Every single year February and March roll around and before I know it, I’m having to think about booking camping sites and summer camps for the kids. It’s hard to do while we’re still in the depths of winter, but the reality is that if you wait too long, the good summer camps for the kids are full and the best camping sites are fully booked!

I’ve written quite a bit in the past about our favourite campgrounds (and comfort camping), but there are always a few weeks a year when we’re home, my husband is working regular hours, I have multiple sessions, and we need a day camp for our kids. It’s childcare for us, but the kids also LOVE going to camp. They’ll talk about the good camps they’ve been to all winter long, waiting for registration to open again for next summer.

There are 2 camps we’ve done for the past few years that have been the highlights of the summer.

Pedalheads

Ok, so, here’s the truth. My husband and I really suck at teaching our kids stuff. Embarrassing to admit? Slightly. But it’s the truth. This is especially true when it comes to sports skills. Our kids learn differently than both of us as we seriously struggle to communicate in a way where everyone stays happy. So, after 8 years of parenting, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s just better for other people to teach our kids certain things. One of those ‘things’ is riding a bike.

For 3 years we worked on teaching our oldest daughter to ride a bike and almost every time it ended in tears (both her and me!). 3 years ago we decided to enroll her in Pedalheads, which is a day camp that focuses on biking skills.

The. Best. Decision.

She arrived with her bike and training wheels and by the end of day one (just 3 hours!) she had her training wheels off and had a massive smile plastered on her face. After 5 mornings of biking she was on a roll and couldn’t wait for the Friday parade where she got to show off all her skills.

Since that time we’ve done 4 more Pedalheads camps (in Sherwood Park & at the Argyll Edmonton site) and I just can’t say enough good things about them. My youngest had her training wheels off when she was 4 and is already learning how to ride safely on the street at 5.

The camps are very well organized, the staff is dedicated (i.e. not looking at their phones all the time) and they manage to make biking incredibly fun, even when the kids are falling or when it’s raining.

If your kid is so-so about biking or you’re like us and just get frustrated teaching them new skills, then I can’t recommend this camp enough.

Creation Space Day Camp

I’m sure by now you know my love of Creation Space. Alie is incredibly talented and her dedication to helping kids explore art is unparallelled.

Side note: Alie and I have teamed up to offer Family Painting Photo Sessions – I can promise it’ll be the most fun you’ll ever have during a photo session.

My girls have done multiple workshops at Creation Space, but their favourite is the week each summer that they get to go to day camp. I love that the camps are for 4-10 year olds, so both girls can go to the same camp and it’s only one drop off/pick up for me! I also love that I can drop them off, then head down to DeCapo and work for the 3 hours that they’re in camp (delicious coffee for me, fun for them – win/win!).

Each week is a theme and the kids do daily projects but also generally work on one longer-term project that they add to throughout the week. One year they came home with the most fantastic fairy house that they’d constructed, and last year they hand sewed a unicorn stuffie (which almost a year later is still in each of their beds nightly!).

Aside from these 2 weeks each year that the girls look forward to, we also usually do one week of camps through Strathcona County (because we live in Sherwood Park). The Under The Big Top circus-based camp the County offers has been a big hit and is a fun change of pace.

Do you have kids who do day camp? Ones they look forward to each year? I’d love to hear about it. Share in the comments below.