Looking for Virtual Literary Summer Camps? Look No Further!

It’s not ridiculous to say that there are quite a few parents out there that are uncomfortable with the notion of sending their children off to in-person camps. With the vaccine not yet available to kids under the age of 12, what should you do with your literary-loving children this summer?

Well, the happy making news of the day is that there appear to a whole slew of virtual camps out there for children. For kids with a love of literature, consider the following:

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Story Pirates Creator Club

For the second year in a row, The Story Pirates and Random House Children’s Books will co-host a camp during June and July. The weekly themed camps will feature live interactions between authors and illustrators and the young readers. To be more specific, authors and illustrators will interact with young campers, who will be inspired to write and draw their own stories under weekly themes. The first week of camp begins on June 14th. More information is at: https://www.storypirates.com/camp. And just to note, the camp itself is part of the ongoing Story Pirates Creator Club: https://www.storypirates.com/creatorclub

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Story Seeds Podcast Camp

As you may know, I am the host of the Story Seeds podcast. It’s a podcast for kids that pairs well known authors alongside kid writers, allowing them to collaborate on stories together. As it just so happens, there will now be a virtual camp for kids interested in such podcasting. It is described in this way:

Our virtual summer programs are developed by Literary Safari, the award-winning production company behind The Story Seeds Podcast which has created curriculum and playful learning experiences for McGraw Hill Education, Scholastic, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and UNESCO. Our workshops, mini-camps, and intensive camps are scaffolded experiences designed to introduce kids ages 7-14 to the wide world of podcasting and equip them with the tools they need to start growing their own podcasts! All programs will be facilitated by educators and will feature live presentations by both young and professional podcasters.

You can find more information about the different camps here. Be sure to choose between the Introductory Workshop, the Mini Camp, and the Intensive Camp.

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Scholastic Lit Camp

Scholastic takes a more scholarly approach to the notion of children’s camps. Or, as they put it:

“LitCamp is a breakthrough literacy program that combines innovative lessons with an engaging and interactive summer camp approach. Students will make reading, writing, and social-emotional gains that they’ll carry back to school in the fall. LitCamp offers learning models for in-school, hybrid, digital, and Spanish instruction.”

Find out more about the camp here.

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Storymakery

Let’s get back to the notion of kids creating things this summer. This site has angled smoothly from helping kids create their own book in-house to participating in camps that are a little more intensive. You can choose between the Online Young Author Summer Camp and the Online Writing Adventure Camp, both for kids between the ages of 7-10. There’s even an Online Comic Writing and Design Camp as well.

Find more information about them here.

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Know of others? Let me know and I’ll add them here!

Extra thanks to Beth Blenz-Clucas for helping me with some of this info.

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