Adventure Guides

Make Treasured Lifetime Memories Together

YMCA Adventure Guides creates opportunities for families to develop stronger relationships through activities that develop a deep love for nature, family, fun, and community. This parent-child program fosters a lifetime of understanding and companionship to strengthen relationships between children and their parents.

Make Quality Time an Adventure

Adventure Guides welcomes parents or other significant adults in a child’s life and their children ages 5 through 13. The adult and child attend all activities together and learn how to build, strengthen, and nurture healthy relationships through challenging and fun outdoor activities.

Forming Bonds

The program emphasizes the YMCA’s belief that parental involvement plays a vital, positive role in a child’s development. Adventure Guides encourages parents to get to know your kid while your kid is still a kid with group activities such as games, crafts, songs, stories, skits, ceremonies, and outdoor pursuits.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who participates in YMCA Adventure Guides?

YMCA Adventure Guides is designed for parents (or other significant adults in children’s lives) and their children ages 5 through 13. An adult and child must attend program activities together. In YMCA Adventure Guides, the parent is the Guide and the child is the Explorer.

The program organizes parent-child pairs into Circles that meet regularly and occasionally participate in larger Expeditions. Activities include ceremonies, games, outdoor pursuits, and more.

The program centers on parent-child adventures, guided by Compass Points: Family, Nature, Community and Fun. These points are broad enough in scope to allow for variety and creativity in designing activities. Core values like caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility guide the journey and internal compass for children’s development.