VILLAGE OF BELLEVUE, Wis (NBC 26) -- Some communities have decided it's too soon, to allow groups of kids to congregate for city-sanctioned summer camps. But others are taking new precautions with their counselors and staff to allow kids to get back, to being kids at camp.
At Josten Park in the Village of Bellevue camp counselors are showing us the new sign-in process for day trip campers when nearly 30 kids arrive next week for summer camp.
"We'll have a thermometer that will take a quick temperature check and if the child has a temp under 100 degrees they will be admitted to camp," says Kyle Casper who is the Village of Bellevue's Recreation Supervisor.
But as Casper explains, that's just the beginning of the new normal for his campers.
"Then they'll come into the pavilion and drop off their materials in a clothes basket and once dropped off they'll proceed to the bathroom to wash their hands."
Following the new sign-in protocol, campers will then start to get into group activities. But the group's traditional size will be different this year too.
"Instead of doing big group activities, we're going to break them down into two groups. So instead of having a group of 36, we'll break them down to two groups of 18's."
Arts and crafts and non-contact sports will also likely be the norm of the summer for campers according to Casper.
"We can't make them stay six feet apart at all times but we're gonna try."
But trying to convince 6 to 12-year-olds that distancing from one another is mandatory, well, that might be a trend that adults just like kids are likely going to struggle getting used too.
"We're not gonna get back to everything normal off the bat. But at least we can do things slowly and try to get things somewhat back to our old normal ways. That's what we're hoping to get out of this," adds Casper.
Attendance for the Village of Bellevue's summer camp is only slightly down compared to 2019. The recreation department says right now there are a few spots available still for their camps that start next week.
