Kids across Santa Monica will soon be out of the classroom and jump into a summer of infinite possibilities. For a few select months, these children can turn from mere students to avid adventurers, amateur scientists and advanced athletes.
To help grow the physical and mental skills of local youth, the Santa Monica area boasts an impressive lineup of summer camps in several categories. Parents attempting to fill their child’s seasonal schedule have a bevy of camps to choose from in the areas of science, arts, sports and traditional summer camp fare.
Staving off the learning loss associated with the summer heat, several STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) camps serve as top-notch “edutainment” programs. One of those is Camp Galileo, back for its sixth year in Santa Monica, with camp director Kevin Berman bringing innovative STEM projects to youth at St. Martin of Tours School.
Operating five camps on the Westside, including locations for Venice/Mar Vista and Westwood, Camp Galileo runs one-week sessions from June 24 to August 2, combining time-honored camp activities with unique projects for “Nebulas” (K-1st grade), “Stars” (grades 2-3), “Supernovas” (grades 4-5) and “Meteors” (grades 6-8). The daily schedule includes an “innovator’s studio” individual project, an “outdoor adventure” collaborative team activity period, and an “idea lab” collaborative design session.
“[The camp] teaches kids how to be confident and resilient, and things that they learned in summer they can take back into the school year,” Camp Galileo Senior Field Marketing Manager Molly Douglas said. “[Parents] will see a very fun, polished project at the end of the week, but they’ll also see their campers have new skills, new confidence, [new] ability to bring their ideas to life.”
Turning STEM to STEAM by adding an “a” for arts, CREST enrichment classes run from June 17 to August 9 for ages 8-14. Classes are led by hand-picked professional instructors for students grades TK-5 enrolled in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) elementary locations. This summer’s “STEAM Adventure” weekly sessions at Lincoln Middle School bring hands-on experiments, art challenges and a host of new discoveries to the summer landscape.
The creativity of youth will also be on display at art-centric camps like Camp Cosmo, a 2022 winner of the Most Loved New Business honor in Santa Monica. Crafty kids at Camp Cosmo will take part in a fully stocked “craft cafe,” a jewelry-making station, face painting and traverse an indoor tree house during weekly sessions from June 10 through August 30.
Other local favorites in the arts scene include PAINT:LAB’s weekday and weekend art camps, the Santa Monica Music Camp where youth can learn new instruments, and the Funky Divas and Dudes dance class-centric camp aimed at building self-esteem.
For more active kids, picking up a new athletic endeavor may be a productive use of the summer, and Santa Monica camps are available in nearly every sport imaginable. The seasonal tradition of baseball is well-represented, with Santa Monica Baseball Academy leading the way with youth camps ranging from ages 6-14, as well as “elite” summer camps for ages 10-14. The camps at the Memorial Park Sports Facilities are run by professional baseball coaches, putting players through a program designed with emphasis on fundamentals, practicing pitching, catching, hitting, fielding and base running.
Other outdoor sports will be run at local parks this summer, including the Future Stars Junior Tennis camps at Marine Park run by Pete Fox, and SAMO Tennis camps at the Samohi courts. Younger children in the 3-10 age range with the energy to run around will be able to do so as Super Soccer Stars camps at Clover Park and Roosevelt Elementary School, with an emphasis on a fun, non-competitive environment.
Fitness comes in many forms for kids, with camps also designed to teach unique athletics, such as Dawn Barnes Karate Kamp and skateboarding classes at Cove Skatepark. More general athletics courses include the Fitness by the Sea Beach Camp, which has served children ages 4-14 for more than two decades, as well as the Coast Sports Camp that covers a wide variety of athletics.
Registration for many camps and other recreational opportunities in the area can be done through the City of Santa Monica website, which has a link to make an ActiveNet account, the City’s online registration system for camps.