While all of our featured camps are established Brooklyn mainstays, some camps have different yearly themes or evolving programs based on new ideas or experiences from past years. With COVID, a lot of things have changed and changed again over the last three years since the pandemic began. We asked some of our favorite camps, all members of our sponsored Camp Expo, to tell us a bit about what is new this year and to describe their ideal camper.
You can see all of our camp expo participating camps here.
Photo from the Curious Jane Camp
“We have more new projects than ever before at Curious Jane! We’ve had so much fun coming up with new activities — for classic CJ faves like Kitchen Chemistry and Spa Science (these have gotten a re-fresh with some totally new projects) and for altogether *new* themes like Fab Lab // Female Designers, Mini Pet Design, Sea & Stars, and Magic & Mystery. FUN!” – Samantha from Curious Jane
New Chelsea Piers Camp in Brooklyn
Most of our featured camps have some new elements, but the new Chelsea Piers Brooklyn summer camp will be held in a completely new 60,000 square foot facility.
“Kids need a place to relax, have fun, and burn energy together. As we continue to move past the strict quarantining and distancing rules of the height of the pandemic, Chelsea Piers Brooklyn’s camps offer the perfect antidote to sitting alone on a video call. We invite you to come to our facility and run, jump, swim and play with friends new and old to make memories your kids will not soon forget.” – Paula Citera, Chelsea Piers Brooklyn
Some Camps are offering New Age Groups
From Child’s Play NY. “We are thrilled to have opened up an entirely new age category for young people entering grades 5-8. Happily, this was by request, since so many of our Musical and Shakespeare students we work with during the year wanted to continue during the summer, and also our oldest campers were aging out!”
New Programs and exciting themes
“Tons of hands-on project-making has always been a hallmark of Curious Jane. It is all about creative thinking, trouble-shooting, and experimenting and playing with all different types of colorful materials. It’s active, it’s collaborative, it’s creative, it’s fun!” – Samantha, from Curious Jane
Koko NYC is offering “Camp KoKo” for kids ages 5-7. Camp KoKo takes all the sustainable and creative bits of KoKo NYC and builds it up into an immersive camp experience. Anything the kids can dream of building will become a possibility.
This year, the theme of Child’s Play NY camp is Connection, which is really what kids crave in these times. At Child’s Play NY, they center kids’ friendships in simple ways (like mindfully partnering up to make silly stories together) to complex (mounting a production in a week!).
“Whether they are playing a game of freeze tag to defeat an evil superhero, or learning a scene from mythology, Child’s Play NY has deep roots in all things social-emotional” – Jocelyn Greene, Child’s Play NY
This year, the Mark Morris Dance Group camp is focusing on Mark Morris’s new piece, The Look of Love. The piece recently premiered to rave reviews, and they can’t wait to share this exciting new work with their dance camp students.
This year, Sprout Brooklyn will host two specialty programs in addition to their traditional day camp programming: a Hebrew Immersion program and a STEM program. The Hebrew program is four weeks of full immersion where every activity is conducted solely in Hebrew. The STEM intensive will combine project-based coding, STEM exploration, team-building activities, with the typical high quality Sprout Brooklyn programs.
Treasure Trunk Theatre is offering lots of exciting themes this year including Disenchanted, Rosie Revere, Campalicious, and Harry Potter Magic Makers–all based on age group.
“We are very excited to be expanding our locations this year! We have our sights set on opening a brand new Park Slope studio of our own, which will have a full season of summer camps as well as offer even more availability to book your full-service birthday party packages with us. Stay tuned as more details become revealed! You can also still find us as always in BK Heights, Prospect Heights, Fort Greene, and Carroll Gardens.” – Elisa Pupko, Treasure Trunk Theatre
Camp is Really Important This Year
From Mark Morris Dance Camp: Arts education is proven to support children’s growth in both social/emotional learning and in focusing in their other academic subject areas. Engaging in our dance camp will help students develop their creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication skills, all through an inclusive and culturally responsive teaching approach.
Every curriculum at Treasure Trunk Theatre is based on the belief that exposure to the performing arts can create strong social emotional learning skills, as well as help to develop a solid empathetic foundation in every child. During such a challenging time for our world, Treasure Trunk Theatre believes it is absolutely imperative to foster every child’s ability to connect with others authentically, and learn to fully and joyously express themselves.
Sprout Brooklyn is also a place where children from a wide spectrum of Jewish backgrounds join together to create a joyful, diverse community built on Jewish values, a connection to Israel and the Hebrew language.
There is no other place or camp like Camp Maritime anywhere in New York, where you can learn to flyboard, surf, windsurf, kayak, skim board, fish, stand-up paddle, wing board, kite board, do boating, and tube.
“Play is the best way forward, and we believe that when kids use their imagination to tell stories with their peers, they will feel accomplishment, motivation and that joyful connection they so deserve!” – Jocelyn Greene, Child’s Play NY
Who is Your Ideal Camper
Finally, we asked camps to describe their ideal camper for Summer 2023.
“Our ideal camper is a kid with ideas and imagination. At KoKo we seek to make those dreams come true by turning trash into treasure.” – Koko NYC
“Someone who is adventurous and loves water sports and activities”- Camp Maritime
“Girls who like to make things :)” – Curious Jane
“Our belief is that dance is for anybody!” – Mark Morris Dance Camp
“Your amazing 3-8 year old kiddo! We truly believe that any kiddo – whether they are running for the spotlight or they are hesitant about new experiences – is the perfect fit for Treasure Trunk Theatre.” – Treasure Trunk Theatre
“We couldn’t name an ideal camper, because we want to provide a superior camp experience to anyone.” – Chelsea Piers
“Our ideal camper is a kid who is excited to PLAY. They like to make things up, use their imagination, work with others to learn new things.” – Child’s Play NY
*The camps specifically mentioned in this article are sponsors of our annual Camp Expo for 2023.