Each and every year restless children await the end of school and the start of summer. When that day finally comes, kids everywhere rejoice while parents think, “How do I get these kids out of here?!”
If you’re one of those parents you’re in luck, because we have a run down of the best summer camps in Vacaville. They’re sure to be educational and exciting for the young ones while keeping you sane! Plus, summer opportunities allow gifted kids to connect with others around shared interests and experiences.
Which camp will your kids choose? Let us know in the comments!
The Academy of 21st Century Learning
The Academy of 21st Century Learning has camps for all ages and grade levels, and even some featuring specific topics. View all available camps and dates here.
City of Vacaville Summer Camps
Find date, registration, and weekly theme info for each camp here. Camp descriptions are below.
Academic Enrichment Camp
This summer have some good old fashion fun while preparing for kindergarten! You can chose from Preschool Phonics, Preschool Math or Preschool Science. Each session is one week long. These programs are geared for children who must turn 5 years old prior to September 1, 2014. No exception on ages.
Beat the Heat Summer Ice Skating Camp
Beat the heat this summer at the coolest place in town! Enjoy an amazing week of fun to skate classes. This unique camp offers both on and off ice activities for all ages and abilities. Be cool this summer at Vacaville Ice Sports.
Camp Adobe
Outdoor adventures abound at this old fashioned day camp in an amazing outdoor environment. Held at historic Pena Adobe Park, each week will provide recreational experiences which focus on outdoor nature activities that campers will enjoy, as we explore the outdoors with fishing, hiking, nature walks, craft making, and swimming, and other exciting camp activities.
Camp Art Discovery
Take a journey into some of the best artistic periods in history. Students expand skills in painting, drawing, and multi-media. An art show will be presented on the last day of class for parents. $15 materials fee is payable to the instructor at first class.
Camp Cooking Show
Students get the amazing opportunity to create and present their recipe on their own television show. Students will practice on camera presentation and create the first episode to their own cooking show! $15 materials fee is payable to the instructor at first class. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Cooper
Throughout the summer activities will include indoor and outdoor organized games, play time, songs, drama, activities, arts and crafts, cooking, a weekly field trip to the pool and an additional field trip once per week.
Regular Swim Days: Tuesday & Thursday
Regular Field Trip Day: Wednesday
Camp Glee
Sing! Dance! Perform! In this fun one-week summer camp, students will incorporate music and movement in theatrical presentations of popular musical theater pieces and pop music with ‘Thriller’ as the finale. A show is presented to parents on the last day of camp. $15 materials fee is payable to the instructor at first class. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Hollywood
Want to land yourself on the red carpet? Learn what it takes to be a movie star in this camp that offers a unique approach to acting and film. Campers write, film, and star in a short film. Parents have the option to buy a DVD copy of filming through the week including the film. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Kidz on TV
Lights, Camera Action! Join us as we film ‘Kidz TV’ where students learn to film, host, and produce a youth show. Young Producers learn to create the family friendly show content from start to finish and enjoy being celebrities. Parents have the option to buy a DVD copy of filming through the week, including the show. A $15 materials fee is payable to the instructor at first class. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Magic
Magicians take the official magician’s code and learn card tricks, magic, and illusions to present to their future audiences. Students will present a magic show to families on the last day of camp. An additional $15 materials fee is payable to instructor at first class. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Runway
Make it Work! Become a trendsetter and design your own outfits from scratch. Wear your designs. Campers learn basics in fashion design, sewing and patterns. Also included are runway walk, positive body image, and self-esteem workshops. Wear your designs down the runway in a fashion show the last day of camp. Additional $15 materials fee paid to instructor on first day of class. Instructor: Creative Kids Camp.
Camp Splash
Fun in the sun, here we come! Camp Splash offers daily swimming lessons (M-Th) for all skill levels from beginners to intermediate. Campers will also enjoy four afternoons a week of swimming, field trips, and a special lunch day. Our sessions are each one week long and packed full of fun activities. During the afternoon campers can take a break from the water and participate in a variety of other recreational activities. At Camp Splash campers will have fun, learn new athletic and recreational skills, develop strong friendships, and build self-esteem through positive interactions.
