Best Summer Camps for 5-7 year olds???
We just moved to Oakland from SF and we are looking for summer camps for our 5 and 7 year old kids. And it's daunting!! Our kids are very curious and love to be active. In the past we've put them in gymnastics camp, cooking camp, theater, forest camp, sports camps etc. They love adventure, and they love to learn. We would love to get them enrolled in a camp where they can learn some skills (i.e. sports, cooking, swimming, dance, theater, etc.), and that is also very fun and engaging for them. Basically a very well programmed and run camp with an element of cool enrichment activities. Please recommend any camps that your kids loved at that age that you would highly recommend. Thank you!!
Jan 16, 2024
Parent Replies
Highly recommend Monkey Business Camp in Tilden Park. They start taking kids at 5.5-5.75. All outdoors, excellent counselors, my kids absolutely love it. Cal has some great summer camps but they are almost impossible to get into - sign ups start next week! One more option - Trackers - all about outdoor adventure and learning wilderness "survival". Good luck!
Trackers is the most memorable camp that my kids went to at around that age (and through about 5th grade). It has a very Bay Area vibe.
https://trackersbay.com/youth/camps/summer-camp/
Our daughter has really enjoyed summers with the UC Berkeley Youth camps and Trackers Earth.
Berkeley’s general activity camps allow you to rank activities at enrollment based on camper interests and some include swim lessons. My daughter loved meeting the Cal student counselors from all over the world.
Trackers Earth has made some positive changes after a rocky period post-COVID closures. If you want outdoor time and nature-based activities, they are great. My daughter loved all the tracks she tried, so never could settle in one. She still plans her clothes and packs her daily bag based on their readiness training.
We also recommend reading up on the East Bay Regional Parks camp options. They differ by location, but we’ve had good experiences in Contra Costa County locations and with Jr Lifeguard camp in Alameda.
My kid enjoyed Monkey Business and Steve and Kate's. Those are usually based at an elementary school. Trackers and Avid are great for getting kids outside and active, all day.
Adventure Day Camp is in Moraga, but they have a bus that will pick up from Rockridge Bart - nice variety of activities. Their sessions are multiple weeks, offer sibling discounts. The last week they also do a one-night campout at Chabot which was a great experience for my son when he was younger.