As long, long time ago, I also attended summer camps (to give my parents a break). I attended girl scouts camps, YMCA camps, educational day camps, and one year I even went all the way to Sweden to attend a Chinese culture camp organized by Taiwan’s overseas division.
In the beginning, camps were literally camps. We had tents, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, huge backpacks, flashlights, flasks, pocket knives, and everything else in the camping checklist from our trusted scout handbook. Then, as I grew older, suddenly we had these day camps where I still had to rise dreadfully early and travel to the middle of nowhere to explore nature and make friendship bracelets–all to ensure that I was properly socialized during my summer break.
The last summer camp I attended was the Chinese culture camp, and despite my initial revulsion for it (I was in middle school by then), the traditional dances, martial arts, and top spin training all turned out to be pretty fun in the end. So, why was it my last then? I became more independent and began traveling with friends (instead of family), so the ultimate goal of my going away and getting out of everyone’s hair was still met.
Nowadays, summer camps are even more complex than before. I have been in the education scene long enough to realize that it’s definitely not about tents and campfires anymore, but now we want to know if the camps are for fun, enrichment, enhancement, or just pure revision. Which camp is right for your child? I have no idea. All I can do is roundup all the available summer camps and let you decide what is the best fit for your child!
Imagine Survival Summer Camp, Jun 13-Aug 19
Ages 7-14. Imagine’s Summer Survival Camp is a real outdoors camping experience where children will learn to make fires, build rafts, cross rivers, make traps and tools, cook fish, and build shelters.
- RMB 3,500. Campers do not stay overnight. Daily transportation included. Imagine (info@imagine-china.com, 5739 4933).
AEA US Embassy Camp, Jun 16-Aug 15
Ages 4-12. The American Employees Association Summer Camp is an American-style day camp with weekly themes, hosted by AEA (affiliated with the US embassy). Each year, the themes are changed to incorporate current trends and children’s interests. The daily program is filled with fun, songs, games, and activities which are related to the weekly themes.
- Early bird discounts till May 31. The camp will be hosted at Beijing City International School from Jun 16-Jul 4 and then from Jul 7-Aug 15 at 3e (info@aeabeijing.net, 8531 3349)
Enhancement
DDC Ocean Exploration Camp, Jun 20-Aug 26Grades 2-7. DDC Ocean Exploration Camp is led by ocean experts from New England Aquarium USA.
- RMB 5,800. Hosted at the Beijing Aquarium (dd-learning.com, 8049 0079).
DDC Talented Youth Program – MIT STEM, Jun 27-Aug 5Grades 4-7. DDC Education Centre offers a tailored educational program dedicated to the development of highly talented children. With award-winning teams of instructors from the United States, it offers systematic STEAM courses to students aged between 7 and 14. Courses include web design, 3D printing and computer programming. They give priority to the development of students’ science spirit and comprehensive ability, and emphasize the mixture of social value, humanities and the arts, Information Technology & STEAM.
- Registration deadline August 1. RMB 5,800 per week (contact@dd-learning.com, 8049 0079)
Keystone Academy’s Marine Science STEAM Program, Jul 18-29 Grades 3-7. The Marine Science STEAM Program for summer students is a small step that combines the school’s missions of promoting environmental stewardship and thoughtful bilingual immersion education. Students’ learning in the program will be inquiry-based: they will work with our teachers to observe closely, ask good questions, investigate actively, and find answers to their own questions–all in the context of studying ocean life in both Chinese and English. Students will be challenged to examine the connections between human life and millions of lives in the ocean. In doing so, they will achieve an understanding of the importance of environmental conservation.
- Registration deadline May 1. RMB 10,900. Contact: complete application at keystoneacademy.cn
DDC Integrated Art Summer Camp, Jun 20-Jul 1, Jul 11-Jul 22Grades 2-7. A joint effort between DDC and educational experts from the US, Integrated Art summer camp is an organic and evolving approach to teaching by integrating music, language, and visual arts. It builds communication, problem solving, collaboration, shared experiences, and allows the student to actively ponder and experiment to display comprehension employing a variety of art forms. Students will awaken their critical eye and develop ownership of thought and creativity with evidential reasoning via hands on and minds on learning.
- RMB 5,800. DDC Education Centre (contact@dd-learning.com 8049 0079).