Camp Ultimate Chef
Students learn the basics in making favorite popular dishes. Chefs learn how to make recipes with adult supervision. Our program focuses on food safety, healthy alternatives for popular dishes, and food preparation techniques. A $15 materials fee is payable to the instructor at first class. Creative Kids Camp Instructors
CheerGym Camp
Stay active, stay cool, and have fun at the Vacaville Recreation Center this summer! Our Cheer Gym Camp is a great choice for a safe and fun cheer and tumbling experience for all skill levels. Come join our cheer staff for daily cheer and tumbling instruction, games, crafts, open gym time, and field trips. Our fieldtrips are included in our camp price! Fieldtrips Tuesday s- Cultive Frozen Yogurt or Ice Skating Day Wednesdays – Brenden Theatres Movie Day Thursday- Walter Graham Aquatics Center Pool Day
CheerGym Camp Dates: 6/30-7/3 (no camp 7/4) & 8/4-8/8
Crazy Chemworks – Mad Science Camp
Get ready to lose your mind in the vast and exciting world of chemistry! This camp is full of reactions, observations, solutions, suspensions, explosions, concoctions, perplexions, digestions, reflections, and dalmations (kidding), just to name a few! You will challenge your friends in the labware game, combat evaporation, be amazed at the awesome power of glue technology and trigger some shocking reactions. You’ll snoop out counterfeit money, launch chemical explosions (not TOO big) and learn how and why the chemical world works. So dive into your fantastically fun pool of chemical experimentation! Just don’t mix this one with that one or you might blow up the universe!
Dance Camp
Campers are introduced to the three most popular styles of dance – hip hop, jazz and contemporary in this fun and exciting camp. Students learn basic dance terminology, technique, and fun dance routines. Campers also work on practicing choreography and performance skills. Camp ends with a performance for parents! Expressions Dance Studio Instructors
Eco Engineering using Lego
Design and build LEGO machines powered by alternative energy sources. Race solar cars, build a wind-powered electrical generation facility, and invent a machine powered by stored elastic strain energy. Learn about sustainability and understand the human world while exploring concepts in physics, engineering, and architecture
EUREKA! The Inventors’ Camp – Mad Science Spring Break Camp
EUREKA! – The Inventors’ Camp – Ages 6-12 Be inspired by the most famous inventors in history – Ben Franklin, the Wright Brothers, Leonardo da Vinci, Rube Goldberg! – and create your OWN inventions! Use their techniques to break through a series of modern day challenges. You will learn how to invent solutions and make them come to life, just like these legendary innovators did. Construct catapults and forts, design underwater vehicles, build a mini-amplifier, and assemble a working light saber to take home. Thomas Edison said invention is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration, but this camp is 100% fun.
Flight Academy – Mad Science
Flight Academy – Mad Science It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s….everything from the earliest flying machines to the first rocket flights. This hands-on program will let you learn all about aerodynamics and the world above us. Explore the basic principles of flight, build airplanes, test them in wind tunnels, ride a hovercraft and construct balloon copters. Discover the mysteries of the galaxy, learn about the celestial navigation, and take home a rocket that you have built yourself. We’ll be moving at light speed throughout this high velocity week!
Grossology (Mad Science)
NEW! Ewwww, Gross! Your child will have the time of their lives learning about the ooey, gooey and gross things about science. Join us as we get down and dirty with earthworms and learn how they and other bugs help us with composting. Show some guys as you process food in your digestor inspector and see what systems make our bodies go. Have some good, rotten fun with garbage decomposition and see how important water is for everything! You’ll learn about the power of chemistry, how it affects matter (the stuff everything is made of), and get to make your own totally yucky polymer slime to keep! Just don’t describe this stuff during dinner!
Gymnastics Camp
Vacaville Gymnastics offers a one of a kind camp experience that is filled with active fun in a large air-conditioned gymnastics facility. Our camp includes daily gymnastics instruction for every skill level, games, crafts, and open gym time. Our camp also includes 3 weekly fieldtrips that are all included in our camp price! Fieldtrips Tuesdays- Cultive Frozen Yogurt or Ice Skating Day Wednesdays- Brenden Theatres Movie Day Thursday- Walter Graham Aquatics Center Pool Day
Gymnastics Camp Dates: 6/9-6/13, 6/16-6/20, 6/23-6/27, 7/7-7/11, 7/14-7/18, 7/21-7/25, & 7/28-8/1, 8/4-8/8
Jr. Robotics using LEGO
Build and program robots in this introductory Robotics class using the LEGO WeDo system. Learn basic programming skills, simple engineering concepts, and the names of robot components. Work in small groups to complete several projects using tilt and motion sensors. This is a great way to prepare young Robotics enthusiasts for our more advanced Robotics program.
