature and learn things not that tradition- al. ), Some years ago, Maplehust merged with a computer camp from Minneapolis, but after three years got rid of the com- puters. "We just felt like it was not really benefiting the chil- dren," Mr. Cohn explains. "The kids were very disinterest- ed in learning," he says. "They wanted to play games or do their own things. They just wanted to stay in the computer room all day long—it didn't matter if it was gorgeous out Parents would say to us, 'These kids are coming home and they look like they've never seen the sunlight" Mr. Cohn feels that the best methods are the tried and true ones. "The programs that are most popular for us still are tra- ditional kinds of things," he says. "They love painting, all the ELECTRONICS page 38 otopie Beth tos16e The sirj, /56 " Li m i t • Wee