2013 Summer Camp Guide For Los Altos and Los Altos Hills

Can summer camp be far away if Wednesday was just the first day of spring? You betcha.

Of course, the ultra-organized parents started camp-planning in January and may have already put the finishing touches on their summer plans last week, when some discounts were expiring.

Ever since experts told us we shouldn't let our kids brains go fallow for eight weeks of rock-skipping and hiking, and parents had to both work, camp has gotten so much more complicated.

The choices are legion. Camp, held in schools and church campuses, tout math, science, Renaissance-learning, engineering in the form of Legos and arithmetic via abacus.  Add to that sports camps and religious camps, traditional camps and arts and music camps, it's clear that summer is just not long enough.

Fear not, Patch has pulled together a guide to help you make sense out of the teeming offerings. Most of what we've listed here are day camps, but there are some overnight camps as well.

First, always check city recreation departments, and in surrounding communities. For proximity and often cost, you can find a wide variety of enrichment, traditional and sometimes academic offerings. Most partner with organizations such as Mad Science, Play-Well (LEGOs) and other specialists. Non-resident fees are also usually nominal.

The YMCAs in our area also offer a wide range of specialty, academic and traditional camps, with longer hours and no add-on extended care fees. They do require either a program membership or a facility membership that is useful year-round.

City Recreation Depts. Area YMCAs Los Altos Recreation guide El Camino YMCA  Los Altos Hills Recreation guide Mountain View Recreation guide Cupertino Recreation guide Northwest YMCA (Cupertino) Palo Alto Recreation guide  Palo Alto YMCA

There are such a wide variety of camps, we have broken them up into categories. If you know of a camp that is missing from these lists, tell us in the comments!

Arts and Music Camps

Horse Camps

Sports Camps

Nature Camps

Language Immersion Camps

Camps not easily categorized

Science Camps

Religious and Cultural Camps