Summer camp deals: Try online auction websites!

Posted on April 21, 2011 by ActivityHero

We’re always looking for a good summer camp deal.  Many camps donate weeks of camps to local schools and other organizations for auction fundraisers.  It’s great publicity for the camps, a good fundraiser for the schools and the auction-goers can often get a great deal.

Now that many schools are putting their silent auctions online with websites like Bidding For Good, some of these auction items can be available to the general public.

You’ll need to do your own search for up-to-date deals, but take a look at some recent camp auctions found by searching for “summer camps” on BiddingForGood.com:

Education Unlimited
$500 value, opening bid $175, no bids, 8 days to bid
Benefits No Limits for Deaf Children (Culver City, CA)

Dominican Summer Camp (1 week)
$325 value, current bid $163, 15 days left to bid
Benefits Glenwood Elementary School (San Rafael, CA)

Mountain Camp (Overnight camp in the El Dorado Forest)
$500 credit toward a week of camp, opening bid $100, no bids yet, 1 day left to bid
Benefits Venetia Valley School (San Rafael, CA)

Plantation Farm Camp (A top 20 sleep-away camp)
50% off a 3-week session
Value $2150, opening bid $75, no bids yet, 25 days left to bid
Benefits Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm (Santa Rosa, CA)

Camp Edmo (one week, Larkspur location)
Value $350, current bid $66,  4 days left to bid
Benefits Sun Valley School (San Rafael, CA)

Camp Doodles 1-day Drop-in Pass (Mill Valley, Larkspur or San Rafael locations)
Value $75, current bid $25, 3 passes open for bidding, 1 day left to bid
Benefits Venetia Valley School (San Rafael, CA)

Didn’t find anything that worked for you?  You can still check out ActivityHero.com for listings of hundreds of Bay Area camps, including their early registration, multiple week, sibling and refer-a-friend discounts.

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Win a Free Week of Camp at Camp Galileo

Posted on March 24, 2011 by ActivityHero

Join the Sign Up For Camp Newsletter For the Chance to Win a Free Week of Camp at Camp Galileo

All parents with accounts at Sign Up For Camp are automatically entered into a drawing to win a free week of camp at Camp Galileo.  You can receive an additional entry each time you tell a friend about Sign Up for Camp and they sign up for the newsletter.

Signing up is easy!

Sign Up For Camp is easy and free. The site provides free information on camp registrations, discounts, and offers a handy camp calendar you can share with friends. You can sign up for just the newsletter, or jump in and create a free parent account to participate in the drawing!  Then you too can tell a friend and get more chances to win.

Dates and prizes:

The winner will be chosen on April 30th.   For more details see the Official Rules.

Camp Galileo At Camp Galileo, campers grades preK-5th engage in hands-on art, science and outdoor activities every day, plus have tons of fun with camp traditions like dress up days, water day and the rubber chicken cheer.Camp Galileo has 19 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Galileo Summer Quest At Galileo Summer Quest, try your hand at the things you love, experiencing one Major and two exciting Minors during your 2-week session. Grades 5-8.Galileo Summer Quest has 6 locations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

 

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It’s Summer! It’s Hot! Spend it in the water

Posted on July 26, 2010 by ActivityHero

Summer time means popsicles and bike rides. It means having fun, going to camp, staying up late and sleeping in. It also means that the sun is beaming down and it is hot outside! Children should take advantage of this time of year and spend their summer in the water. Summer also means time for camps, so the most logical way for your child to spend their summer in the water would be at a water camp.

A “water camp” can mean anything from surfing camp to swimming camp to water polo camp, anything that involves your child chilling off in an outdoor environment while having fun and getting great excercise.

Luckily the Bay Area is home to some beautiful beaches, which means some beautifully cool waves to host surfing camps on. Most camps like the YMCA  Camps or JCCSF Rabin Summer Camps offer surfing as part of their summer camp programs, but camps like Surf Camp Pacifica and Summer Sessions Surf Camp specialize in surfing and ensure that your child is comfortable, safe, and having fun in the waves.

The most obvious way to have your child spend his or her summer in the water is to send them to a swim camp. Swimming is fun and an essential part of summer, not to mention amazing excercise since swimming requires the use of almost every muscle in the body! Many country club camps and YMCA camps offer full day camps where children are swimming as part of the curriuculum. Nike Swim Camps also offers overnight programs for more competitive and experienced swimmers if your child is looking to enhance his or her skill in the sport of swimming.

