100+ Best Summer Camp at Home Ideas and Activities

Planning a Summer camp at home experience can be tons of fun for you and your children! Summer camps have long been a rite of passage for children. Camps provide a safe place for children to explore new skills.

Children can explore new things, learn new skills, and develop self-confidence with these summer camp activities. Plus, it’s an excellent way to avoid the inevitable “I’m bored!” exclamations and engage in fun learning experiences all Summer long.

Summer Camp Activities for Kids

Summer Camp at Home

Camps can focus on academics, athletics, or arts and crafts. The best Summer camps have a little bit of all three. Choosing an exciting theme for your Summer camp can help get everyone excited about the week ahead. It’s also a great way to narrow down all the fun activities and events you’ll want to include in camp.

Many experts agree that Summer camps have lasting positive effects for the children who participate in them. This year many parents are considering summer plans for kids at home. Hosting your own camp at home is a fun, budget-friendly way to make some amazing memories with your kids this Summer.

How to Start a Summer Camp at Home

You’ll get fun, engaging, and educational printable activities, crafts, hands-on activities, science experiments, themed movement activities and gross motor ideas, sensory play, themed snacks, and so much more!

What you get in your camp directors manual

A month full of learning (over 100 activities and ideas), hands-on activities, fun crafts, movement activities, snacks, and more!

Weekly Activities

Learn all about it
Learning Stations
Arts & Crafts
Hands on Activities
STEM & Science
Get Active Activities
Music Activities
Journal

If you’re interested in helping your kids experience all the fun of a Summer camp right at home, you’re definitely going to want to check out this fun Summer camp theme weeks Guide.

Summer Camp Activities

Bugs and Insects Theme

There are lots of things to learn and ways to have fun exploring insects this summer. You can get out the butterfly nets or chase fireflies at night. There are even some fun bug-themed snacks to enjoy with your little campers!

Children can draw their very own insect friends for fun. Encourage children to include all the main body parts. For added fun, have your campers give their insect character a name. Older children can even make up a story about their insect.

Insects, like bees, have a distinct life cycle. Teaching kids about animal life cycles is a great way to help children understand the natural world. Learning about the life cycles of insects like bees is a great way to help your campers understand these amazing creatures and learn more about the process by which honey is created.

Another fun Summer camp activity is to create your own bug board. It’s an excellent way to study bugs up close and learn about the bugs that are native to your area. Learn how you can start a bug collection with your future etymologists this Summer in this fun themed camp at home guide.

Patriotic Summer Camp Theme

A patriotic Summer camp at home is the perfect way to teach your child about the history of America through art, music, books, and play. Check out some of the fun 4th of July summer camp activities you’ll find in this theme pack below.

Play games like Uncle Sam Says and capture the flag.

Make red, white, and blue slime and Patriotic science experiments with your kids.

Children can learn to sing The Star Spangled Banner and read about how Francis Scott Key wrote our national anthem. Younger children can have fun learning to march about like Revolutionary soldiers singing Yankee Doodle. Make Patriotic crafts, slime, and science experiments with your kids.

Make popcorn and build a pillow fort together. Then, settle in and watch Liberty Kids, a cartoon series about three kids from the American colonies who find themselves in the middle of the American revolution.

Finally, enjoy a variety of American flag themed arts and crafts for toddlers, preschoolers, and older kids.

Try your hand at fizzy stars, invisible painting, baking fruit pizza, or even a quintessential popsicle stick craft perfect for any Summer camp experience.

Beach & Ocean Theme

If you’re dreaming of a beach vacation this Summer, then this theme is perfect for your family! A beach themed summer camp is the perfect way to explore the ocean together at home or add some educational fun to your family vacation.

Check out these super fun ways you can explore the beach in your very own backyard this Summer.

Have fun playing in the water, building boats and sandcastles, or swimming during this summer camp at home. It’s the perfect way to help your child build self-confidence, have fun getting great exercise, and learn lots of great skills.

Or enjoy other fun water and beach activities.

A few activities included are:

STEM – Build a sailboat and see if it floats in your kiddie pool. Or enjoy splashing around in the pool while racing your homemade boats.

Make kinetic sand, sand slime, or sand playdough with these super cool recipes.

Create a DIY Ocean Drum for kids. This homemade instrument sounds just like waves at the beach. So calming and fun for the kids.

Listen to The Sea Urchin Song by Creation Connection while you build your own little sea urchin friends together using play clay and toothpicks. or create ocean animals with fingerprints. It’s a great way to learn about these amazing ocean animals while having fun.

Finally, learn how to host a sandcastle building competition in your backyard. Kids of all ages can use recycled containers and play sand to build their own amazing castles. Get ideas for your own competitive castle building adventure in this fun beach themed summer camp at home pack.

Water Summer Camp Theme

At your water themed Summer camp, you can teach your kids all about the water cycle. This important scientific process is essential to sustaining life on Earth, yet not too difficult for young learners to comprehend.

Then take a field trip to a local body of water to see the water cycle in action and take part in some fun water sports like swimming, fishing, or kayaking.

Play a fun water themed version of capture the flag with water balloon “grenades” for tagging competitors. Capture the flag is an excellent way to encourage physical activity. Regular physical activity helps keep kids physically and mentally healthy. This game also encourages kids to work together and helps build trust. Plus, it’s a lot of fun!

One of the best things about Summer is playing in the water. There are so many ways to enjoy the water together with your little campers. Building a DIY water wall together is another fun water experiment the whole family will love!

Learn how to make your own splash bombs and STEM projects in this fun water themed Summer camp at home pack.

Ice cube painting adds a mesmerizing water element to self-expression through art. It’s also a great way to teach kids about the different states of matter.

Check out this fun theme pack to learn how you can create your own frozen paint cubes and so much more.

DIY Summer Camp at Home

I hope this list has given you some creative ideas for a fabulous SUMMER CAMP AT HOME for a whole month long.

This month only this summer camp at home guide is on sale at 50% off at $9.97

Summer Plans for Kids at Home

I did not include a set daily schedule because it’s meant to be flexible!

My suggested plan is as follows: choose one or more activities from each of the sections included. Use the amazing and fun activities, ideas, and printables throughout the week. Add fun kid friendly themed recipes (included) daily and you’ll have the best summer ever.