Last-Minute Summer Camp Guide

School ends next week and many people have still not figured out what to do with the kids this summer.  How did this happen?  How did summer sneak up on us?  And just what, exactly, are your children going to do for the next ten weeks?!   Do not panic -- you’ll be glad to know there are many fantastic local camps that are still accepting campers. 

The Montclair YMCA (www.montclairymca.org) runs a variety of camps for 2-year-olds through teens, and many still have availability.  The “I’m a Big Kid Now” camp for 2-3 year olds is closed, but Early Adventures for 3 year-olds through kindergartners is still open, and New Discoveries (ages 4-9) has openings in sessions 1,2, 8, and 9.   Camp at the Lake (ages 6-12) has availability in all of its nine 1-week sessions, as does Explorers (ages 9-12) and the awesome Teen Travel Camp (ages 13-15). 

Montclair Kimberley Academy (www.montclairkimberley.org) offers six one-week sessions from June 27-August 5, of STAR Camp (Sports, Theater, Art, Recreation), all of which still have openings for campers in Kindergarten through grade 8.  The Montclair Public Schools host an amazing variety of camps starting at age 4 through The Work Family Connection.  More than 25 programs focus on everything from Metal Art to Basketball to General Sports to Drama.  The only camp currently fully booked is Learning Fun at the Bradford School.  All of the other 24 programs have some availability, although not every camp has availability every week.  Check the website, www.workfamily.org for current information about availability and appropriate ages for each camp. 

If your child loves the classes he or she does during the school year, it’s worth investigating if those organizations offer summer camps – many do.  For example, the Sharron Miller Academy of the Performing Arts has two Prime Time Summer Arts Camps – one for  pre-schoolers and one for age 6-14.  Both feature art, music, drama, and dance, and the older kids’ camp also has swimming. The pre-school camp has nine 1-week sessions, and the older camp has two three-week sessions.  Currently, all sessions have room for all ages, boys and girls. Registration information is available at www.smapa.org.  

If your child can’t get enough music during the year, check out School of Rock’s Summer Boot Camps for young musicians ages 7-18.  The camps are organized by skill level, and include themes as “Discover Rock n Roll  (beginners),  “Generation Y2K”, “Rock n’ Soul Summer Revue” and Metallicamp (advanced only).  Campers in Generation Y2K, Rock n Soul Summer Revue and Metallicamp complete their camp weeks with a Saturday concert at Just Jake’s.  Information at www.schoolofrock.com or 973-337-5296.  All sessions still open. 

There is a also a huge variety of sports camps with availability for this summer.  MVP Sports Camps (www.mvpcamps.com) runs a popular all sports program at the Glen Ridge High School for boys and girls 6-14 years old.  There are six 1-week sessions, June 27-August 5, and all have availability.  They play a variety of sports and games, including soccer, baseball, dodegball, handball and much more. Nike Baseball Camp runs a summer program for boys only at Yogi Berra Stadium for six one-week sessions and all have availability (www.ussportscamps.com).  SDA Montclair runs 10 one-week sessions of soccer camp for boys and girls, ages 3-12, all have openings.  New this summer, Dave Masur, head coach of St. John’s University Men’s Soccer, is running a one-week soccer camp at MSU – www.davemasur.com -- that still has availability.  This camp is only offered July 18-22. 

If your child is not so sporty, fun and fabulous summer opportunities still abound.  Rock, Paper Scissors is hosting crafting and sewing camps and has some availability in crafting the weeks of July 11 and July 25 (ages 6-10) and in sewing July 18-22 (10-15 year olds).  www.rockpaperscissorsnj.com 

Both sessions of The Montclair University Summer Camp for the Gifted and Talented are closed for grades 1-8, but spots remain for students in grades 9-11 (www.montclair.edu).  The Montclair Art Museum (www.montclairartmuseum.org) offers many different camps including SummerART Pottery Camp, Digital Media Camp, as well as many additional two-week sessions of thematic programming starting with age 5.  There is some availability in all sessions. 

The Montclair Cooperative School offers Summer Chess Camp (with mixed board games and activities too) for five weeks, and still has availability in all weeks (www.montclaircoop.org).  The Montclair Learning Center has camps in science, chess, iMedia, Mindscapes, and Gamemaker and all sessions currently have openings (www.mlcplus.com).   

So you still have lots of options, but those are changing hour by hour so don’t put it off any more, as they are filling up quickly!  This list is by no means meant to be all-inclusive -- please add your favorite camp to our list, and let us know if there’s still room for more campers.