Why Do a Summer Day Camp?
A summer day camp is a great way to earn extra income during the summer. It works for stay at home moms or dads, teachers, teenagers, and you can even get your younger kids involved with the business. The type of camp I’m talking about has nothing to do with tents, lakes, or cabins, it’s a camp that’s designed for kids in your neighborhood who are looking for a fun activity to do during the summer.
Last summer a 14 year old neighbor of mine did a basketball camp. It cost $25 and lasted three days for two hours each day. He had 7 kids sign up, hosted the camp at his house with his driveway basketball hoop, and he made $175 or just under $30/hr. Not too shabby for a 14 year old for three days work! As a mom I loved the camp because it was just down the street, it helped us meet some neighborhood kids we didn’t know, and my son had fun learning and practicing his basketball skills.
Running a summer camp is a great way to earn some extra income, meet your neighbors, get your kids involved with a business, and you can set your own schedule and price.
How Much Can I Make?
Running a camp at your house gives you the freedom to decide on the days, prices, length of time, etc. Your camp could be a half day 8:00 – 12:00 or 1:00 – 5:00 so you only need to provide a snack and not lunch, or have a full day 9:00 – 4:00 with lunch provided or ask kids to bring their own sack lunch. Your camp can be as many days long as you’d like, but typically three or four days is just right. For a half day camp that lasts four days, you could charge anywhere from $50 – $125 per child depending on the activities, level of expertise, and amount people in your area are willing to pay. Let’s go near average and say you charge $75 per child for a Monday through Thursday 1:00 – 5:00 camp. If you had 8 kids sign up, you would make $600 or $37.50 per hour, minus a few craft or snack expenses. You’ll need to decide a minimum and maximum amount of students you’re able to accommodate.If only 4 kids sign up are you still willing to have the camp? Be upfront with saying that a minimum of 6 kids must sign up for camp to be held. You could offer a sibling discount or a discount if friends are referred to get more signing up if you are low on numbers. If there’s a good demand then offer two half days sessions and make $1200 in one week. That’s a great amount of pocket money for four days work and could be used for lots of fun summer activities. Typically teenagers aren’t going to charge as much as an adult, but it’s an excellent way for a teenager to think outside the box and earn some good money.
What Type of Camp Should I Start?
Keep in mind that the kids who come to your camp are there to have a great time. Your focus should be: have fun, learn something new, make friends, and stay active and engaged. It is easiest to accomplish these goals when you teach about something you are passionate about. If you’re having a hard time coming up with an idea, here are some of my favorite camp themes:
- Music Camp – make musical instruments, learn new songs, teach piano basics, try a variety of instruments, etc.
- Theater Camp – have a performance at the end of the week
- LEGO Camp – if you already have thousands of LEGOs
- Science Camp – all sorts of awesome experiments await
- STEM Camp – combine your science, math, LEGO, and engineering skills into one awesome week
- Art Camp – easy to fill up a day with all the great art project ideas out there
- Sports Camp – basketball, baseball, tennis, soccer, etc. Focus on one sport or give kids a chance to try them all
- Character Theme Camp – Disney Princess Camp, Super Hero Camp, etc.
- Zoo Camp – see about a zoo representative bringing animals one day, learn about zoo animals, make animal crafts
- Dinosaur Camp – help created little paleontologists, hide dinosaur bones, go exploring
- Baking Camp – teach how to make age appropriate recipes, play a kid version of Chopped, yum!
- Harry Potter Camp – older kids like themed camps too!
- Karate Camp – have a local instructor or teenager demonstrate skills, find a studio that would do a free class
- Writing Camp – create books, journals, short stories, and more
- Religious Camp – fun activities but learn church values and lessons
- Dance Camp – great camp for teenager to teach little kids
Whatever your passion is, you can turn it into an awesome camp that kids will love and they might become passionate about it too! Please share below if you have any camp ideas to add, camps your kids have gone to and loved, or if you have any experience with running a camp from your home.
