Joss’s Summer Camp Schedule
How do you decide which summer camps to send your child to? Do you try to choose a variety, or stick with one or two camps throughout the summer so they have some consistency? Or something else? Last summer was Joss’s first summer to go to camps. Before that, I’d thought piecing together two months’ worth of summer camps sounded nightmarish. But once we started enrolling – there are so many great options, it’s hard to choose! So we do a variety. And of course, take advantage of the free TPS camp in July! This makes a HUGE difference because camp is pricey!!
Obviously, I’m lucky to work at TulsaKids because I get to be among the first to see our updated Summer Camp Guide info. It’s thrilling to watch the new camp info come in each year and to see all the great opportunities for kids!
Songwriting Camp at FUMC
I enrolled Joss in a week-long songwriting camp at First United Methodist Church downtown, fairly last-minute. We go to church here irregularly, but the last time we went, I saw info about their arts camp – and it was only $80 for the week! What?! Definitely one of the more affordable options out there. For this particular camp, campers could choose between songwriting, graphic design, culinary, sound mixing and photography tracks. Since Joss was already excited about writing a song to enter in next year’s Eurovision contest (ha!), I thought that would be a good fit. Plus, I like songwriting and was hoping he’d bring some tips back to me!
It was a great week of camp for him. They went on a field trip to the Tulsa PAC, where the kids got to go backstage! And another field trip to Discovery Lab, which of course was a hit. At the end of the week, there was a nice presentation of the students’ work. The songwriting kids got to perform their original song, “We’re Going to the Zoo,” while we snacked on treats provided by the culinary campers.
It was definitely a good experience for Joss, and I’m so grateful for the affordable price tag. They had lots of student helpers, and it’s always fun to see the older kids taking care of the younger ones.
One of my favorite parts of downtown camp was looking at the pretty skyline each day!
Philbrook Art Camp
Getting messy! Good sign of a good time!
I was so excited that Philbrook was bringing back its camps this year! I enrolled Joss as soon as it was open. You can choose from morning or afternoon sessions, or sign up for both for an all-day option. Joss’s two camps were “Fuzzy, Felted Fun” with artist Taylor Painter-Wolfe; and “Big and Bold” with another local artist.
Not only did they get to take advantage of Philbrook’s impressive stock of art supplies, so they could create whatever they imagined, they got to spend plenty of time outdoors in the gorgeous gardens. Joss came home one day very excited about the fact that he realized bees are actually really cute. So they must have done some bee observation 🙂
Sadly, our time at Philbrook Camp was cut short due to a Covid infection in our family. So Joss had to miss the last two days of camp! Thankfully, they’re going to let him take his projects home in the future because he was very enthusiastic about the popsicle stick robot cat he was working on!
It looks like Philbrook has some camp spots open (as of June 17) the week of July 25, for kids ages 5-11. Find more info at philbrook.org/visit/camp.
Joss took some extra pipecleaners home from camp and made this cat-tastic head band in the car on the way home.
Discovery Lab Camp
The last week of June, Joss will be at Discovery Lab for “Detective Science” camp! The description is: “Let your little detective channel their inner sleuth. Your child will learn the science behind invisible ink, forensic fingerprinting, secret codes, and other fun activities all for the purpose of solving a mystery.” How fun does that sound?!
Sadly, all the camps for kids his age are sold out, but there are several options remaining for kids in 3rd-6th grade. Each week has a different theme, such as Science Fiction or Prediction?; Indigenous Technologies; STEAM + Art Deco and much more. See all the options at discoverylab.org/summer-camps.
We’ve done about three Discovery Lab camps now, and he’s loved them all. But this will be our first at the new location! Prices definitely went up, but not by tooo much.
TPS Summer Camp
Again, thank goodness for free camp! Joss will be enrolled in TPS’s summer camp throughout July. I’m disappointed that it won’t be at his school. Last year, all the Council Oak kids got to go to an amazing summer camp at Council Oak. This year, they’ll be with students from three other schools at a different elementary. Which is fine, I just hope it’s not too chaotic, and of course it’s nice to know they’re somewhere familiar. So we will see how that goes.
New Arts Camp at Living Arts
Well, I wasn’t going to sign Joss up for camp in August. But after our first, rough week of no-camp summer vacation, I realized we probably should. Thankfully, there was still space available in Living Arts’ Creative Dramatics Camp. This one is for kids ages 4-8, so it will probably be nice for Joss to be on the older end of the group.
The description is: “In Creative Dramatics, we will explore improvisational and informal processes centered forms of drama where students will be guided to imagine, act, and reflect upon experiences real or imaginary that come from their own human experience. Through role-play, improvisation, pantomime, movement, and sound we will create performance art that will open the young mind to the beauty of creativity in all forms. All supplies are included.” The camp is only from 12:30-4:30 p.m., not a full day, but hopefully it will be enough to keep him from being so bored at home!
He’s been doing some very amusing British accents lately, so I think this might be a good time to see if some structured drama is up his alley.
Find a list of New Arts camps at livingarts.org/education/new-arts-camp.
