Summer 2024 Camp ideas in/near Berkeley
Hello I have a 5 year old and need to find care/camps in Berkeley or Albany for all of June and July. Thx for your advice!!
Jan 10, 2024
Hello I have a 5 year old and need to find care/camps in Berkeley or Albany for all of June and July. Thx for your advice!!
Parent Replies
My main recommendation is to pick one camp for as many of those weeks as possible. I think (with hindsight now as the parent of teens) it is very difficult on 5 and 6 year olds to switch camps every week even if the parents think it will be more "fun". I wish I'd been attuned to that when my kids were little.
In terms of what I'd recommend for a 5 year old, I think Monkey Business is quite chill and welcoming, with also lots of movement and activity. The big city-run camps are always, always chaotic and staffer quality varies greatly. I consider them a better choice for 8+, who are signed up with existing friends.
Monkey Business has 2 and 3-week sessions in Tilden Park and registration is open now. Lawrence Hall of Science has 2-week sessions, also open now. I found a cool camp that my art-obsessed 5 yo will be going to for a week, called Camp 510. That also opened for registration this week. Cal camps open next week, I believe, and I have heard from a few friends that their kids loved the Explorer camp at Strawberry Canyon. Good luck!