DDC Talented Youth Program – US STEAM Summer Camp, Jun 27-Aug 5Grades 5-8. DDC Education Centre invites you to have a touch of the prestigious US STEAM summer camp at British School of Beijing Shunyi! Whether you want to know how to become a doctor, how to create water on Mars, you’ll learn how through the various projects in this camp.
- Registration deadline August 1. RMB 5,800 per week. British School of Beijing Shunyi (contact@dd-learning.com (8049 0079).
Enrichment
CISB Enrichment Camp, Jun 27-Aug 5
Ages 6-15. Canadian International School of Beijing will be hosting two enrichment classes where children can develop their English or Chinese skills, play sports and participate in cultural activities, such as playing a Chinese instrument and going learning Kungfu.
- Registration Deadline May 27th. RMB 7,900/2 weeks. Canadian International School of Beijing (summeradmissions@cis-beijing.com)
Beijing Mandarin School Summer Camp, Jun 13-Aug 26Ages 6-13. Beijing Mandarin School was founded nine years ago, and has successfully been running Mandarin classes ever since to expats of different native languages. Their children’s summer camp is divided into three different age groups with varying learning targets. Each group begins their day with Chinese lessons, indoor Chinese culture activities, sports, followed by a half-day excursion. The camp also offers whole-day travel adventures on the weekend.
- RMB 1,250/week (3 hr Chinese class), RMB 1,850/week (half-day), RMB 2,880/week (full day). Registration fee RMB 280. Price includes orientation, assessment test, books, t-shirt, study materials, and a learning certificate. Lunch can be added for an extra RMB 200/week, and the price of transportation is negotiable. Beijing Mandarin School ( info@beijingmandarinschool.com, 6508 1026).
Imagine’s Summer Knight School, Jun 13-Aug 19
Ages 7-13. Now in its third season, Imagine’s popular Summer Knight School Camp teaches kids aged 7-13 how to wield a sword, fire a bow and arrow, ride a horse, build a trebuchet, design a shield, make chainmail, travel to a castle, slay a dragon, and much more! Run by a team of English-speaking, experienced outdoor education professionals.
- RMB 4000/week. RMB 800 deposit required upon registration. Campers do not stay overnight. Price includes transportation, equipment, and supplies. Requires own lunch. Imagine (info@imagine-china.com, 5739 4933).
Chinese Cultural Summer Camps, Jun 20-24, Jun 27-Jul 1, Jul 4-8Ages 6-14, China Culture Center hosts a five day bilingual summer camp with both indoor hands-on activities and outdoor tours exploring the city’s authentic Chinese culture and structures.
- RMB 3,200 per child for 5 days. China Culture Center (info@chinaculturecenter.org, 6432 9341)
Atelier Summer Camps, Jun 27-Jul 26
Ages 5-12. Atelier Art School will be running funny, creative, and inspiring artistic summer camps for one thematic week. The themes include a Cubism Workshop where children will make collages, draw a cubist self-portrait, and a cardboard sculpture of a music instrument; Hokusai and Japan where children will discover Japanese engraving, learn about daily life in the 18th century, and realize a wonderful book inspired by Japanese art; Egyptian Civilization where children will learn about Egypt, build a model pyramid, make their own papyrus and write hieroglyphs on it; Africa where children will discover Africa as a continent, its different cultures and habits while engraving savannah animals, making patterns like the clothes of Zulus folk, and African mask collages; The Little Prince wherein children will discover the novel by Saint Exupery and learn new techniques by building a helix plane from the 40s, understand the work of the illustrator and how to use water colors, and finally build imaginary planets using papier-mache; Around the World in Eighty Days wherein children will discover various cultures and civilizations by following the story in Jules Verne’s novel and making their own travel book with a map, pictures of the characters, and learn how to make pop-up books, different paper textures, and stamps.
- RMB 1,500/week, session. Morning session for 5-8 year olds. Afternoon session for 9-12 year olds. Note that the Sanlitun campus sessions begin on Jun 27 and end on Aug 26, while the Shunyi campus begins on Jun 13 and ends on Jul 22. See their website for a detailed schedule of when each theme is taught. (contact@atelier.cn.com, 132 4018 490, 6416 1614).