Water polo camps are another way to have your child in the water, but in a competitive and active nature. If plain old swimming sounds boring and repetitive to your child, throw a ball and some goals in the mix and they’re sure to keep swimming to win. Nike Water Polo Camps are highly acclaimed and always a good option for all skill levels. In the South Bay, Stanford Water Polo also hosts camps for all skill levels, ages 8 and up, for both boys and girls. Sleep away and half day camps are available based on skill.

With so many options to get your child active, you should send them to a water camp to make sure they stay cool. Just make sure you pack on the sunscreen!

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Odd Arts- Taking Creativity to the Next Level

Posted on July 12, 2010 by ActivityHero

When you think of most camp art, you probably think of the beautiful macaroni masterpieces your child makes every year, or maybe the friendship bracelets and lanyards custom to most arts and crafts camps. Maybe you even think of the occasional drawing or painting, but some art camps are interested in not only having your child have creative pieces, but in having your child use creative mediums as well.

Places like the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga offer camps in claymation, ceramics, food art (yes, more complicated than macaroni), mask-making, eco-art and even storytelling to offer your child the opportunity to learn that art isn’t just on a 2-D surface.

Pacific Coast Kids in Palo Alto also hosts interesting art programs that meld the ideas of creative art and architecture. Lego camps, model camps, and jewelry making camps are all available and are all unique and creative just by the nature of their make-up!

If those other options don’t interest your child, one form of art is bound to catch the attention of any kid who likes to spend his or her Saturday mornings in front of the TV set, and that is cartoon art. Cartoon art camps like The Art Room in Lafayette or Lascaux Academy Art Camp in Belmont will teach your kids how to make and draw the cartoons they adore, or new ones they have thought of. Either way this entertaining and more specified, original spin on drawing will have children in-tune to their creative side while having fun.

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Children’s Expression- Performing Arts Camp

Posted on July 7, 2010 by ActivityHero

If you have children who love to speak out, speak often, and act, maybe the most effective way to have them spend their summer is at a performing arts camp. Here, children can learn to channel their energy in a positive and structured manner.

Performance camps or theater camps combine the aspects of music, acting, costumes, organization, timelines, and responsibility into one activity. Oh yeah and they are a ton of fun as well!

Starting Arts Camps offers a wide variety of camps for children of all ages, whether they are interested in dance, theater, music, or visual arts. 

The Berkeley based Youth Musical Theater Company (YMTC) has summer programs for children in Junior High and High School looking to participate in plays or musicals. These camps are full day and are slightly more pricey, but your child is guaranteed to love his or her experience with performing arts and will be part of a  well-known production.

Inspire Music Camps, on the other hand, focus more on the musical aspect of performing arts. These full day camps have sessions for kids ages 8-18 interested in rock, jazz, or “musical” music.  These camps have enough variety to ensure every child of every age the ability to play the music they want to play.

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Looking for emergency childcare? Consider a drop-in summer camp.

Posted on June 30, 2010 by ActivityHero

A drop-in camp can be a good option for emergency childcare during the summer months. Fortunately, in San Francisco, we have some good options. Here’s a review of drop-in summer camps options.

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Spend the Summer Dancing – Dance Camps for Your Child

Posted on June 25, 2010 by ActivityHero

The bay area is a collection of many different cultures, backgrounds, and interests. One of the best ways to unify everyone is through the appreciation of each culture and background, and one of the best ways we can do that is through the arts and our children. Arts, and especially dance, are an exciting activity that can bring kids together, get them active, and have them appreciate different aspects of different cultures. The Mona Kahn Dance Company’s camp include bollywood dance, bollyhop, and traditional indian folk dances.

If children are looking to express themselves in a healthy and beautiful manner, sending them to one of the many dance camps in the bay area could prove to be not only very fun for your child, but beneficial as well.

Tutu Camp is a local favorite, with locations in the city and Marin.

In the east bay at Kids ‘n Dance offers lots to choose from with both dance and musical theatre camps. Younger dancers will explore a theme throughout the week, make costumes, props and crafts to bring daily story dances to life. Older children learn a complete mini musical with all of the costumes, lights, microphones, and scenery in a fun, supportive, stress free environment. They have an incredible line-up this summer ranging from the Little Mermaid to Wicked! Click here to find their complete schedule.