Leader In Training
The Leader-In-Training program is held in conjunction with the City of Vacaville’s Summer Camps. This leadership training program is a dynamic experience for participants 11-17 years old and provides hands-on experience that can be applied to ‘real life’ situations. This training program aims to foster personal and professional growth, and provide teens with meaningful experiences to enhance their college applications, career aspirations and lives! What Youth Will Gain:
· Leadership skills working with youth ages 5-12
· Valuable work experience/community service hours
· Training in the following skills: communication, problem-solving, leadership, and decision-making
· CPR and First Aid Certification
· Enjoy an active, productive experience this summer
· An opportunity to make a difference in your community and impact the lives of children
Mad Science – Advanced Robots
Great Scott! We need you to control our robots before they get the upper hand and take over the world! In this camp you will learn about robotic control and program the amazing Parallax ‘Scribbler 2’ robot with its Graphical User Interface programming language. A series of increasing challenges are designed to earn you mastery of this sinister mechanical menace! If you are victorious and there is time you will employ light sensors and program flags to follow lines, avoid obstacles and navigate mazes. Get ready to fire up your skills of deductive reasoning and problem solving. By the end you’ll be convinced you have a new super-power! (An additional materials fee of $40 for the robot is due at the first day of camp).
Mad Science – Crash Test!
Put your inventions to the ultimate test! Take designs that you and others create- inspired by the minds and methods of the greatest inventors- and put them to the ultimate test! You’ll pit your catapults against a fort’s protective walls, tweak wacky contraptions until they knock your socks off, escape a deserted island in your home-made boat, and see if your space capsule design can withstand the tremendous forces of launch and re-entry! Add the Eureka! camp for even more invention!
Mad Science – Dino Explorer
Do you like dinosaurs? Do you know what they liked to eat and how they lived? In this preschool camp you’ll become a dinosaur expert and go on a dinosaur hunt! You’ll dig for dinosaurs, big and small, used their bodies to survive in a prehistoric world! When we’re done you’ll know so much about your favorite dinosaur that you might even become one!
Mad Science – Little Green Thumbs
Blossoming minds will love this week! Specially designed for the pre-K or kindergartener, this camp teaches all about the amazing things that happen in the garden. Learn that plants, fruits, and vegetables start forms seeds. Explore what they need to grow and survive and where they get those things as we study weather. Discover the role that bugs and butterflies play in making your garden grow.
Mad Science – MAD LAB
Come to the Mad Lab and go scientifically bonkers with a super cool variety of science topics. In Radical Reactions you’ll create gases, control chemical reactions and even generate power with chemicals! In Chemical Counting you’ll build models of the inner machinery of cells, unravel DNA and break a secret code. In Birds and the Beasts you’ll examine bugs and birds and even what they just ate – yuck! In Organ Trail you’ll learn about the amazing YOU from the inside out – from bones to brains to heart and lungs and more!
Music Camps
See separate course descriptions under details. Instructor: Lone Romagosa, BA Music, MS Education
NASA: Academy of Future Space Explorers [Mad Science]
EXPLORE THE EARTH, MOON, MARS… AND BEYOND! Mad Science and NASA have teamed up to bring you the excitement and wonder of space in the NASA Academy of Future Space Explorers After-School Program! Developed in cooperation with NASA, the Academy of Future Space Explorers takes children on a voyage of discovery. With unique hands-on activities, amazing demonstrations and fun educational take-homes, this is an experience that is truly out of this world!
Lil Rascal Summer Camps
Make your child’s first camp experience a positive one! Our preschool camps are for 5 year olds wishing to go to camp, but not ready for a full day. Our camps offer academic enrichment through weekly themes, arts & crafts projects, games, cooking, free play, music, story time and much more. All children must be potty trained. See ya at camp!
Youth/Fitness Boot Camp
A fitness boot camp designed just for kids. Lots of fast-paced, high-energy, fitness activities, challenges and games. Weight training on equipment specifically designed for youth will also be incorporated. Campers will learn the importance of nutrition and exercise in their daily routine and leave camp with a positive outlook on fitness!
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