Hyde Education Summer Enrichment Program, Jul 11-Aug 12Grades 1-9. Hyde Academy has scheduled a series of fun, hands on, academic summer enrichment programs in math, science, language arts, and humanities for students in grades 1- 9. Take a tour of the universe from the inside out with our exciting introductory physics course. Use math to explore the world around us through a variety of inquiry-based problems and projects. Fancy yourself as the next Sherlock Holmes? Sign up for our Crime Scene Investigation program. Other course titles include: Public Speaking, Archaeology, Geography: Mapping our World, and Vocabulary and the Art of Writing.
- RMB 2,250 (half day), RMB 4,275 (full day) per week. Hyde Academy (registration@hyde-education.com, 8046-3886).
Beijing Playhouse Summer Theater Camps, Jun 27-Aug 6Ages 6-14. At Beijing Playhouse’s two-week long summer camps, children will get to perform Peter Pan, Aladdin, and Rapunzel with acting, song, and dance. Aspiring actors, singers, dancers, and musicians are all welcome. Some English proficiency is required. All who audition will be cast. Parents are invited to the final performance.
- Audition dates May 7, May 21, June 4. RMB 8,000 (broadway@beijingplayhouse.com)
That’s Mandarin! Chinese Summer Camp, Jun 13-26, Jun 27-Jul 10, Jul 11-24, Jul 25-Aug 7, Aug 8-21 Ages 5-17. That’s Mandarin offers several different camp options to suit any family! There are morning camps, day camps, and full day camps. For older children, there are also homestay camps, and if you’d like in on the fun—family camps! Camps can be two week long or four week long. The full-length program includes intensive Chinese classes with cartoon class, reading and writing, and topic based oral lessons. Each week has three days of cultural activities, including traditional Chinese calligraphy, opera mask painting, cooking classes, Chinese knot making, and mahjong. Fieldtrips and excursions are also available for Beijing, such as the Great Wall, Ming Tombs, Confucius Temple, and Beihai Park.
- For Beijing camps, contact: info@thatsmandarin.com (5218 6432). For the Shanghai camps, contact: info.shanghai@thatsmandarin.com (6452 0017).
Sports
Imagine’s Watersports Summer Camps, Jun 13-Aug 19
Ages 6.5-15. Now in its third season, Imagine’s popular Watersports Camp in Shunyi teaches kids aged 6.5-15 all kinds of watersports skills, from sailing and kayaking to rafting and paddling. Learn how to balance on the paddle board, play games on rafts, navigate the boat, using knowledge about the wind and work towards your ‘Learn to Sail Level 1’ Certificate. Taught by certified trainers who learned abroad.
- RMB 4000/week. Campers do not stay overnight. Transportation included. (info@imagine-china.com, 5793 4933)
SBJ Summer Camps, June 13-Jul 27 Ages 5-15. Sports Beijing will be hosting its weekly sports camps at at ISB’s air-conditioned Fusion Dome. The choices are basketball, gymnastics, and soccer in the mornings; multi-sports (flag fotball, dodge ball, ultimate frisbee, etc.) in the afternoon. Tennis is now also offered in cooperation with Fusion Tennis Center. Water activities, such as water fights and pool time, can be expected, as well as fun games such as capture the flag and obstacle courses.
- Early bird specials through May 31, with sibling and multiple week discounts also available. Price includes lunch, camp t-shirts, and transportation. (contact info@sportsbj.com)
Flips & Kicks Plus Summer Camp, Jun 27-Jul 1, Jul 4-Jul 8 Ages 4-12. Flips & Kicks Plus offers a multi-sports Summer Camp where children can try fun sports, such as: Gymnnastics, Martial Arts, Track & Field, Football, Ping Pong, Basketball etc.
- RMB 1,980 (half day-1 block). RMB 3,080 (full day-1 block). Price includes water and a fruit snack. Please bring your own water bottle. Lunch can be provided for an additional fee. (info@flipsandkicksplus.com, 13718462044)
ClubFootball, Jul 5-Aug 24
Ages 4.5-16. ClubFootball has been around since 2001, hosting football classes and camps that promote coordination and teamwork. This summer, their coaches will have week long summer classes for players of all skill levels, or minimal three-day intensive workshops, depending on your child’s schedule.
- RMB 800-1,500/week. Camps will be held in Chaoyang Park, Olympic Forest Park, Zhongguancun, Wangjing, Lido and Shunyi (contact coaching@wanguoqunxing.com, 5130 6893)
Photo: Pixabay
