Summer may still feel a long ways away, but planning to keep your kids busy and active while school’s out can’t happen soon enough. From swim classes to sports camps and field trips around the Bay, there’s something for everyone in north and west Sonoma County.
In fact, there are so many summer camps, day activities and sports adventures that just deciding what, and how many, to sign the kids up for, could be a full-time job by itself. And for working parents, there is often a balance to be found between the desire to sign your children up for enriching activities, and the need to keep them busy and active doing the work week.
“I use these summer camps as day care,” said Windsor mother of two Kat Braunstein. “While my schedule is flexible working at home, there can be a lot of driving so I try to find ones that are at least 9 to 3 — and anything with swimming is great,” she said.
In fact, Braunstein starts a matrix in the early spring so that as she finds camps that her daughters — ages 7 and 8 — might be interested in, she plugs them into the potential summer schedule, keeping start dates, costs and registration dates in mind.
“There is a ton to choose from, but I’m happy about that because every year, I can choose something different that keeps them from going, ‘Oh, that again,’” she said.
Her daughters have tried all kinds of camps, from the weekly summer camps offered by the Town of Windsor to the Healdsburg Center for the Arts camp to gymnastics camps.
This year, Braunstein said she plans to sign them up for camps through the City of Healdsburg’s Recreation Department that incorporates trips to the pool each day.
“Anything that gets them outside is really awesome, and any sort of enrichment that they don’t get at school is great,” she said.
Local organizations have created weeks worth of fun for children of all ages, to keep them occupied and learning while school is out and for parents and children, the choice seem to be endless.
In Windsor, the very popular Camp Windsor is a day camp for kids ages five and a half to 10. Each week is themed, and camps typically sell out and parents rush to sign their children up for the fun and unique activities.
“Every week we do science, art, cooking and physical activity — we try to concentrate on things that kids normally get at school, but in fun activities,” said Town of Windsor Recreation Program Supervisor Cindy Toms.
“A couple of the weeks sell out, whacky week is one of the most popular and we anticipate this summer the camps will get close to filling up. We encourage people to register as far in advance as possible,” Toms said.
As most summer camps do, Camp Windsor offers variations to suit the needs of parents and children. Half days and full days are available and parents can sign their children up for one week at a time or multiple weeks throughout the entire summer.
“What’s unique about Camp Windsor is that we offer a low staff to participant ratio, which is one to eight,” Toms said. “It gives all the participants really focused attention.”
For more information about Camp Windsor or other Town of Windsor camps, including a preschool camp, sports-oriented camps and teen camps, go to the Town of Windsor website at www.townofwindsor.com.
Healdsburg’s Fitch Mountain Day Camp is the longest running summer camp in Healdsburg and begins the Monday after school is out for the summer. Starting its 27th year this summer, the camp provides children entering kindergarten through those in 8th grade with 10 weeks of activities.
Each week includes arts, crafts dramatic play, music, games, swimming, water slide, jumping tent, sports tournaments, face painting, sno-cones, “wheels days,” “super-soaker days,” and other special events.
Part of Day Camp’s philosophy has always been in its commitment to conflict resolution and teaching children to be responsible for themselves in a group.
“As part of the Day Camp community, campers learn to respect themselves, accept and respect each other, play fairly and deal with their conflicts in a non-aggressive, verbal manner,” the camp’s website says.
Also in Healdsburg, the City’s Parks and Recreation Department continues to grow each year, adding more opportunities for children of all ages.
A unique option, the city offers programs for even the youngest family members. Classes for kids as young as 2 years old are being offered this year in Healdsburg, and demand has proven to be high.
For the first time, the department is offering a “soccer” camp for kids starting at age 2, and the first class has already sold out, with a waiting list filling up as well.
“Preschool programs are really popular throughout the year,” said Healdsburg Recreation Coordinator Alan Finnie. Finnie said the new soccer program for 2-3 year olds is really more about coordination and motor skills. “I’m not really sure if you can call it soccer,” he joked.
The city does offer soccer camps, as well as a camp for just about every other sport, throughout the summer for older kids. But, the most popular is still the summer weekly camps.
“We have in the past had themed camps, but this year, we decided to do a more classic summer camp that will incorporate everything,” Finnie said. “When you theme it, sometimes if it doesn’t sound as interesting, the parents won’t sign them up. This year, our camps will incorporate everything from cooking, enrichment, sports, science and gardening,” he said.
The all day camps also include summing four days a week, a popular aspect of camp that keeps the kids coming back.
The group will also incorporate a day for trips to local parks each week and a movie day complete with projection screen and popcorn.
The full-day camp runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., which is ideal for working parents, Finnie said.
For more information, and to find the summer activities guide, which also includes classes and programs for teens and adults, go to www.ci.healdsburg.ca.us.
In west county, opportunities are far and wide for weekly camps, day camps, art camps, and more.
At the Sebastopol Community Cultural Center, kids entering first through sixth grade can sign up for full or part time summer camps that include organic gardening, expressive arts, swimming at Ives Pool, cooking, crafts, games, outdoor play, field trips, community building, and special guest instructors.
Camp director, Celosia Fireflower Arcadia (“Miss Moon”) was most recently the director of Earth Camp, and brings to Sun Camp her unique appreciation of the benefits of hands-on, outdoor-oriented, experiential, community-focused activities for kids. The camp promises to offer “all the fun every parent wants kids to have at summer camp, with a warmhearted West County spirit.”
For more information, visit www.seb.org.
There are many, many camps available in and around Sonoma County. Many were not listed above, but can be found through Boys and Girls Clubs, art centers, gymnastics programs, and dance schools, which all tend to have unique summer opportunities for local children. Happy hunting.
