Cedar Rapids Summer Camp Guide 2017

Disclosure: Summer is the perfect time for kids to play, learn, and discover!  Luckily, the Cedar Rapids area has many summer camps to help your kids do just that, no matter what their interests are!  We are thrilled to provide this guide resource to help you choose the Cedar Rapids summer camps that are right for your child, brought to you by our many sponsors!  We hope this guide makes the process a little easier as you begin your search!

Iowa Ceramics and Glass Studio is a non-profit educational facility for ceramic and warm glass, located right across from the NewBo Marketplace in the historic Cherry Building. We provide a huge range of classes and workshops for the public including: Saturday Family Workshops (all ages), 8 week classes (age 13 and up), 3 Hour Wheel Try-It’s (age 8+), Friday Nights Out (age 21+), Summer Camps (ages 5-15+) and Play With Me:  Sensory Experience (ages 3-5). We also offer a fun and interactive space for birthday parties of all ages and have a private party room. We love teaching your kiddos something new!! Check out our classes online, pre-registration is required.

AGES: 3 years and up

CAMP TYPE: Art (Clay, Pottery, Glass Fusing)

DATES: Weekly sessions run from June 12th-August 4th. Preschool Friday Sensory Classes run from June 16th-August 4th.

Scattergood Friends School is a boarding and day high school located on 126 rural acres in the greater Iowa City area. Our campus features a working organic farm, restored prairie, pastures, and pond. These living laboratories hold extraordinary opportunities for students from Iowa and around the world to grow as individuals, thinkers, and doers through inquiry and project-based learning. Scattergood’s summer programs offer farm, ceramics, and culinary experiences to campers from preschool to 8th grade.

AGES: Preschool-8th Grade

CAMP TYPE: Farm, Ceramics, Culinary Experiences

DATES: June 19-23 and June 26-30 (Day Camp is from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. with additional care available until 4:00 p.m. A week long overnight option is available for 6th-8th graders)

West Music is proud to offer a variety of summer camps for students of all ages and abilities at participating locations. Music camps are an excellent opportunity for young musicians to improve their skills, both individually and as part of a group. West Music has partnered with Kirkwood’s K.I.C.K program for 3 summer camps in the Cedar Rapids area this year as well as a fourth camp, “Celtic Camp” for violinists and flutists. Our summer camps kick off in June – so hurry and get your student registered. For more information and to get registered, visit westmusic.com/SummerFun.

AGES: 9-14

CAMP TYPE: Music (Ukulele, Beginner Guitar, Middle School Orchestra, Violin, Cello, Flute)

DATES: June 12th-July 14th

*West Music also offers Sing, Play, & Learn Today for kids ages 3 months-6 years.

The Pointe School of Dance, voted the #1 Dance Studio in the Corridor, is offering one-day and week-long summer dance camps for children ages 3 and up! These dance camps include dance class, crafts, games, a healthy snack, and learning a dance routine to perform for parents at the very end. No dance experience is necessary – and everyone is welcome to join us this summer!  Summer Dance Camps at The Pointe will be the highlight of your child’s summer – don’t miss out, registration is open now and camps are starting to fill up! Register online on our website and click on “Registration”. If you have a question about which camp is the best fit for your child, don’t hesitate to give us a call at (319) 377-5292 or send us an email at info@thepointeschool.com – we’d love to help you!

AGES: 3 and up

CAMP TYPE: Dance

DATES: June 19th-August 11th

Kirkwood Interactive Camps for Kids are exciting and educational summer camps for youth ages 8-15. KICK camps are designed around career exploration, and provide fun, hands-on activities that promise to develop and build key skills for future success. Get details on all of our Cedar Rapids summer camps and register on our website.

AGES: 8-15

CAMP TYPE: STEM, Computers, Arts, Career Prep, Culinary (day camps)

DATES: June-August

Who knew learning could be so much fun? At Creek Camp, your child will be guided by naturalists and experienced interns as they explore the outdoors, learn about wildlife, enjoy unstructured play, practice outdoor skills, observe the wonder of nature and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. Children will create memories while they learn and even get a little dirty, too. Creek Camp will help foster in your child a connection to the outdoors that lasts a lifetime! Half day, full day, four day, and weeklong/overnight experiences are available for preschoolers through 6th grade! Wrap around care is available for full days of Creek Camp! Full details of the camp offerings, including registration, is available on our website.

AGES: Preschool (Ages 4-5) – 6th grade

CAMP TYPE: Nature, Outdoors, Adventures, Exploration, Day Camps, Overnight Camp

DATES: June-August

At Walking Stick Adventures, we provide ecology/biology based outdoor activities for students, scouts, family and adult groups. Our programs are hands-on and definitely experiential. We offer family tipi camping at a private farmstead with a pond, prairie, and timber to play in. Cooking, paddling, and play equipment are all provided. We also offer summer camps for children ages 6 to 11, including Free Range Fridays, Tipi Tales, New Explorers, Overnight Camp for Girls, and Overnight Camp for Boys. Visit our website to sign up.

