Keep Your Kids Busy With These Free Virtual Summer Camps
For many children, traditional summer camps are simply not relevant this year. And as we say goodbye to the home school schedule we’ve been holding on to all spring, our kids look around and say, “Oooh … now what?” Well, like every other aspect of our life for most of this year, as long as there are virtual opportunities. And like any other aspect of our life, they are not as good as the real ones, but they are something .
I know children are completely scaled down; my own 9 year old boy reached his video chat limit sometime in the middle of May. Both “virtual” and “summer camp” really seem like two phrases that are not related to each other. But that’s how life is right now, and one good thing about virtual summer camps – especially those that are free – is that kids can “attend” when they want to and they can say “no” on days when it seems that’s too much. bummer, or they’d rather play in the backyard.
Here is a list of free virtual camps to visit with your kids:
Camp PBS KIDS
PBS KIDS provides parents with articles, videos and activities on topics young children love: dinosaurs, space, art and animals. In each category, they also provide talking points and questions that parents can use to spark conversation with kids who are obsessed with shows such as Dinosaur Train, The Wild Ones, and Nature Cat.
Camp Vondropolis
Organized by the National Center for Family Learning , Camp Wonderopolis offers courses and activities in four main areas: music , construction and engineering , health and fitness, and science . They are designed for students of all ages, but in reality they are aimed at children in grades 2-8.
Reading rockets
Chances are, your child really enjoys something – superheroes, sports, cooking, fairy tales, music, or animals. Reading Rockets’ Get Started with a Book program helps children dive deeply into their favorite topics through fiction and non-fiction booklists, activity suggestions, and additional apps and websites to explore.
University Tutors
Varsity Tutors offers many free summer camps for students of all skill levels and topics, including bite science, recycled art, improvisation, dinosaurs, Minecraft, slideshow maker, video editing 101, anime drawing, chess. Spanish for beginners and many others. Start dates span the entire summer.
Wide open school
Wide Open School was created and curated by Common Sense Media, which means you can rest assured that all content is created by high quality providers such as PBS, GoNoodle and Khan Academy. If all of the content – and there is a lot of it – seems too complicated to make out, they also designed a ” Virtual Summer Camp ” schedule with weekly themes for kids in grades K-12.
TakeLessons TV
Kids in grades K-6 can try free online lessons through TakeLessons TV , a weekly series of free online lessons on topics that include foreign languages, acting, cooking, music, beatboxing, and yoga. Upon registration, you will receive a weekly class schedule by email.
Met Opera Global Summer Camp
Starting June 15, the Metropolitan Opera will offer an eight-week camp to teach children in grades 3-12 how to operate through hands-on activities and instruction from writers, artists, musicians, and apparently puppeteers, clowns and bakers. The website says that registration is closed, but interested children will still be able to view all videos and virtual classes via Facebook , YouTube and the opera’s website .
Family camp
Maker Camp is exactly what it’s like: kids (and families) create things, all kinds of things, using all kinds of materials. Upcoming Live Streaming lessons include Robot Making, Father’s Day Gift Making, Scrappy Circuits, and more. (Be sure to review the list of materials in advance.) You can also check out the library of previous Maker Camp sessions .
Camp Kinda
Camp Kinda wins the Best Virtual Summer Camp title award because it’s a camp … sort of. Camp Kinda offers 3-4 hours of classes each day for kids from K-8 that are linked to a weekly theme. (This week’s theme was “lighting, camera, action!”)
Summer Programs K12 Inc.
Students entering grades 8-11 can take advantage of these free summer programs offered by Destinations Career Academy from June 24 to July 22. Courses include business and marketing, healthcare, information technology, video game design and programming, and virtual reality.
Sure, there are a lot more options out there, especially if you’re willing and able to pay the commission, but this list should get you started.
Have your kids participated in any other virtual summer camps that you would recommend? Leave them in the comments so other parents can check them out.