The Science Behind Our School Holiday Camps

At My Summit ABTS, we’ve always known what science backs up, that spending time in nature changes us. We see it with every single camp we do.

Florence Williams, author of The Nature Fix and host of The 3-Day Effect podcast, explores what happens when people spend uninterrupted time in nature. She found that after about three days, our brains start to shift — stress levels drop, creativity lifts, and attention improves. In her words, “We don’t experience natural environments enough to realize how restored they can make us feel.”

That’s why our school holiday camps are built around immersion — not just quick visits. Because the change doesn’t happen on day one or two; it deepens as time slows, screens become less important, and nature takes over.

You can see the “three-day effect” unfold on our camps. On the first morning walk to watch the sun rise over the ocean, many of the group are still half-asleep. By the third morning, they’re energetic, spotting dolphins, eagles, kangaroos and sometimes whales. The chat is lighter, the pace slower.

During the day, there’s sand between toes, games of Simon Says while balancing on SUP’s on the lake, paddleboarding, kayaking, art, and jetty jumping. We paint and throw boomerangs with Uncle Mark Jones from Straddie Adventures, chill by the water, sit around the campfire and take night walks under the stars. Somewhere in those moments — between the noise, laughter and the quiet — the shift happens.

Nature steadies kids in a way few other environments can. It asks them to notice, to balance, to wait, to try again. And it gives them space to breathe — the kind of space where confidence grows and calm returns.

Our camps are full of awesomeness and fun, but behind that fun sits real science — the kind that reminds us that three days (and more) in the outdoors isn’t just a holiday. It’s healing, it’s grounding, and it’s exactly what young people need.

Check out our upcoming camps at School Holidays or Weekend Respite