Summer Opportunities for Wake Students

All schools on the Traditional School Calendar in Wake County let out for the summer on June 11. And they don’t reopen until August 26. Are you stressed out about summer yet? Isn’t it supposed to be relaxing and fun?

On this page, we’ll provide info and recommendations about summertime opportunities for fun and educational enrichment in Wake County. Click here for a form you can submit with your own recommendations. We’ll compile your suggestions on a separate page to help other parents vet summertime options.

Summer Camps Galore!

The City of Raleigh offers a wide selection of summertime day camps for kids ages 5 and up. Their camps are well-organized, inexpensive, and very safe. Go here for more info: https://www.raleighnc.gov/content/extra/Books/PRecRecreation/2019SummerCamp/

The Town of Cary has an especially impressive slate of Art camps–superior to Raleigh’s offerings in that area. There’s more info here:  https://classweb.townofcary.org/eConnect/Activities/ActivitiesAdvSearch.asp  To see only summer-camp options, expand the “School’s Out” link in the left pane.

Camps for High-School Students

NC State Pre-College Camps – Various groups offer enrichment camps, including both residential and day camps, for students in grades 9-12. Topics include agriculture, horticulture, engineering, design, and Chinese Language and Culture. More info here: https://emas.ncsu.edu/precollege/programs/high-school-students/

Wake Tech Camps – Wake Technical Community College offers multiple camps, most for ages 14 – 17 and a few for ages 12-14. Camps are offered at several of their campuses. And they’re relatively inexpensive, too. Go here for more info: https://www.waketech.edu/summer-camps

Biogen Lab Camps –  At Biogen’s Adventures in Biotechnology, students conduct a hands-on lab project, meet some scientists, and learn about biotech careers. The camps will show students the drug development process and provide hands-on lessons in lab techniques, including work with DNA, proteins, and bacteria. For students in grades 9 – 12. Two sessions are offered in early July and early August; they run 9 – 4 each day and let out early on Friday. Cost is Free, and lunch is provided. Applications can be found at http://biogen.com/communitylabsummer until March 12.

Veterinary Camp – VetCAMP is a 5-day summer camp that’s hosted by VetPAC at N.C. State University. This camp provides insight to high-school students who are interested in careers in veterinary medicine and includes:

iDTech Coding Camps – Coding camps sponsored by iDTech are being offered for students ages 7 to 17 this summer at NC State. Topics include Java and C++, game design, Fortnite and Minecraft engineering, and robotics. These camps are expensive! Check out their 2019 schedule here: https://www.idtech.com/register#/reg-flow/avail-charts-filters?lid=139&rgnad=true

Art Camps

You have multiple options for your older elementary student to get some artistic enrichment during the summer. Check out these options:

ArtsTogether NC – These camps have been on offer for quite a few years now and have become a well-established brand in downtown Raleigh. They’re a bit pricey, but the word on the street is that the quality makes them worth it. And they fill up pretty quickly.  Check out their full-day and half-day options for ages 9 – 12: https://www.artstogether.org/new-page-3

NCMA Summer Camps – Speaking of camps that fill up quickly, the NC Museum of Art offers a series of summer day camps for various age groups, but as of this writing, a few of the offerings already had wait lists. Check out the dates, age ranges, and descriptions of each camp here:  http://ncartmuseum.org/calendar/type/camps

And don’t despair–if the camps lack space for your child, the museum also offers evening and weekend programs all summer, including some for teens.

RebusWorks – This downtown provider used to offer reasonably priced full-day camps (with half-day options) for ages 6 -9 and 9 – 13. Some camps focused on pottery, others on photography or collage. They aren’t listing any camp offerings for 2019, but they offer a variety of enrichment classes:  https://www.rebusworks.us/artclasses

Theater Camps

North Raleigh Arts & Creative Theatre (NRACT) – Located close to North Hills, this community theater group offers multiple weeks of camp for middle-schoolers (and a few for elementary-school students and older teens). Their half-day camps are only for early elementary students, and their full-day camps are a bit pricey, but at least their definition of “full day” resembles a parent’s workday: 9 – 5. A few of their production-focused camps require an audition. More info here: http://www.nract.org/new-page-1

Durant Road Musical Theater in North Raleigh near I-540 is offering up to five two-week sessions of the same camp, in which campers (rising grade 3 and older) learn and rehearse for a production of Frozen: The Musical (Jr.). For a two-week camp that runs 9 to 3, the price is quite reasonable. A few sessions are already full: http://mydrmt.com/frozen-jr/

RaleighACT (Raleigh Area Children’s Theater) – Also in North Raleigh near North Hills, RaleighACT offers day camps that it describes as “intense sessions of music, drama, role play, set design/construction, art and games.” They have a series of one-week sessions for grades 1 – 8 and a two-week, full-day camp in late July for grades 6 – 12. Their prices are quite reasonable. Check them out here: http://raleighact.com/camps

Something Entirely Different

Camp Flintlock, in Four Oaks, NC, offers “colonial camp” experiences for students ages 9 to 15 in a residential setting. They also offer a day camp at the Joel Lane House in downtown Raleigh for rising second- through rising seventh-grade students. Students get the experience life in the 17th century. More info here: http://www.campflintlock.com/sc/jlmhdaycamp.html

Camps for Elementary-School Students

Science Education Camps

Wake County Parks, Recreation and Open Space Camps (PROS) – It’s a little-known fact that Wake County offers a wide range of outdoor and enrichment camps for elementary-age children (and a few for up to age 13). These camps are very affordable! Check out their 2019 options here (click the “button” to see the full list): http://www.wakegov.com/parks/events/pages/camps.aspx

STEM for Kids of North Raleigh – This established company offers well-run engineering classes, camps, and even in-school and afterschool programs for younger students; most of their offerings are for grades K – 5, but they have a few options for grades 3 – 8. STEM for Kids was founded by a former Cisco engineer who was looking for better summertime options in the Triangle for her own children. Here’s a full camp listing, including their many track-out options: https://www.stemforkids.net/register/home/t?t=1

GSK Science in the Summer – These free camps are only for elementary-age kids. This year’s theme will be “The Science of Me,” with a focus on biology, and it will be held at the Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill. More info here: http://moreheadplanetarium.org/sis/home

Spanish Immersion

Spanish for Fun! has been offering language-immersion camps to young children for at least 15 years. Their camps not only feature lessons in Spanish language and culture, but also arts and crafts, theater, gymnastics, and splash play. Their four locations in Wake County serve different age ranges, roughly infant to 8 years. More info here: https://spanishforfun.com/summer-camps/

Creative Play Camps

A longtime Douglas Elementary School teacher, Wendy Farenthold, offers her own tried-and-true camps. This year, she’s planning to hold the following camps at Hopewell Academy in Cary and at Douglas Elementary in Raleigh: Vets in Training; Art a la Carte; and Spanish Immersion. More info here: https://msfahrentholdssummercamp.com/camp-schedules

Share Your Summertime Recommendations