Share This Post

Camp

Your Guide to Colorado Summer Camp Listings 2015

Your Guide to Colorado Summer Camp Listings 2015

Believe it or not, now is the time to start researching Colorado summer camps. If you’re scratching your head in disbelief, I recently registered my daughter for our favorite overnight camp, Camp Chief Ouray, for the third year in a row. We got in by the skin of our teeth because that week (and a few others) already have wait lists. In February.  Lesson learned : Do not procrastinate.

To help you wade through the many camps, The Denver Post recently published a Colorado Summer Camp Guide.

========

A few of our featured camps:

Camp Chief Ouray

We have a deep-rooted love for Camp Chief Ouray, Colorado’s longest-running overnight camp for boys and girls ages 7-17 at YMCA of the Rockies Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby, Colo. My kids have stayed in their rustic cabins as they did archery, camp crafts, swam, rode horses, canoed, hiked, raided the kitchen, camped under the stars one night, gorged on s’mores, had regular devotionals, skits, campfire songs and so much more. CCO’s new Camp Director Matt Sullivan says in addition to “theme weeks” such as Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, Frozen and Hunger Games, the popular camp is putting an emphasis on camper progression. “Many families come back year after year and we want them to be able to advance so we’ll offer beginner, intermediate and expert-level activities,” he says. “In addition to outdoor fun, we’re also offering more in-depth options in the arts including calligraphy, painting, water acrylics and ceramics with potter’s wheels.”ccomap======

Art Fun For Kids!

Join Art Fun for Kids for a fabulous week of drawing, painting and sculpting:  Draw and paint critters that live in our oceans and rivers and the Galapagos Islands. Children’s literature and music provides the inspiration for dragons, the Hogwarts Express, Hedwig, “things that fly”, rock & roll stars and more. Camp dates: July 20-24 (Monday-Friday10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Ages 6-11.  Cost is $ 205. for the first child, $ 185. for each additional sibling. Tuition covers all materials.  The camp is held at Bethany Lutheran Church, 4500 E. Hampden Ave, Denver.  For more information, contact Karen, 720-227-2471; email, [email protected] and www.artfunforkids.com.

Art Fun for Kids

Art Fun for Kids

 

 JCC Denver Camp Shai

 Explore. Imagine. Create. The JCC Denver’s Camp Shai offers summer camps and programs for kids of every age. In this supportive community,  campers can be themselves, have fun, and are challenged by choice. The J Sports Academies cover the gamut; from tennis to Nuggets Basketball–their goal is to make your kids great and have fun, no matter what skills they have. The MACC Art and Theatre Academy is a growth-focused program designed to bring every child to the next level in their cultural education. Renowned professionals foster the development of students as individuals and artists. Since 1953, JCC Ranch Camp has established a strong tradition of community that is built around and devoted to their campers. It is a place where life-long friendships are born. Campshai.org; Ranchcamp.org

Camp Shai

Camp Shai

 ======

 Swallow Hill Music Camps

Spend the summer with Swallow Hill Music! Campers ages 6-17 explore music in a variety of settings including performance and hands-on learning. Music camps include Explore! Music (ages 6-9), Belt It Out! (ages 10-13), and House of Rock (ages 13-18). Explore! Music is a fun and exciting way for your child to explore music, performance, singing, drumming, movement, art, ensemble play and outdoor fun. Campers in Belt It Out! explore music and theater, including vocal basics, stage presence, movement, and more. Teens in House of Rock learn to use their gear and play together as a band. They bring those skills to the stage with a final performance at Moe’s BBQ. Week-long camps run in June, July and August at our Yale Ave. and Lowry locations. Tuition assistance is available for qualifying families. Phone: 303-777-1003×2; Camp Director: Chris McGarry, [email protected]swallowhill======

Threshold School

If your teens need something that goes a bit further than a run-of-the-mill, campfire song summer camp this year, let us introduce you to Threshold School. Threshold is presenting four immersive, one-of-a-kind camps that range from body mural painting to playing with motion in Zentai suits to pirate paddleboarding and whitewater rafting. Oh, and did we mention the intellectual side? The camps in which they must experiment with physics to create their own worlds, worlds that materialize into actual board games?! Never before have summer camps so readily shown tweens and teens how to break through limitation and begin to see their full creative potential. Every experience that Threshold designs is constructed around the question: “Will this help them be creative thought leaders for the future?” Phone 720-525-8951;  http://www.thresholdschool.org/camps.html.

