Film camp at the Villa Frida: children shoot and edit their own clips

Filming is the centre of this camp, and the children do it rather than watch it. They are taught to handle an action camera, digital camera or camcorder, then form small groups of four to six and are guided step by step from the first idea to the finished edit. They put their ideas down on paper, scout the best places to shoot, take turns holding the camera or performing in front of it, and at the end cut their clips together on a computer. The equipment is supplied: cameras, GoPros, laptops and the editing software. What the operator expects children to come away with is not only some film-making ability but the creativity and the teamwork that doing it together demands.

The stay runs seven travel days with six nights. A multi-bed room with bed linen, full board with drinks round the clock, professional leadership of the adventure-education activities, all the filming equipment, and supervision reachable around the clock are included. The operator states that its price covers all the listed services with no separate service or handling fee, and that its own booking terms form part of the trip. Two practical notes: bring a USB stick on arrival day to take the finished clip home on, and the camp is generally not suitable for participants with restricted mobility.

Children stay in the Villa Frida itself, in multi-bed rooms furnished for their age group and holding no more than five children, with girls and boys sleeping separately. Every room looks out over either the water or the forest. Showers and WCs are centrally placed, as are the counsellors' rooms. There is a shared group room facing the lake, used for games and reading.

Full board with three meals a day: a breakfast and dinner buffet and a varied hot lunch, with drinks available to the children throughout the day. Special dietary requirements are accommodated. The week opens with lunch on the day of arrival and closes with a breakfast brunch on the day of departure.

Away from the camera there is a great deal to do. Children build a raft and take it out on the lake, swim, and compete in a water olympics and water battles. On land there is archery, balancing along a slackline, geocaching, a chaos rally, an olympiad and quiz rounds, and adventure-education group and team games. Evenings bring a night hike, a campfire with a barbecue, and games or reading in the room with the fireplace. The grounds hold a playground with a roundabout, an outdoor table football, a climbing frame, table tennis and tyre swings, and there is an adventure playground with a small football and basketball pitch nearby. One day the group walks around the lake into the little town of Wandlitz, with geocaching and some shopping on the way.

The Villa Frida stands in the Barnim nature park, a protected biosphere reserve, on the shore of the Wandlitzer See about three quarters of an hour from Berlin. The house has its own jetty onto the lake, a campfire site and a playground, so children can run about safely well away from the city. Indoors there is a shared group room with a view over the water and a room with a fireplace. Showers and WCs are centrally placed. The operator runs its English-with-film camp in the same house at the same time.

A child arrives with an idea and leaves with a film of it, which is a rarer kind of holiday souvenir than a T-shirt. Because the groups are four to six strong, nobody sits at the back: someone has to write it, someone has to find the location, someone has to hold the camera and someone has to act. That is where the teamwork comes from, and it is why the camp asks for a USB stick on the first day. The rest of the week belongs to the lake - rafts, swimming, water battles - and to the fire at the end of the day.