Summer Camps in San Antonio

 San Antonio Summer Camps

Summer is here, and San Antonio is the perfect place for kids to let loose, explore their wildest imaginations, and have tons of fun!

From interactive adventure camps that transport your kiddo back in time to cowboy adventures with horseback riding and star gazing, to action-packed sports camps filled with football, baseball, and soccer, there’s bound to be something for everyone.

And if your little one dreams of becoming a local celebrity, there’s no better stage than an acting camp held at one of the city’s most iconic theaters. Kids can learn about dynamics, improvisation, and team building while putting together an amazing performance.

It doesn’t stop there – if your child loves nature and soaking up the wonders of the outdoors, there are plenty of camps dedicated to helping them explore the beauty of the Hill Country or trek through the Rio Grande Valley. They can even become certified Junior Rangers by learning all about the local flora and fauna.

Summer camps in San Antonio offer something for every kid! So what are you waiting for? Let the summer fun begin!

Creative Camps

Art Camps

Get ready to get messy with art camp. Got a budding Monet? Worried your Baroque-inclined child will go broke if she pursues art? Have a child who loves to express himself in pictures…good, bad, and ugly? These camps will get them all on the road to success with solid foundations and experience. Even if your child isn’t that interested in art, but, has an interest – say – in world cultures, you’ll be able to find an art class to nurture that interest. Get ready to draw, sculpt, and craft.

Dance Camps

  • Camp Guadalupe: The Guadalupe Cultural Art Center offers intensive multi-disciplinary experiences in creative writing, dance, media arts, theater arts, and visual arts for 8 to 12-year-olds.
  • Budding Ballerina Camp ages 3-7, late June/mid-July. No previous experience is necessary.
  • Inishfree School of Irish Dance: One-week summer camp that covers dance warm ups, Irish step dances, proper dance techniques, and traditional Ceili dances in mid-July for dancers of all ages and levels.

Literary Camps

Got a mini-Hemingway who needs a little cultivation? Writing and literary camps can be challenging to find, but we unearthed at least three!

  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • San Antonio Writing Project: Held at the downtown UTSA campus for students entering 4th through 8th grade
  • Camp Guadalupe: The Guadalupe Cultural Art Center offers intensive multi-disciplinary experiences in creative writing, dance, media arts, theater arts, and visual arts for 8 to 12-year-olds.
  • Gemini Ink Young Writer’s Camp: For kids ages 8 – 12, young writers learn to nurture and honor their own voices in a supportive and creative environment
  • Literary Enrichment Academy -Summer Camps: This new summer experience focuses on enriching and developing a love for reading in English and/or Spanish by creating interactive experiences for children ages 7 – 11.

Music Camps

Do your kids love banging on drums in the garage or singing at the top of their lungs to the commercial songs on television? There’s a camp for that!

  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • VentureLab: VentureLab classes encompass and encourage entrepreneurship, while based on specific class curriculum. The offer classes in business, video game design, film, sustainable farming and more!
  • Michael Morales Rockstar Academy: ages 7-12.
  • Youth Orchestra San Antonio (YOSA) Summer Symphony Camp: ages 8 to 18 with at least one year experience. Auditions required for students in seventh grade or higher or with more than two years experience.
  • Camp Guadalupe: The Guadalupe Cultural Art Center offers intensive multi-disciplinary experiences in creative writing, dance, media arts, theater arts, and visual arts for 8 to 12 year olds.
  • Natural Ear Music Summer Rock Camp: Ages 6-18, your kid can be a rockstar! Grouped by age, skill, and interest, your kid will become a part of a band and get coaching from professional musicians.
  • The UTSA Department of Music: Camps galore for choir, band, and performing arts.
  • For the Love of Drums: beginner to intermediate camps for kids ages 7 and up
  • Alamo Rock School: The Alamo Music Center offers 2 sessions of music camp for kids ages 8 – 17 to help them become rock stars
  • San Antonio Brass Camp: at St. Mary’s Hall, for students ages 12 – 21

Theatre Camps

Is there drama in your home every day? Does your child dress up in scarves and write her own plays about fish? Does she love to sing and flash those Bob Fosse hands? Does he turn off the lights, grab a flashlight, turn it on, hold it up under his chin and start talking? Theater camp might be just the ticket…and there are plenty to choose from.