treshold2

 Colorado Ballet Academy

Colorado Ballet Academy will offer summer classes and day camps for children ages 3-12, June-August 2015.  Explore various forms of movement through games, songs, music and patterns in Creative Dance; classic princesses featured prominently in the world of ballet come to life in Ballet Princess Camp; learn about the 11 fairies in The Sleeping Beauty with music, ballet and crafts in Sleeping Beauty Fairy Camp; explore dance while improving basic skills in Level 1 Dancing Camp; students further their dancing in Level 2 Dancing Camp; and serious ballet students ages 9-12 train in Young Dancer Workshop.  Visit coloradoballet.org/academy. 1075 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, CO 80204, 303-339-1623.

 coloradoballet1

Great Play Cherry Creek

Great Play Cherry Creek’s classes give children a broad foundation of essential introductory motor skills, including a full range of locomotor, stability and manipulative skills. Play camps: Ages 3 – 6 (2½ hours, drop-off program). Based on their Motor Skills and Intro Athletic Development Program, each camp includes instruction in motor skills and introductory sport skills, plus tumbling, balancing, rhythm, obstacle courses, and plenty of free play time and running around! Sports/PE clinics: Ages 4 ½ to 10 (2½ hours, drop off-program). Each camp includes instruction on two of their 24 sports skills, based on their SCORE method, and extensive specialized games designed to turn practice into play. Elements of their innovative physical education program are woven in to keep kids in shape (and they won’t even know it)! Classes: ages 12 months to 3 ½ (50 minutes, adult participation). View their full schedule at www.greatplay.com/cherrycreek.

greatplay

Critters, Creeks, and Crows: A Family Nature Adventure

 Critters, Creeks & Crows: A Family Nature Adventure is Shadowcliff’s annual call to come out with your family to learn and play in the Rockies June 25-28 and July 5-9. With children spending more and more playtime inside on electronic devices, “Critters” is an ideal time to unplug and enjoy family-centered learning & playing in the great outdoors. Guests spend nights in our cozy mountain lodge and enjoy a full course of activities planned by their professional faculty. They also serve home-cooked meals from their kitchen in our family-style dining room. This is an ideal all-inclusive getaway for parents, grandparents and kids, ages 6 and up. We love to see inter-generational groups! Shadowcliff Lodge, 100 Summlerand Park Road, Grand Lake, CO, 80447. June 25-28th is $1000 for a family of three, July 5-9 is $1350 for a family of three. http://shadowcliff.org/critters2015/ 
 

Girls Leadership Institute Summer Day Camp

 
Looking for a camp that is fun and empowering? Girls Leadership Institute Summer Day Camp is specifically tailored for rising 4th & 5th grade girls. These are often the years when girls experience significant shifts in their self-confidence and increasing social pressures to conform. There is no better time to empower girls to know who they are, what they believe, and how to express it! Throughout this week we provide the space for girls to be silly and play, while also equipping them with the tools to build healthy and rewarding relationships. By the end of the week, they form an amazing community of girls that give each other the courage to take risks and the confidence to be their authentic selves! Boulder JCC – June 8-12;  Colorado Academy – June 8-12; Brown International Academy – August 3-7.

summercampgirls

Avid4 Adventure

Avid4 Adventure is the Denver area’s best outdoor day camp where Pre-K – 11th graders of all levels learn to kayak, canoe, stand up paddleboard, rock climb, bike, hike and thrive in the outdoors. Camps are offered in Boulder, Golden, Highlands Ranch, Washington Park and Stapleton. They also have Colorado Mountain Camp, a sleep away camp located at Windy Peak, a beautiful location near Bailey, Colorado. Avid4 Adventure is an immersive experience that makes a deep imprint on kids, leaving them with lasting skills and new reserves of confidence they can use in all aspects of their lives. Learn more and sign up at www.avid4.com, see the full camp schedule here http://www.avid4.com/day-camps/colorado-camps/ or call 800-977-9873.

avid4

Amber Johnson
Author: Amber Johnson

Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.

Share This Post

Amber is the founder and editor of Mile High Mamas, travel writer and former columnist for The Denver Post. She is a passionate community builder and loves the outdoors. She has two awesome teens and is happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin.

1 Comment

  1. Just checking if you are providing the public with a list of summer camps and activities for this year?

Leave a Reply