Creating a summer camp schedule for your family has become a logistical burden on many parents. Images of setting alarms for registration times and frantically filling out forms to get a spot come to mind. Or of mad-scientist red-string-mapping to figure out how you’re going to get kids one, two, and three to places A, B, and C, all at the same time.
Whether you’re a working parent trying to schedule care for your kids while school’s out, a stay-at-home parent interested in providing enrichment to your child on a budget, or somewhere in between, finding the right camps and creating a schedule that works for your family is stressful and complicated. The challenges only get exponentially harder the more children you have.
Let’s walk through a way to tackle creating a summer camp schedule step-by-step. I’ll share tips from the pros, plus a summer camp planner template I created to plan camps for my own children, which has definitely saved my sanity.
How to choose summer camps for your children
Like when creating an extracurricular schedule for your family, the first step is to figure out what factors are most important to you when selecting summer camps for your kids. Consider, with your partner if applicable, the following:
- Cost and budget – generally high on the list, and don’t go in blind. Camps can be reasonable, but they can also charge absurd rates. Do you have a budget for each week, or for the whole summer?
- Hours and driving logistics – many camps have shorter hours than school. Only some of them offer before and after care. Some may also look great, but take too long to drive to. So consider how much flexibility your family has for pickup and dropoff, and what other limits there may be (such as coordinating two pickups for two kids).
- Interests – what has your child shown interest in? Day camps are a great way to try out a new activity or skill, in anything from sports to arts to programming and more. They may find a new extracurricular interest for the next school year…or rule one out that doesn’t interest them after all. You can also try something oddball that is just right for a week of camp, like – pulling from my local county camp guide – “science potions and explosions”, “aquatic robotics”, “Minecraft survival”, “Ode to Van Gogh”, “Pokemon Engineering”, “Rainbowcorn Surprise Camp”, etc. I am starting to wish I was young enough to attend camp!
- Social needs – what programs are your child’s friends going to? Do you want to send them to the same programs, so they’ll have a familiar face there, and perhaps you can coordinate on carpooling? Or would you rather take this opportunity to encourage your child to branch out and practice friend-making skills by sending them to a camp where they probably won’t know anyone?
- Down time – if your family has flexibility to have camp weeks and non-camp weeks, consider how you’d like to balance camps vs. down time for rest, play at home, family outings, reading, creative time, etc.
If possible, remember to divide and conquer. For parents who have a partner, I am a big proponent of sharing that mental load. Have a meeting with your partner and decide who will be responsible for researching camp options, registration deadlines, etc., and how you will make the decisions together.
When to register for summer camp
Most experts recommend starting planning in January or February. Based on my experience living in a dense suburb, I would actually start the planning process in December. That’s when you’ll create your framework and start researching camps, so that if any do open competitive registrations on January 1, you’ll be ready. Many camps offer early bird discounts in January and February as well.
If you’re reading this and it’s April, don’t panic! Plenty of camps don’t even open registrations until later in the spring. My observation is that programs run by local governments rather than private organizations are likely to have registrations later in the calendar year, so I would start there. Just have a Google. There will be spots left in camps for you. Even camps that were previously filled may add sessions based on demand, or have slots open up due to cancellations. Everything will be okay!
The summer camp planner template that will make planning a breeze
To help organize camp ideas, which were available which weeks, and registration tasks, I created this summer camp planner for parents Notion template. I actually originally created this just for me and my husband to plan camps for our two children, and the planning process was so painless…and actually fun!
The template helps you:
- Research camp options, include cost, theme, distance to your home, and more
- Make a plan for which child will go to which camp, which weeks
- Track registrations, important forms, and expenses
I’ve created this in Notion – however, if you would like this in a different platform, I will consider requests! Leave a comment or shoot me a message. My name is Katy 😊.
How the summer camp planner works
Here’s how the planner will help you in a little more detail.
First, you need to get an overall view of your summer: what weeks does it span? Which weeks do you need camps, and which ones do you not, whether because you’re on vacation or have other childcare plans?
Next, you need to research camps that your kids could possibly attend. I actually find this part to be fun! However, there’s a lot of information to take in, and it’s important to input that into your planner rather than just letting your eyes glaze over website after website (not that I’m guilty of that…). You’ll want to track which kid(s) the camp could be for, the sessions/weeks available, the timing, cost, drive time to your house, and registration open time. I’ve also included spots for you to note forms that you’ll need to fill out and what your child will need to bring if they attend this camp, but you won’t need that information until later.
Then you need to make your family’s actual schedule. This is where the Notion magic comes in – for each kid and week, you will see an automatic list of the camp options available. Then you can simply select the one you plan to register them for. I’ve included a status to track whether you’ve actually registered for the camp or not, which gives you flexibility to “pencil in” camps and move things around until you have a schedule that works for the whole summer.
Notion will also make a to-do list for you. If you’ve selected a camp for a week, you’ll have a task to register for that camp until you note that as complete. If you’ve registered for a camp, you’ll see a task to fill out the required forms, which most if not all camps will have. Keep in mind that everything in the template is completely customizable, so you can ignore or remove any of these functions, plus add anything else that’s helpful to you.
At the end, you’ll a beautiful camp schedule, which you can sync to Notion calendar if you like.
Time to get started! Grab your copy of the summer camp planner for parents and I hope you’ll have your most organized summer ever!