  • Camp Broadway: Known for offering theater workshops across the country, Camp Broadway will make its San Antonio debut this summer at the Majestic Theatre. The San Antonio session, which takes place Aug. 4-8,  is aimed at theater-minded youth ages 10 to 17. Broadway pros will lead lessons in dancing, singing and acting. There will also be master classes, Q&As and a backstage seminar. It is being offered as part of the Las Casas Foundation’s education program. Tuition costs $600. Scholarships are available.
  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • VentureLab: VentureLab classes encompass and encourage entrepreneurship, while based on specific class curriculum. The offer classes in business, video game design, film, sustainable farming and more!
  • Camp Showbiz: Two- and four-week day camp sessions for Ages 3-17 in musical theatre, classes for teens, movie-making and more at the Magik Theatre.
  • The Playhouse San Antonio: The Playhouse offers a variety of camps from acting for stage and camera to technical theatre to film production.
  • Woodlawn Theatre: The Woodlawn Academy for the Performing Arts is devoted to creating opportunities and educating the youth of San Antonio by providing comprehensive, fun and exciting, educational summer camp programs that teach your child the joys and challenges of live theatre.
  • Camp Guadalupe: The Guadalupe Cultural Art Center offers intensive multi-disciplinary experiences in creative writing, dance, media arts, theater arts, and visual arts for 8 to 12 year olds.
  • Boerne Theatre: Summer drama camp for ages 9-14.
  • Northside Performing Arts Center
  • Crystal Sea Drama Summer Camp
  • ActingUp Creative Drama Academy
  • Performing Arts San Antonio Pro Camp
  • The Renaissance Guild Summer Camp
  • The Rose Theatre
  • St. Phillip’s Summer Musical Theatre Workshop
  • Carver Community Cultural Center
  • Triuno Productions – Youth Musical Theatre: This two-week camp includes singing, dancing, and acting, for campers ages 5 -15, and ends with a production showcasing the children’s talent.
  • Drama Kids Summer Camp: For campers ages 5 -16, this camp includes a unique combination of fun, creative, and entertaining theatre activities such as silent scenes, improvisations, dialogue development, scene starters, and theatre games.

Educational Camps

Language Camps

Science & Tech Camps

If Einstein is your child’s middle name, or she’s got an interest in numbers, Legos or (like in my house) just wants to blow things up, then here are some camp options for you. Sadly, the reality is…if you have a child who is really gifted in these areas, you’ll likely need to leave the San Antonio area to find what you are looking for.