Dance can be a powerful tool to bring kids and cultures together, not to mention it is really fun! Your children will not only enjoy partaking in dance camp, but you will be able to enjoy their later performances as well, where they will show off the skills they learned at camp.

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Science Camps Give Kids the Chance to Explore, Discover.

Posted on June 24, 2010 by ActivityHero

Science and Technology camps are memorable to any child to wants to let out his or her inner-Einstein. In particular, the study of general science allow kids of all ages to explore the workings of the universe through experimentation and discovery. Science camps are guaranteed to generate children’s interest in not only the scientific field, but every working aspect of life.

Living in the Bar Area, one field of science that kids can easily study is marine science. Marine Science Camps teach kids about the ecosystem in which we live and how they should preserve it. The camps also teach the life of marine biology to kids and how everyone should appreciate and co-exist with these animals.

If you child isn’t interested in learning about local animal life in the bay, they can also learn about exotic foreign animals at the Oakland Zoo camp and the San Francisco Zoo camp.

Besides animal studies and general science camps, the bay area also hosts chemistry camps and geology camps to suit the needs of any child wanting to create out-of-this-world chemical reactions, or for any child who is interested in the structure of our earth.

Whatever field of science you and your child decide to choose for your camp, one thing can be assured: your child will have a deeper understanding and appreciation for this world thanks to the nature of science camps! (no pun intended)

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Working in San Francisco- Full Day Camps in SF for Young Kids.

Posted on June 23, 2010 by ActivityHero

If you are a working parent in San Francisco, especially with young kids, it is important that you not only find a camp that your child will love, but one that is near where you work and one that accommodates younger children.

The best solution to this predicament is to find one of the many camps in the San Francisco area that is a full day camp, most of which offer early drop-off and late pick-up for parents who have longer work schedules.

The options for camps range from the well known academically and creatively themed Stratford School Summer Programs, to activity-based camps like gymnastic camp and martial arts camp.

There are also general and science camps that stimulate young children’s minds and promote the idea of exploration and discovery of nature. In addition, other academic camps that give kids a kick-start into the knowledge of foreign languages are available as well (French camp and Spanish camp).

So whether you want your child involved in a more active camp or a more creatively based academic camp, you can be sure to find a camp that is close to work and that also fits the needs of your young child.

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Unique Camps- Camps That are not Confined by the “Box”

Posted on June 23, 2010 by ActivityHero

When it comes to summer, there are so many summer camps to choose from, sports camps, science camps, nature camps, and arts camps, just to name a few. Although these may all be excellent options for your camper, to any kid who spends his or her entire summer enrolled in camps, these generic camps may get old.

If you want to mix it up and send your kid to a camp that is different than anything they have probably experienced before, think about some of the following options.

Circus Camps: Circus camps mean introducing kids to a wide variety of circus activities. Rhythmix Cultural Works focuses on different cultural dances and acrobatic activities. Trapeze Arts Camps allows your child to play Tarzan as they swing and do tricks in the air along with tight-rope walking. Acrosports camp incorporates the gymnastics and dance aspect of circus as your child learns how to a true “circus performer.”

Role Play Camps: As a young child, nothing is more fun than imaging you are something other than what you actually are. At camps such as Stanford’s Pirate Camp, young children engage in swashbuckling adventure while being able to safely live out their dream of becoming a pirate. There are also camps that mimic the life of a fairytale, such as Children’s Fairyland Camp where each week kids learn about fantasy stories from different cultures. If fairy tales aren’t what your child is looking for, maybe they would prefer to be an actual fairy. At Belladonna Fairy Camp in Berkeley, young girls are able to participate in all sorts of fairy activities as they enjoy nature.

Culinary Camps: Send your kids to a culinary camp and they will really appreciate the food you make for them. They will not only learn how to cook, but learn what it takes to be a chef and how to be creative with recipes. COOK! Culinary Camps offer introductory cooking sessions, baking, and flavor layering as just some of the sessions options. Sprouts Cooking Club Kid’s Summer Cooking Camp offers kids the opportunity to work with real chefs in a real kitchen to get the most out of their culinary experience.

Skateboarders! San Francisco Skate Club Summer Skate Camp A two-week, Monday  through Friday skateboard Summer Camp. Campers tour and skate Bay Area skateparks, receive small group lessons with a sponsored skateboarder and meet a professional skateboarder!

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