Running a Family "Day Camp" for My Kids

What a cool mom you are!

I see two ways to approach this, both from day camps I've been involved in. One way would be to have each day have a particular designation (Monday would be Science Experiment Day, Tuesday could be Explorer Day, Friday would be Field Trip Day, for example). The other would be to take things a week at a time (Music Week, Science Week, Art Week, etc). I think once you decide on how you want it organized ideas and resources will come to you.

This sounds like a very fun way to keep Summer from getting dull!

Hi H.-

What a wonderful idea for your kiddos!

I am not familiar with your area...but it brought to mind a story from my childhood....

When my best friend meg and I were in first grade, ALL our friends were old enough for 'brownies'. We both had august birthdays, and were to young to join. My father made us 'charter members' of the 'tannies'...lol WE had WAY more fun than our slightly older classmates...and after a while we 'adjusted' the age requirements for the 'tannies'...and let them join too!!

Best Luck!
michele/cat

I love your initiative. I wish I knew more moms like you. Frugal yet fun!

Have an agenda for each activity. Swimming - don't just swim, have the kids work on a different stroke or beat their lap time each week. Zoo - look up 3 or 4 behaviors or facts of different animals in the library and have the kids watch for them when you visit each animal habitat. Museum - check with your local library and see what kind of discounts or day passes you can get to any of your museums. Most museums have booklets or kiosks that will test your knowledge of each exhibit, which you can use to get your kids excited and competitive about what they see and learn there. I would also buy a project book - science or arts and crafts - and have a project day each week.

Some of the camps I've seen around here are cooking camps, sports camps, reading camps, actual camping, computer camp, building camp "Learning with hammers and nails!", and volunteer camp. Hopefully that will give you some good ideas to start off with. Have a great summer H?!

Good for you. I love the idea. Camp here actually costs $200 per child per week, so $80 - 100 sounds good to me! But if you have the time, doing it at home sounds good. I would create a schedule so that your kids know what to expect. Something like this:

Monday: art projects
Tuesday: field trip
Wednesday: science projects
Thursday: field trip
Friday: gardening/hiking

And if you want to stick to the camp concept, create a daily schedule:

8 - 9 breakfast
9 - 10 free play (or leave for field trip)
10 - 12 daily project (art/science)
12 - 1 lunch
1 - 2 rest
2 - 3 smaller daily project
3 - camp is over... kids go outside to run around and do whatever

Go to the Boston Museum of Science and check out their membership. I know you are not in Boston but their reciprocal membership is probably the best one I have seen. It covers a lot of science centers, museums and zoos. If you have museums and zoos near you it might save you some money.
I saved so much money on our outings this year from that pass

I have 2 and can't afford it either, but I'd pay $75 a wk for both my kids to go. Maybe you could find another couple kids to go and that money would pay for your adventures. It would be more fun with more friends too!

I would start by googling free stuff in your area. Buy a big white dry erase calendar and fill in all the free events. We have websites here, My DFW Mommy, Frugal In Fort Worth. I check them regularly for upcoming events. Sometimes I just google - free and put in my zip code. You'd be suprised at how much stuff comes up. See how much it is for season passes or memberships to local stuff. We have a Museum pass here. You buy one and you can go to over 15 museums with it.

You could go to Michaels and get t-shirts, aprons, and visors to decorate. You can buy Iron on transfers, use fabric paint, embellish with whatever, but be mindful that you want something that will last all summer. Or you can start the summer with white shirts and then everytime you visit a place or have an adventure, you can write the name on the shirt with a paint pen or draw a picture that represents it. By the end of the summer they will have a walking collage.

Sounds like a blast. Another idea is to let them join Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts. They have organized activities all summer that are pretty inexpensive.

I'm with ya!

I read about it in Parenting magazine. With some digging, I assume you can find it on their website.

Anyway, they suggested inviting friends/family over so that the "group" of kids get maybe 5 specialty summer camps - and 5 groups of parents get 4 weeks of kids at summer day-camp!

Keeping busy seemed to be the mantra. Have no idea the age of your kids - but I'm sure you'll think of some activities. Or even search some of the homeschooling sites, or visit a teacher store.

Good luck!

Get the money upfront to make sure you get paid. I once talked with a group of moms about doing this and only charging $50 per week which really paid me nothing and only covered costs. When I explained I would need the cash upfront, it became obvious two did not intend to pay.
I decided not to do a camp, but to spend time with my child and her friends instead. There was no pressure and it was a blast.