Summer (holiday) camps & workshops for kids

Summer camps and workshops for Children. Looking for something fun and interesting to do with the kids over the summer holidays? Here’s how to keep the kids engaged. And in case you decide not to put your child for any activity, that is also perfectly fine.

Once the summer holidays start, you will find ads everywhere promoting their summer camps for kids. Here are the activities that you find in most typical summer camps – basic yoga, art & craft, story telling, Tshirt painting, canvas painting, cooking, plantation, puzzles, shloka chanting, puppet making, fun play.

Schools themselves send out mailers to parents saying they are organizing after school activities during the summer holidays. Here’s one such mailer that was sent out.

Greetings from XYZ School,
Our school has consistently given its best efforts to provide 360-degree holistic development of kids.

From this year school has arranged specialised coaching in the field of:

• Sports
• Performing arts

In this process, the School has arranged Summer coaching .

On the last day of the academic year, the coaches of different activities will be available for interaction with parents. Apart from training, these coaches will also help in participation at the Inter-School level and on other bigger platforms. These activities will be continued as after school activities from coming academic year.

As per the recent circular sent by School, we would like to remind you to come and take maximum advantage of this initiative and give your kids a new career dimension.

Looking forward for the maximum positive response.

Thank you.
XYZ School

While extra curricular activities are welcome, ideally the school is supposed to offer some of these (sports and performing activities) during the regular course of the years, as part of the fees paid for the academic year.

But it seems, that is not the case.

Parents are supposed to pay extra for these sessions.

Do You Really Have to Enroll Your Kids for Summer Camps?

Here’s a letter from a parent, concerned about the number of parents who are pushing their kids to enroll for Summer Camps.

I opened today’s morning newspaper and found several leaflets all calling out for enrollment into Summer Camps for Children. There were several advertisements inside the newspaper as well.

A quick glance of these summer camp offerings is all about Spoken English, Abacus, Increasing memory power, Memorizing techniques, Personality development starting from 3 year old children, Robotics for Class 5 students and so on. There were few for sports and music as well.

I can understand that they are businesses, and need to earn to sustain themselves, and its only natural that they will keep on advertising. But as parents, don’t we say that the best days of life are the school days. So why are parents letting it be the same for their kids as well?

I remember a parent asking me in one of my career counselling session as to how his son who just finished his exams the day before is sleeping till 7 am and wanted my advice on which class he should enroll. Thinking about it I guess we have lost our mind completely.

• Summer vacation was something kids really looked forward to in the past but Iam not sure if the same can be said now for a vast majority.
• Why can’t a kid sleep a bit extra, play with his/her friends in the apartment, eat well, rest well, visit relatives/friends and more importantly just being the kids they are supposed to be?
• If they are really interested in a class let them join but this summer camp craze is heights and really puts so much pressure on the kids even during vacation.
• I really look forward to my son’s vacation not for anything else but for those few extra hours I get to spend with him.The best personality development trainer for the kids can only be their parents and if at all we really want to give them a good time, try and check if you can bargain some time from your schedule and spend that time may be playing a game together or having fun by what our kids would like to do.

When I see a kid speaking like a grown up adult it just scares me and there’s nothing to be proud about.

We are now expecting routine (from kids) in vacations as well, and that’s really unhealthy. We are not giving them the space to develop but there is more pressure on them to grow.

Most are under pressure nowadays and find reasons to engage their kids so as to keep them away from the tabs, gaming consoles, IPADs etc. Recreation is a must for kids to develop their creative skills. Let them enjoy the best days of their childhood.

This message is really meant for the well being of kids so please read it over-n-over so that we don’t pressurize our kids. But if your child is genuinely interested (and enjoys) any specific activity, please feel free to enroll your kid for that activity.

Still Want to Opt for a Summer Camp?

If you still want to opt for a summer camp, in order to keep your little one busy, by all means go ahead. There are plenty of options out there.

Some camps may focus more on certain activities. Here’s one such example.

Curiosity Box: Story on soccer game invention in an European jail. Who was the first animal sent to space
Mad Scientist: Make your own electric fan model (Working model). Learn to connect simple circuits. Lava Lamp experiment a mesmerizing lava lamp
Artsy Craftsy: 3D Portrait Art, Make & do
Fitness: Zumba, Physical activities
Games: Skilled and team building games
Pirate Party: DIY pirate hats, Walk the plank, Cannon ball blast, Treasure Hunt, Make Pirate cupcakes

Film-making camp

Filmmaking camps are of two types:

• Short film camps for teens and adults (few days to a week). Here, participants work together to write scripts, act in and direct short films.
• Longer vocational film workshops for adults (few months). Here students develop and shoot a thesis film, along with smaller video assignments. These workshops prepare students to work in film and media industry.

You can enroll in a one/two week camp in various creative aspects, including acting for film and television, film production, animation and visual effects, game design, and introduction to film, animation, and design.

Here are some of the benefits of attending Filmmaking camps:

• Students/participants get to understand the nuances of film-making and animation.
• You get to hear about experiences from great movies
• Depending on the camp, you could even be exposed to practical training in making short movies and animation.

Certain camps may have age limits, and could be open only to children (usually between the ages of 9 and 16).

Through filmmaking, students learn important skills such as teamwork, leadership, taking action to empower them to enter the workforce and live independent lives.

So if you’re wondering what to do with your grown-up son or daughter this holidays, one option is to send them to a summer camp (photography, digital-music production, filmmaking, theatre and film, game design, journalism) where they can learn new skills, and possibly ignite a passion that will remain with them for their entire lives.

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