  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • VentureLab: VentureLab classes encompass and encourage entrepreneurship, while based on specific class curriculum. The offer classes in business, video game design, film, sustainable farming and more!
  • Jewish Community Center: Children entering 1st & 2nd grade can join these special fun and educational one week math, science, reading, and technology camps.
  • iD Tech Camps: Summer Tech Fun: Build iPhone/Android apps, video games, programs in C++/Java, movies, and more at weeklong, day and overnight programs.
  • Camp Invention: A weeklong summer enrichment for students entering grades one through six.
  • Summer Adventure Club at the Witte Museum 
  • Legacy: Hands on the Past Archeology Camp
  • Mad Science
  • iTEC Summer Camp at UTSA: programs vary from year to year
  • Aquatic Science Adventure Camp: for ages 9-15, pick a 2-day session or a full week for a freshwater ecosystem experience
  • STEM Scholars: Be a Summer Scholar at AHHS, this camp is for both AHISD and non-AHISD students focused on innovative science, technology, engineering, and math instruction with real-world, hands on experience.
  • National Science Resources Center: A summer internship program through the Smithsonian Institution for high schoolers, age 16 and older. Nearest one held in Houston. Applications must be completed by March 15. So if you missed the deadline this year, be sure to bookmark it for next.
  • Biomedical Excellence and Academic Training at UTHSCSA: This college prep session provides students with a behind-the-scenes view of the science and health professions- including visits to the human anatomy lab, interactions with real and state-of-the-art simulated patients for medical training, a glimpse at biomolecular technology, experiments and more.
  • Art & Science camps by Art Time: Students will learn basic science concepts through art experiences. Each day the students explore, manipulate and discover art & science through fascinating games, science experiments, and art projects. Ages 6 – 12.
  • Project SEED: For economically disadvantaged High School students. Will work with scientists for 8 weeks during the summer developing laboratory, written, and oral skills as they conduct scientific research.
  • YouthSpark Summer Camp: at your local Microsoft Store, for kids ages 8 – 13. Technology meets creativity with several opportunities to take different classes for free throughout the summer. Register online.
  • High School Startup: This three-week program focuses on entrepreneurship in tech and science. Kids ages 15 – 19 learn to pitch, and product design then get an idea on Kickstarter!
  • GirlStartup: an entrepreneurial camp for girls, takes campers ages 6-12 through the process of creating a business idea, conducting market research, creating a prototype, working in teams, and “pitching” ideas.

Engineering Camps

Math Camps

You can always find math tutoring, but these are camps for kids who just love to spend their summers with their faces buried in pi.

Robotics Camps

From Mindstorm NXT to Vex…these robotics camps rock. This isn’t just about putting the pieces together, it’s about making them move in certain ways, turn circles, follow a colored line and the ever ubiquitous egg drop.

  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • VentureLab: VentureLab classes encompass and encourage entrepreneurship, while based on specific class curriculum. The offer classes in business, video game design, film, sustainable farming and more!
  • iD Tech Camps: Summer Tech Fun: Build iPhone/Android apps, video games, programs in C++/Java, movies, and more at weeklong, day and overnight programs.
  • iTEC at UTSA: Camps for K-12 include chemistry, microbiology, aviation, forensics, robotics, engineering and more.
  • Palo Alto College- Robotics Camp: designed to teach 2nd to 8th grade students how to build and operate robotic machines. Students will explore the topics of these simple machines using computer-based activities with motorized LEGO® kits and various computer software applications.
  • SpaceTEAMS: Scholarships available, plus Northwest Vista College also offers other camps!
  • Northeast Lakeview College: elementary, middle, and high school robotics and video game camps
  • STEM Summer Institute: Underwater Robotics at Texas A&M in Corpus
  • Bricks 4 Kidz: Jr Robotics with Legos and Mindstorm Camp 
  • Robots-4-U

Nature & Animal Camps

There’s nothing quite like spending the summer outside enjoying the best of what nature has to offer us. Yes, it’s hot. But it’s also wild and Wooley and wonderful! Where else can you find a skeeter eater skimming across the surface of a creek, birds and bees, and flowers and trees. Just deck down your children with a water bottle, some mosquito repellent and they’re set to go! Here are some options…

  • Cibolo Nature Center: Nature Camp is a high-energy, dynamic nature camp that focuses on specific nature themes each week during June and July.
  • Animal Botanical: ages 6 and up, for children with special needs
  • San Antonio Botanical Garden: ages 3 – 12
  • Southwest School of Art: combining nature and art. Does it get any better? ages 8 – 18. If you want more of a feel for these camps, visit their Flickr stream.
  • The Human Path: Youth Outdoor Education: this overnight nature skills summer camp is for campers ages 8 – 12.

These are camps all about animals.

Out-of-the-Ordinary Camps

There’s camp….and then there’s out-of-the-box camp. These are some surprising camp offerings that caught my attention just because they offer something different than everybody else. That means they don’t really fit under any other heading…so they get one all their own!

