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B is in Kinder also. This would be the last year for him to be able to go to C's daycare run camp which has the same extended hours as the regular school year. He went last year and it was a decent program but not a lot of water play/variety of outdoor activities. I've looked at our other options and we have 2 YMCA's, one of which is at our local public school with a pool and the other at the big county YMCA. I just found a Christian day camp that's about the same price of $260/week that I'm considering but it's a little further from home and has those same 9-4PM hours which are not ideal. All the other dedicated summer camps around here run $600+/week and there is no possible way I could afford that nonsense.

@Corduroy: My oldest is in first grade, so we were in your situation last year.

We did a few one week camps, a couple weeks of family vacation, and LO1 spent the rest of the summer at the summer program for elementary kids at her old preschool (where LO2 is enrolled).

We knew we wouldn't do the program at the preschool every year, but it was a nice bridge for LO1 (it was familiar, her friends from preschool were there, and we only had 1 pick up and drop off for both kids).

I'm glad we tried out a few other camps - we have a much clearer direction going into this summer! This summer, LO1 will be at more one week camps, and will spend some time at the program at the preschool.

We're doing this for the first time this year as well, and my goal is to get into a camp nearby that is very similar to what @poppygirl15 described. It's insanely expensive, but we decided that we wanted kiddo to do things she's always wanted like horseback riding, swimming, etc. while we have some financial flexibility since we're not paying for daycare anymore. She's also going to spend a week with my mom in July, and we're looking at a trip abroad for a week as well, so we'll probably try to get into this camp for most of the summer (it's week to week), and do a week or two in the camp that her aftercare program provides. But it's definitely a planning exercise - I have a calendar I'm planning everything out into, and camps in this area are really hard to get into because demand is so high, so we're hoping to get a slot.

I'm already freaking out about this! I don't yet know what my options are. I could just send him back to his old daycare as they allow kids to come back the summer after K. However, not sure if any of this old friends will be going yet and it is expensive. But his little brother is there so the one drop off thing is what I dream of! My other thought was to get a summer nanny and pull both kids. Then I'd have to figure out to supplement with camps so not sure it's really any less expensive. I need to get on that.

@Corduroy: Your final paragraph made me burst out laughing.

Our town has a camp that we did last year and we'll likely do again this summer. It's from 9-1 for the entire summer.
We have a nanny anyway for our younger son, so this will work as my younger son cannot do full days, but once they're both in elementary i've toured a few full day summer camps that we'll likely do when they can both attend.

It's different for me, because I'm a teacher and off for the summer. And also, it's my personality that having 2 kids home with me doesn't overwhelm me, and I keep us all busy doing enough things that I feel like my kids get a lot out of the summer....So I mostly keep them home with me.

HOWEVER, that is super uncommon in my current area. Even SAHPs in my area send their kids to summer camps all summer. So this is what some of my friends do:

1) the super expensive bussed camps to suburban/rural areas. These are the "full experience traditional camp" experiences. It can be 6-8k for the summer. Per kid. They seem like they have fun, and I guess the big draw is outside time and learning to swim, since they do swimming 1-2 times a day. These hours kind of suck if parents have inflexible, full time jobs because pickup on the bus is like 8 pm and drop off is like 4-5pm (depending on the camp), so you either need a parent there, home early, or you have to foot that bill and also hire a sitter/nanny. So my friends that do this are either SAHMs, or they already have a nanny on top of this.

2) the semi-expensive in town camps. Usually at private schools who also do summer camps. Sometimes their hours are also not friendly to full time working parents with inflexible schedules. Costs are closer to $500/wk per child. These are usually the themed camps, like at the Science Museum, or STEM camps or Language immersion camps at private schools who specialize in this. May or may not include a swimming session, depending on the camp. Usually hours are only like 9-4, with before and after care for an added expense, and it still might only get you 8am-5pm. 6pm at the latest, in an area where a lot of people work until 6pm.

-The in town camps at daycares/preschools. These tend to be 7am-7pm, and they do low budget outings like to city playgrounds, splash pads, the library, the movie theater. No swimming. Cost is still around $500 wk, but hours are better for working parents. They still do theme weeks, but the options are a little less fancy, and the staff will be daycare type workers, not professional teachers. If that makes sense.

-And then there are the random "fun" camps around town for people like me, who want to do some fun things but don't need all day care, and don't want to spend a lot of $$. We've done little half day sports camps, half day theater camps, full day dance camps (where the day is really only 9-3 pm) etc. These tend to be in the$300-$400 range. And I usually do a few weeks of this kind of thing, and the remainder of the summer taking my kids to the beach, to city museums, on little day trips, to every cool playground I can find on google, etc.

I think this summer, I'm going to sign my girls up for 2 weeks of swimming, 1 week of gymnastics, 1 week of soccer. Or switch one of those out for a week of dance. Then 4 weeks that will be split between "mom camp", trips to see our family, and our annual summer family vacay.

We are 1st grade now. I am an illustrator and I have the luxury of working from home, or anywhere really. We've been doing summer camp since pre-k.

People probably thought I were crazy but I put DS to summer camp all over town lol. I line them up as if I were the one going haha. I was able to do that because I can take my work and go draw in a park, or a cafe if the camp is a little further away.

For the camps our school offer, we asked him what he did, and it almost always sounded like they watched a movie or a program of some sort at some point of the day... more like a glorified daycare with TV. For the few "outside" camp they seem to be more interesting. The ones we've been to so far are as follows:

- Golf camp at TopGolf -- yes they offer camps! DS became a different boy with his swings after 1 week!

-Local art museum (30 min drive): art camp - they have "field trips" to the museum's current exhibition, and they even watched the related performance at the theater next door. Last year we went they had a Winnie The Pooh exhibit, and the performance they watched was also Winnie The Pooh. I wish I were the kid!

- a Nature camp at a Park (somewhat close to museum): We did that one with a friend last year. It was very tricky with the amount of things we have to pack. They swam each day (so laundry every other day). They asked us to bring his bike + helmet on Friday which sounds really cool for the child but sooooo much stuff for the parents. DS really wanted to do it again but I don't think we are, just too much work.

-Local theater (right next to art museum): drama camp and musical theater camp

-Ice skating camp at an ice rink (DS learned iceskating there) about 10-15 mins away

-sports camp at a Gym about 10-15 mins away

-Baseball camp at a high school (that I would love to have him go to) 5 mins away

- Last year there were some emergency, and we had to travel to Hong Kong and ran some errands. DH somehow found a summer camp there. It was an English camp where kids took field trips and wrote articles about it afterwards. And they made it into a "magazine" and sent it to us lol. It was quite cool (although DS didn't seem to care much for it).

This year I am contemplating putting him in a chess camp at another school for a week. He loves chess and I think he'd enjoy it. Also thinking of doing ice skating, baseball, and drama camp again. Might sign him up for basketball camp offer at that high school 5 mins away too. Have to figure that all out this coming Monday with DS. I wish I could find a "swimming camp" somewhere that really only focus on swimming but haven't had such luck.

A friend is going to put her DS to overnight camps starting this year! This has been my dream, but I am waiting it up as DS is still having issues staying dry consistently at night. Hopefully we look into that too soon... but those will be expensive.

@irene: ha! Right?! I’m totally jealous of her summer.