Screen-Free Camp Walden
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Video Games: The Good, The Bad, and the Outdoorsy

Question: How many 10-year-old boys would opt for a week of screen-free overnight camp versus ready access to their sofa, their snacks, and their Playstation?

We don’t know the answer, but we suspect that the number is way higher than it was 10 years ago. 

Staying home is the new going out in America, and at-home video gaming is one reason we’re not at the arcade, or the movies, or riding bikes in the cul-de-sac. It’s not all bad. Gaming can offer kids and teens a few of the same benefits of camp: excitement, autonomy, even camaraderie. 

Of course, it’s not the same.

Screen-Free Camp Walden

As camp directors, we can rattle off the endless benefits of a camp experience over screen-based ones: face-to-face relationship building, independence away from parental influence, the tactile building of skills, and a connection to nature. And yet, boys and parents of boys, in particular, seem more tentative to participate in a camping experience.

So we decided to start speaking their language.

This summer, Walden will offer a new area of programming that we’re calling Low-Tech Gaming. Led by veteran teacher Blake Pynnonen, these activities will include creating Waldemon trading cards; playing Dungeons & Dragons-like games; and inventing characters, storylines, costumes, and props for live-action role playing, aka LARPing. 

Together, we’re creating a “World of Walden” – and it can be anything your camper dreams up.

The overarching goal is to give children who thrive in traditional gaming spaces unplugged activities that excite and challenge them. At the same time, kids are getting the benefits of an immersive camp experience.

As a screen-free camp, Walden is eager to see children who might otherwise be leaving an imprint on a sofa cushion every day acting out their own quests. We can’t turn back the clock on technology but we can hopefully make gaming a little greener. 

Screen-Free Camp Walden
Blake Pynnonen

diversity, equity, inclusion

Walden understands that a relevant camp community requires the harmonies of many voices—not only those that inspire, but also those that instruct and challenge. We strive to be a camp where diversity is celebrated and supported, and where each camper and staff member is provided the resources and opportunities to succeed. Our mission of teaching empathy and respect is incomplete if it only serves those who think and look like we do. We believe that our camp can be anyone’s camp, and that our greatest strength lies therein.

Walden is an Equal Opportunity Employer that hires qualified staff regardless of their race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, veteran status or any other basis covered by appropriate law.