  • Criminal Justice Summer Camp at UTSA
  • ACE Academy: An aviation camp for future pilots of America, held at Stinson Municipal Airport and sponsored by the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals and the Federal Aviation Administration. For ages 14-17.
  • Lone Star Leadership Academy: Sunday-Friday, residential, leadership development programs for outstanding 4th-8th graders. Participants travel to Dallas/Fort Worth, Austin/San Antonio, or Houston/Galveston to develop leadership skills while experiencing historically, politically, and environmentally significant Texas sites with certified educators.
  • Palo Alto College – Children’s Leadership Academy: Ages 5-10, through fun, interesting, and hands-on learning, campers develop leadership skills, learn theories, practice techniques, apply critical thinking skills, and participate in team-building exercises that they can apply to school, sports, and community involvement.
  • GirlStartup: an entrepreneurial camp for girls, takes campers ages 6-12 through the process of: creating a business idea, conducting market research, creating a prototype, working in teams and “pitching” ideas.
  • Urban Farmer Camp: During the Urban Farming course students will have the opportunity to work with cutting-edge hydroponic technology. The course explores the reasons hydroponics has become a viable method for farming in order to teach the roots of innovation.
  • High School Startup: This three week program focuses on entrepreneurship in tech and science. Kids ages 15 – 19 learn to pitch, product design then get an idea on Kickstarter!
  • Recyclepreneur Camp: Recyclepreneur is a course that encourages students to look beyond traditional resources when designing a product. The course begins with an introduction on social entrepreneurship in the face of limited material.
  • VentureLab: VentureLab classes encompass and encourage entrepreneurship, while based on specific class curriculum. The offer classes in business, video game design, film, sustainable farming and more!
  • Camp Illusion Magic Camp: When I first blogged about this, I got so many hits from people googling “how to make your kids disappear.” That cracks me up.
  • Camp Can-I-Cook: Young Chef’s Academy’s offering into the summer space. I’m all over the chocolate adventure!
  • USA Chess Camp
  • Confucius Institute Summer Camp: For ages 7-12, this one-week camp in mid-July at UTSA offers campers an all-inclusive experience in Chinese culture with language enrichment, arts & crafts, martial arts, and more.
  • Main Event: Bowling camp! They offer half-day camps for your kids 8-15 with lunch included. Learn to bowl and enjoy the arcade at this fun new place.
  • Mascot Boot Camp
  • UT Outreach: Summer Enrichment Academy

Special Needs Camps

There are two kinds of camps for kids with special needs…inclusion camps that are willing to accommodate special needs and camps specifically for children who face challenges. From asking camp directors around town, I’ve discovered that many are willing to have special needs children included as a part of their camps. They may not advertise it, but they will often consider it (1) if you ask, (2) if your child is not medically fragile and (3) your child is fairly high functioning with a need for some extra support.

Here are some camps that are specifically set up to handle special needs children.

  • Alamo KidSports summer camps include sports instruction and fun activities that teach the fundamentals of fitness/agility, soccer, basketball, or baseball.
  • Special Reach Summer Enrichment Program features structured fun activities that create a wide variety of experiences for children with special needs, under the supervision of trained, state-certified professionals.
  • Camp CAMP
  • Texas Lions Camp (Kerrville)
  • Texas Elks Camp (Gonzalez)
  • R.O.P.E.R.
  • Eva’s Heroes For ages 14-21, June through July.
  • Kinetic Kids

Sports Camps

Football camps

Basketball Camps

Soccer Camps

  • UTSA Summer Camps: This year, UTSA will offer science, engineering, architecture, sports, music, writing, and language and culture camps for kids and teens. Some camps are day-long programs; others last a week or two. But each of our camps offers participants the chance to have fun, make friends and learn something new.
  • Alamo KidSports: summer camps include sports instruction and fun activities that teach the fundamentals of fitness/agility, soccer, basketball or baseball.
  • World Wide Soccer: offers full day (9 am-4 pm), half day (9 am-12 pm), Mini Kickers (9 am-11 am) and advanced soccer training for competitive soccer players.
  • National Youth Sports San Antonio

Other Sports Camps