Photo courtesy of Fort Worth Zoo
It’s not too late to sign up for engaging developmental programs and camps for your children this summer. Besides the barrage of sleepaway and sports camps, consider these ten local programs to occupy your small children and teenagers, alike.
Club SciKidz
Want to get your kids involved in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)? Club SciKidz gets them interested by using things they already like: Marvel, space, Legos, and Minecraft. Besides Dallas, you’ll find these week-long camps in Plano, Wylie, Prosper, Garland, and Lewisville.
Dallas Museum of Art
There are still spots open for a variety of summer art classes at the Dallas Museum of Art. Children ages 4-15 can paint, build, draw, and create anything they can imagine at classes ranging from DMA DIY’s design-based 2D and 3D projects to Zootopia’s animal-inspired artworks. An added bonus? Museum members get a discount for these week-long classes.
Early Talent Identification Program (ETIP) Summer Experience
Hosted at Paul Quinn College, the ETIP focuses on core subjects — including excellence, innovation, tenacity, and collaboration — and includes daily academic classes, athletic experiences, and hands-on workshops in order to help kids better understand the issues and inequities that affect their own communities. Each week of the five weeks offered focuses on a different theme, like environmental justice or language arts.
YMCA
YMCA day camps offer all day care for children 5-12 and parents can choose between primarily outdoor or primarily indoor programming with activites like nature exploration, swimming, and improv games. You can find these camps all over the metroplex including Anna, Coppell, and Midlothian.
Texas Ballet Theater School
Everyone from beginning ballerinas to those preparing for the professional stage will be at home at the Texas Ballet Theater School. With campuses in Richardson and Fort Worth, its summer programs offer both week-long programming and drop-in classes for $20. Many weeks have a theme and the school incorporates other activities like crafts and story time for better engagement.
Dallas College Camps
Drop your kids off at your local Dallas College branch and they can enjoy culinary arts, STEM, sports, computer coding, and music programming. Many of these camps are provided at no cost and may only require a small fee to participate. The camps are a week-long and taught by faculty.
Texas Woman’s University Fashion Design Camps
On the campus of TWU in Denton, your kids will learn basic garment construction through skills like fashion sketching and sewing. These 5-day camps will be led by the TWU fashion program faculty and local professionals, with fashion students assisting throughout the day. All the supplies will be provided.
Fort Worth Zoo Summer Zoo Camp
With a variety of weeklong sessions between June and August, the Fort Worth Zoo takes campers behind-the-scenes with their favorite animals. Kids gain access to the zoo before it’s even open to the public. Registration includes a camp shirt, and zoo members get 10 percent off the camps.
UT Dallas Coding Camps
UTD introduces children to coding through animation. Either virtual or in-person in Richardson, the camps are weeks long, but only meet for 1.5 hours a day for the best learning experience. Teens who already have some knowledge might be eligible for advanced camps, and private tutoring is available for students who want to go at their own pace.
North Texas Performing Arts
Half-day and week-long camps at North Texas Performing Arts teach children the basics of the performing arts. Your child can even learn an entire play with full-day workshops and perform with their classmates at the end of the week. There are two-week productions as well including Frozen, The Wizard of Oz, and Newsies Jr.