AGES: Summer Camps for ages 6-11

CAMP TYPE: Nature, Outdoors, Camping

DATES: Free Range Kids (Fridays April 21-August 25), Day Camps are Tuesdays beginning June 13th or Thursdays beginning June 15th, Overnight Camps are June 29th-30th (girls) or July 6th-7th (boys)

Summit Schools proudly offers academic camps, themed camps, and healthy life & recreation camps June 12 – August 4 for PreK-6th grade students. Summit offers extended day care 7:15-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. Summit has a wide variety of camps, including math and reading-focused camps, splash pad time and swimming at Noelridge Pool, and themed camps focusing on STEM, art, music, coding, makers, chess, Spanish, and more! Summer programs are open to all children in the Cedar Rapids metro area, so visit summitschools.org today to find camps that fit your child(ren)’s needs!

AGES: PreK-6th grades (Register your child for the grade they are going into for the 2017-2018 school year)

CAMP TYPE: Academic, Recreation, Themed

DATES: June 12th-August 4th (Students may sign up for morning or afternoon sessions, or both. Wrap around care is also available.) 

Camp Tanager provides kids with an opportunity to succeed through a variety of fun and educational activities designed to help develop life-long skills. In a world where technology has taken over, camp allows kids to take a break from TV, cellphones and the internet and gives them back that time to rediscover their creative powers and engage with the real world – real people, real activities.

Our Day Camp is a great introduction to the camp experience. Campers enjoy traditional camp activities such as swimming, archery, nature appreciation and more! Each themed week of Day Camp is designed to promote overall health and fitness by engaging kids in wholesome outdoor group activities.

AGES: 6-12 (Explorers Grades 1-3, Adventurers Grades 4-6)

CAMP TYPE: Sports, Travel, Games, Space, Jedi, Sensory, History

DATES: June 12th-August 11th

Are you bold, honest, and determined to succeed? Do you think outside the box and have the courage to do what’s right and stand up for what you believe in? Then you are a G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader). At Summer Adventures, you’ll get to have fun with your friends while trying new things. Register through the “activities” tab on at GirlScoutsToday.org or stop in to the Girl Scout office.

AGES: Grades K-5th

CAMP TYPE: Waterpalooza, Mystery Week, Star Wars: Jedi Academy

DATES: June 12-30

Youth completing Kindergarten-8th grade are invited to explore local foods at Matthew 25′s Urban Farm in Cedar Rapids through a series of Food Camps: Food Explorers, Food Detectives, and Food Creators. We have scholarships available upon request- email tess@hub25.org for more information. 

AGES: Grades K-8th

CAMP TYPE: Farming, Nature, Cooking

DATES: 

Food Explorers get to spend a day learning about food through nature exploration, outdoor crafts, and meaningful scavenger hunts. K-2nd graders | 8:30-4:30 pm | $20 | June 16th, July 19th or August 8th

Food Detectives will better understand the relationship between growing food and how it gets to their plate through an introductory lesson of the food system. 3rd-5th graders | 8:30-4:30 pm| $160 | June 19th-22nd (week-long)

Food Creators will compete against other teams to create the most delicious food concoction with a recipe and hidden ingredients around the farm! 6th, 7th, 8th graders | 9:00-1:00 pm| $40 | June 30th and August 18th

KidsPoint’s Summer Adventure Day Camp provides full-time care to school age children during the summer months. This program offers field trips such as roller skating and museum visits, arts and crafts, indoor and outdoor sports, swimming, and games and exploration. A nutritious lunch and morning and afternoon snack are offered daily. Summer Adventure Day Camp hours are Monday – Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. For more information, please call our School Age Kids Director Kendra at (319) 365-1458, ext. 6133.

AGES: 5-12 years old

CAMP TYPE: Sports, Crafts, Games, Academics, Field Trips

DATES: June 5th-August 11th 

LOCATIONS: KidsPoint North, KidsPoint Downtown, KidsPoint South, Harding Middle School

Linn County Conservation’s Wickiup Hill Learning Center features interactive exhibits for kids, educational programming, field trips, history, and live animal displays. Wickiup’s Naturalists create fun, hands on experience about science and nature. Wander through the interpretive trails in the woodland, savannah and prairie suitable for all ages. We offer summer camps and programs that are suitable for multiple ages. Visit our website for more information and to register.

AGES: All Ages

CAMP TYPE: Nature

DATES: June-August