Home-Based Summer Camp Activities
Get ready for a fun-filled summer with a variety of online and DIY summer camps and activities designed to keep your kids entertained, engaged, and learning. Here's a roundup of some exciting options:
Science-Focused Camps
Summer Science Camp offers a free online summer camp series featuring two science experiments each week for eight weeks. With 16 of the best science experiments for kids, this camp is a great way to spark your child's curiosity about the natural world.
Math-Centric Camps
Camp Mathematics is a free summer math series created in collaboration with What Do We Do All Day. This math-focused camp utilizes crafts, games, partner activities, videos, and even snacks to make learning exciting. Over six weeks, children will participate in 12 hands-on math activities designed to engage them in problem-solving and number games.
Kindness Camps
Virtual Kindness Summer Camp is an online kindness summer camp at home that includes ideas, support, and activities. This camp offers free access to the "Making Chemo Care Kits for Kids" series, a kindness tracker app, object lessons, a private Facebook group, travel-friendly ideas, a summer kindness scavenger hunt, and over 20 other kindness printables.
DIY Summer Camps
DIY Summer Camp at Home is a free summer activity series for kids of all ages. This camp is 11 weeks of fun learning and play put together by a group of kids activities bloggers. With a variety of themes such as outer space, ocean, colors, backyard fun, science, LEGOs, bugs and butterflies, dinosaurs, rainforest, secret spy school, and Frozen, there's something for everyone. Each week's activities can be adapted to suit different ages.
Preparing for Kindergarten
Get Ready for K Through Play is a free summer camp at home idea for 5-year-olds but can be adapted for older and younger kids. This series includes tons of fun and playful ways to help children prepare for Kindergarten, as well as comprehensive book lists about starting Kindergarten.
Complementary Activities
For a well-rounded summer at home, consider supplementing these structured camps with non-screen and creative activities. Baking, backyard water slides, crafts like friendship bracelets, nature scavenger hunts, and more can keep kids busy physically and mentally.
By combining structured packs such as Camp Mathematics or Camp Mom with DIY and free virtual offerings, parents can create engaging summer camp experiences tailored to their children’s interests and age levels. Happy summer camping!
- Incorporating acts of kindness into your family-dynamics, you could supplement your child's summer camp experience with the "Virtual Kindness Summer Camp" printables, offering numerous activities that teach empathy and compassion.
- For a balanced lifestyle approach, pairing science experiments from the "Summer Science Camp" with home-and-garden projects, like growing vegetables or building birdhouses, can provide a holistic learning environment that speaks to your child's interests in both science and nature.
- Nurturing relationships within your family, partner activities from the math-centric camp, "Camp Mathematics," can offer fun and educational opportunities for you and your child to bond while also improving problem-solving skills.
