It’s getting warmer out, teachers are starting to think about year end activities, and parents are starting to ask themselves what they’re going to do with the kids this summer. Your kids go to daycare and participate in extracurricular activities all year long. What’s so different about summer?

For one thing, during the school year, kids have a lot of structured time. If they spend six to seven hours a day in school, plus homework, they need some down time. You probably don’t mind if after school care is just hanging out and playing with supervision. In the summer, they don’t have school. They need some type of structured activity and their brains need some stimulation.

Also, during the school year, your options are limited by geography and time. By the time school gets out at about 2 or 3 o’clock, so they only have a couple hours of the day left. Their minds are already tired even if their bodies aren’t and they need some time do homework. In this limited weekday time, you can’t drive them very far and expect to have time for an activity and still make it home to get dinner. If you work, you’re probably not available to drive them anywhere after school.

Here’s where summer comes in. During the summer time, you can take them to a day camp. There are many that last half a day or three quarters of a day. If you work full time you probably want one that lasts all day or has extended care. Opening up the time and location factors frees you to consider a wide variety of types of camps. There are standard camps, which are probably offered by the same organization that provides after school care for your child. Kids can play, do arts and crafts, get exercise and have fun. Many of these camps go on field trips to fun places during the summer. These kinds of camps are great for younger kids, those who just need a break to be a kid, and those who want to go to camp with the other kids from their school.

During summertime, though, there are specialty camps of every imaginable kind. Does your child want to learn to surf? That’s something they probably wouldn’t do during the school year. What about trying out something new like ceramics, horseback riding or dance? Does your child participate in a favorite sport or activity during the school year? There are summer camps to improve his skills in that area. Your child will feel great when returning to her basketball team or chess club if she’s had extra coaching over the summer.

It might be a good idea to mix it up a little. Most summer camps allow you to enroll your child for one week at a time. You can pick some camps that will challenge your child and some that are just for the fun of it.

It may seem early, but it’s already time to start researching summer camps now. Some of the specialty camps are extremely popular and have limited space. Start by planning the camps that only occur once during the summer. Does your scout troop or pack go to camp one week? Does your church offer vacation bible for just one week? What about the karate, dance or gymnastics studio that your child attends year round? Do they have something special going on for just one week? Organizations put on one week-long camp during the summer need to plan ahead and when they fill up, they’re full. Don’t forget to pencil in your family vacation. Once those dates are on your calendar, go looking for camps to fill in the breaks. Is your child more comfortable at the same camp with the same kids all the time, or do they want to try something new every week? If they’re going to participate in a field trip camp, check out their schedules to see which weeks they’re going to your child’s favorite places. The summer camp opportunities are almost endless, but if you wait until the last minute you’ll be taking whatever still has open spots.

Author Bio: Written by Coleen Smith, a Southern California mom with three busy kids. Orange County Kids Orange County Summer Camps San Diego Kids Activities

Category: Parenting
Keywords: summer camps, summer camp for kids,daycamps,kids activities,sports camps for kids