Summer Camps and Daycamps

There are so many summer camps for kids in Orange County that you don't have to leave your kids in their regular after school program during the summer time. This is their opportunity to branch out, try something new, meet new friends. Many summer camps offer a week at a time, so your child can sample several different camps over the course of the summer. For kids who need a little more consistency, choose a summer camp that lasts all summer long.

Field Trip Summer Camps

These are the camps where kids meet at the same place every day, usually a school or a city recreation center. Then they have excursions between once a week and every day. Trips range from a walk to the pizza parlor to a day at Disneyland. The cost of these camps includes the price of admission for these activities, and you often have the option of sending your child with money to purchase lunch and other things while they're out. In big places like Knott's, leaders usually split the kids into groups so they can take different groups around to different rides and activities. In smaller places like Nickel Nickel, they let the kids wander and they watch the exit. Older kids might be allowed to wander a bigger park in groups without an adult. If you're concerned about this, ask the summer camp leaders what their policy on this is for your child's age group. This kind of camp involves frequent bus rides. The larger camps will rent a school bus, while the smaller ones often have vans.

Specialty Summer Camps

Is your child involved in an activity during the school year that they love? Science, sports, or dance? Summer camps are a great way to participate in workshops that they'll enjoy and that will give them a head start when the regular season starts. There are many summer programs out there for the most popular activities, including basketball, theater, golf and cheerleading. If your child participates in something a little off the beaten path, check with the organization that offers it during the school year. There's a good chance they offer a summer program too.

Is it difficult to drive your child to swim lessons during the work day? Pick a camp that offers swimming as part of its program.

What about scouting or church? Most of the big churches offer vacation bible school, and they're almost always open to anyone, whether you attend that church or not. Scouts offer summer daycamps and sleep away camps during the summer. These kinds of programs are usually offered only a week or two out of the summer, so schedule those first and then pick other camps to fill in the gaps.

Specialty Summer Camps are also a great way to try out a new activity. Did your child want to play lacrosse, singing, or horseback riding but you had too many other activities going during the school year? What about something like surfing that's usually only available during the summer? Now's your chance. They can try it out for one week while you're at work and they need something to do anyway. If they love it, sign them up for another week.

Part Time Summer Camps

Many of the specialty camps, especially for the less popular activities fall into this category. They're for kids who want to participate in an activity, but it's not an all day program. If they have enough kids with working parents, many of them offer extended care before and after the regular program.

Full Day Summer Camps

Field trip summer camps usually fall into this category, as do many of the larger specialty camps. City recreation departments and after school programs almost always offer childcare for the full day while you're away at work.

Teen Summer Camps

Teenagers are a special case. They would be quite happy to stay at home all day or wander around the mall with their friends. While they're old enough to avoid the dangers younger kids face, this is the age when too much time on their hands can lead to trouble. Fortunately there are summer camps that cater to teens and allow them more freedom than they younger kids get while still providing something to keep them busy.

It's easy to pick the right summer camp or combination of camps for your child with the kind of variety offered in Orange County.

Camp James Irvine	*Champions Science* multiple locations	Hayden Horseback Riding Laguna Hills	Cookamation Costa Mesa	Jazzercamp Laguna Hills
Kids Factory Lake Forest	Jr. Lifeguard San Clemente	Country Trails Orange	Golf Mission Viejo	Musical Theater Fullerton
Blades Soccer Irvine	College Application Ladera Ranch Irvine	Julie Foudy Soccer Mission Viejo	Fishing Dana Point	Chess Mission Viejo
Salty Grom Surf Huntington Beach	Golf Lake Forest	Kids Gym Capistrano Beach	Basketball Saddleback Valley	Jr. Lifeguard Dana Point
Discovery Science Santa Ana	Skyhawks Sports Ladera Ranch Mission Viejo	CRK Stable Yorba Linda	Swim Club Seal Beach Los Alamitos	Soccer Rancho Santa Margarita Foothill Ranch Mission Viejo
		Ocean Academy Dana Point
*Movies by Kids* multiple locations	Skyhawks LaCrosse Ladera Ranch	Junior Soccer Orange	Special Camp San Juan Capistrano	Golf Ladera Ranch
British Soccer Mission Viejo	Volleyball Mission Viejo	Kindergolf Fountain Valley	Skyhawks Sports Ladera Ranch	Savoy Horseback Riding Costa Mesa
Dance Laguna Niguel	Roadrunner Sports Rancho Santa Margarita	City Rec Department Irvine	Teen Leadership Mission Viejo	Preschool Connection Saddleback Valley
Etnies Skatepark Lake Forest	TLC Teens Lake Forest	Chuck Jones Art Orange	Star PAK Mission Viejo Laguna Hills	Team OC Costa Mesa
Video Game Design Mission Viejo	Ocean Institute Dana Point	German Mission Viejo	Jr. Lifeguard Huntington Beach San Clemente Dana Point	Titan Youth Sports Fullerton
Football Ladera Ranch	Elite Soccer South Orange County	Science Mission Viejo	Volleyball Ladera Ranch	Kids Factory Mission Viejo
Sports Rancho Santa Margarita	Mission San Juan Capistrano	Ice Skating Aliso Viejo	Wizardry & Wizards Brea	Campco South Orange County
Advantage Basketball Anaheim	Junior Biologist Trabuco Canyon	Boys & Girls Clubs multiple locations	Cub Scout Day Camp multiple locations	West Football Mission Viejo Irvine Huntington Beach
Back Bay Camp Newport Beach	Tech Camps Irvine	Mercadel Basketball Laguna Hills	Panther Football Orange	Girls Inc. Costa Mesa
Lango multiple locations	JP's Surf Camp San Clemente	Baseball El Toro	Soccer Ladera Ranch	D1 Basketball Rancho Santa Margarita Ladera Ranch
Camp Fire Orange	Elvenstar Horseback Riding Huntington Beach	Advantage Basketball Anaheim	Camp Jam Corona Del Mar	Musical Theater Fullerton
American Girl Laguna Niguel	Westwind Sailing Dana Point Mission Viejo	Baseball Ladera Ranch	Endeavor School of Arts Costa Mesa	*Tryfitt Sports* multiple locations
Zoomars San Juan Capistrano	Aloha Surf San Clemente	Camelot Golfland Anaheim	Cheerleading Ladera Ranch	Video Production Laguna Niguel
Sonshine Costa Mesa	Acting Academy San Juan Capistrano	Camp Buckaroo Anaheim	Center Stage Studio Aliso Viejo	Soccer Mission Viejo
Golf Ladera Ranch	Star Wars Buena Park	UCI Sports Irvine	TLC Saddleback Valley	Volleyball Mission Viejo
Spark Iron Chef Huntington Beach	Newport Aquatic Rowing Newport Beach	*U.S. Youth Volleyball* multiple locations	YMCA Day Camp multiple locations	Sur La Table Cooking Newport Beach
Girl in the Curl Surf Dana Point	Girls Rule San Clemente	Corky Carroll's Surf Huntington Beach	OCC Sailing Newport Beach	DP Yacht Club Sailing Dana Point

Camp James

Irvine

Champions Science

multiple locations

Hayden Horseback Riding

Laguna Hills

Cookamation

Costa Mesa

Jazzercamp

Laguna Hills

Kids Factory

Lake Forest