Best Performing Arts Summer Camp in Southern California

Did you go to sleepaway camp as a kid? If you did, you probably have warm and sunny memories of your time away from home. Did you get lots of bug bites? Yes – but you also made friends and learned skills that have lasted a lifetime.

And now you want to pass that experience on to your kids. But now that you’re on the paying side of the experience, you may wonder “is it really worth it”?

And the answer is – absolutely. As long as you pick the right performance summer camp, there are solid benefits to giving your kid some time away from home.

Here are a few.

Camp Boosts Confidence

Most of their lives kids have people do stuff for them. It’s our way of helping or (let’s be honest) making things go faster so we can get out of the house on time, for once.

But when kids are at sleepaway camp, they learn how much they can do on their own. They’re capable of getting themselves from activity to activity (walking) and learning how to do certain things.

Being pushed out of their comfort zone, in a safe environment, will mature your child in ways that are not only age appropriate, but will make them a more well-rounded and proud kid overall.

They Find New Passions

A lot of us only do the activities that we can access in our area. If you live in a city, for example, your kid probably doesn’t have access to rock-climbing.

But at camp, they have access to a bigger range of activities than they do at home. And since there are different electives and evening activities, they don’t have to stick to one or two things, for monetary or scheduling reasons.

You may send your video game playing kid off to camp for them to come home and find out the love water-skiing. Or maybe they learned all about LARPs, which could get that game console out of their hands.

It Gives You a Break

Let’s be honest (again). Raising kids is hard work. As much as you love and adore them, it’s nice to have a break. Imagine how refreshed you’ll be after a few weeks of sleeping in, uninterrupted by kids and not needing to drive anyone anywhere.

It’s safe to say camp is a blessing for both kids and parents.

Finding the Best Performance Summer Camp

Now, not all sleep-away camps are alike. It would be a hard sell for your child who loves dancing and acting to go to a camp where all they do are mile-long hikes every day.

You want to find a camp that focuses on performing arts, but still has all the outdoor adventure things that kids love. Like a lake and a zip line.

Here’s what to look for in a summer camp.

1. A Range of Specialties

When you send your kid to camp, you want them to pursue their passions in new ways, but also find supplementary passions. Like if your child loves to dance and do gymnastics, they may find that circus training (like aerial dance) is also up their alley.

When you’re looking for a performance summer camp, make sure they have more than one specialty and more than one that your child enjoys.

For example, we offer the following specialties (and a quiz to find out which is right for you).

• Water Sports
• Hollywood Stunts
• DJ
• Street Art
• Secret Agent
• Rock Star
• Fine Art
• Comedy
• Trapeze Classes
• Movie Makeup
• Dance
• And more!

You can read more about what the Hollywood Stunts specialty experience is like here.

2. A Great Reputation

When you look for a summer camp, it’s just like looking for a great school or business. You want to see that they have good reviews. And in this case, you want to see reviews from both kids and parents.

Once a family finds a summer camp they love, they usually send all of their children there, across the years. If you find a summer camp with great reviews across the board (and on multiple sites, like Google reviews) then you’re on the right track.

You only want to send your kid somewhere you’d want to go yourself. And yes, it’s normal to feel a little jealous of all the fun your kid is going to have.

3. A High-Quality Environment

There’s a difference between camping and going to camp. Camping involves sleeping on the cold, hard, ground and going to camp involves cabins.

Cabins, in our case, with nice soft twin beds (bring your own linens) and bathrooms that get professionally cleaned. Our cabins are also climate controlled, which is nice even in the mild California mountain temperatures.

Kids make the majority of their camp friends in their cabins and specialties. Cabin-mates and bunk-mates are friends for life!

Choosing a Camp for Your Child

First, check out this quiz to determine which of our specialties is right for your child. And then show them our list of electives and evening activities, so they don’t feel “trapped” into their decision.

Then, start booking your plane tickets or scheduling your road trip. You’ll need to let us know you’re coming, too. The best performance summer camps fill up quickly, so you have to register fast.

Once you’re registered and travel is booked, start packing for camp and planning what you’ll do in your downtime. That’s right – you have downtime starting right now!