The Redmond Recreation Guide for Spring/Summer is out and registration opens March 20th for all residents or March 27th for non-residents.
I cannot list all of the things they offer, but over the years our children have participated in many camps the Redmond Rec has to offer:
If you have little ones, 3-5 and potty trained, one of the best camps through the Redmond Rec are found at Farrel-McWhirter Park. Holly loved Dino-camp-asaurs (now renamed Dino Camp), arts and crafts, games around a dinosaur theme, plus being out on the farm for outdoor activities, and meeting new friends. I still run into a mom I met there many moons ago!
Heather also attended this camp, when she was just turning 4, because she had just had a baby sister, I believe we sent her to the Farm Follies, Space Adventures and the Fairy Tale Fun weeks too! Sign up early, these camps fill up!
Skyhawks Camps – offers twelve different sports, based on your zip code, but in Sammamish, they use all of the fields around Skyline and Eastlake community fields, ESP (Bill Reams), Beaver Lake and lots of the elementary school fields. All very convenient!
We mainly used Skyhawks Camps for 3rd grade and under. Great for introductions to sports; last summer Harrison played Lacrosse, but the lessons were very basic even after he had played LAX for 1 season already. Soccer was the same way because the kids play in the rec league. But for tennis, it was very good and instructional; more advanced than even the Redmond Rec offers.
But with all of these camps, it depends on timing, cost and location.
Some of the best camps we discovered are put on by the Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts. In some cases, you do not have to be a scout to attend (of course, depending on the camp.)
Registration for summer Girl Scout Camps and Boy Scouts & Cub Scouts Camps are now open!
Of course, there are always the popular SOCCER CAMPS:
| For younger kids: | Skyhawks, Arena Sports, I9 Sports |
| For intermediate players, previously played rec; 2nd-4th grade or 8-10 aged kids: | Arena Sports, Crossfire camps |
| For advanced players, (and more costly camps, but amazing instruction): | Sounders FC camps. |
Don’t want a sports camp? How about something for the MIND:
Pacific Science Center camps are not only in Seattle, but also held on the Eastside in Bellevue (Mercer Slough), Redmond, Kirkland and surrounding towns.
Small Hands on Art by Howie and Amy McOmber @ Blackwell. Print a signup form and mail in or you can sign up the first day of camp! Starting Aug 6th, there are three 2-hour camps available for each week of August, with the production on Friday for everyone to watch. Over the past 5 years, Heather has done a few productions with them and it’s fun and unique to get together with kids in the neighborhood and surrounding schools during the summer. Last summer, Heather played Sandy in an elementary written version of Grease. A special performance was at XXX Root Beer in Issaquah.
See: Camps, Camps, Camps – Getting Ready for Summer 2013 for more ideas.
