The Hormel Historic Home is often used for social gatherings, and the recent spate of day camps for area students is no exception.

At the Circle of Friends Day Camp Tuesday, elementary students with special needs played outside when they weren’t watching magician Jim Jayes at work.

“They’re having a blast this week,” Lynsey Petersen-O’ Donnell, one of the camp’s directors, said.

Though the Circle of Friends Day Camp is in its sixth year, the camp has spawned multiple opportunities for students with special needs at the Hormel Historic Home.

Area special education professionals have banded together to run an All-Access camp for students on Mondays and Wednesdays for several weeks this summer, and a new camp for students with more needs than most, called Camp Just For Me, is in the midst of a five-week routine every Monday afternoon.

“It’s fantastic,” Holly Johnson, HHH executive director, said. “It was evident there was a need for this in the community and it has grown over the years.”

More opportunities for special needs students have helped balance program numbers over the years. Though Circle of Friends started with about 25 students, enrollment numbers have fluctuated since the camp started in 2010.

This year, 19 campers are participating in this week’s Circle of Friends camp, while more than 20 students participate in the All-Access camp. Camp Just For Me has five campers in its inaugural year.

“It’s a good start,” Kate Jordal, program director for Camp Just For Me, said.

Jordal had hoped to start a camp for students who had difficulties being around others even in a camp setting, so she jumped at the chance to provide more programming for students with extra needs.

“I feel like they’re the ones who could benefit most from this experience,” she said.

While the campers at each program learn new things, the camps are designed to teach social interaction and behavioral expectations for students. As Peterson-O’ Donnell puts it, the camp helps campers learn how to behave in places they might not have been before.

“That way, when they go somewhere else, they know what to expect,” she said.

This sort of social exposure is important for children who may be on the autism spectrum disorder or have some other sort of special needs. Routine is important for special needs students who may not know how to process being in a new place.

That’s why the camps make a point to get students out into the community to visit places.

Circle of Friends campers will visit a variety of places this week, including Oxbow Park & Zollman Zoo in Byron.

The camp activities don’t necessarily end once the programs are done. Camp staff will check in with families to see how the campers have progressed after the programs are done.

“We’re trying to give them those experiences,” Petersen-O’ Donnell said.