The Zine · 13 planning guides · Issue No. 04 · Free
A wide zine-style corkboard masthead pinned with photographs from a summer camp — kids mid-cannonball, friendship-bracelet making, a cabin-porch chat, a cardboard-robot build, a grass-field sprint, and a painting easel — alongside a pressed leaf, a ticket stub, and a hand-lettered issue-no.-04 note.
↘ issue no. 04 · summer

The Zine.

Honest writing about summer camp planning — what's worth your money, what isn't, and how to survive scheduling season without losing the plot.

↘ By metro

Guides by city

One guide for each city we cover — what camps cost there, how many are available, and the rest of the planning playbook tailored to the place you actually live.

Los Angeles summer camps guide → San Francisco Bay Area summer camps guide → New York City summer camps guide → Chicago summer camps guide → Atlanta summer camps guide → Jacksonville summer camps guide → Baltimore summer camps guide → Portland summer camps guide → Seattle summer camps guide → Austin summer camps guide → Las Vegas summer camps guide → Phoenix summer camps guide → Durham summer camps guide → Pittsburgh summer camps guide → Alexandria summer camps guide → Bloomfield Hills summer camps guide → San Jose summer camps guide → Dallas summer camps guide → Denver summer camps guide → Houston summer camps guide → Philadelphia summer camps guide → Brooklyn summer camps guide → Bronx summer camps guide → Palo Alto summer camps guide → Culver City summer camps guide → Burbank summer camps guide → Santa Monica summer camps guide → Rochester summer camps guide → San Anselmo summer camps guide → Springfield summer camps guide →
↘ All guides

The whole issue.

Zine collage of a kitchen table covered with camp brochures, highlighted dollar amounts in yellow marker, a calculator, and a red PAID stamp.
Parents budgeting across the US and Canada.

2026 Summer Camp Pricing Report

What a week of camp actually costs this summer — around $400 in the US, $285 in Canada, with wide swings by city and camp type. Ranges, not averages.
Hand-inked trail map showing a fork in the path, a pinned photo of a kid studying camp flyers, and a compass rose in the corner.
Parents in research mode.

How to choose a summer camp: a 2026 decision framework

Nine questions that separate a camp that fits your kid from one that drains $2,000 and leaves them bored by Wednesday.
Scout-handbook style spread with a safety clipboard, a warm photograph of a counselor kneeling beside a kid with a bandaid, and an ACA REVIEWED red stamp.
Parents vetting camps for safety.

Summer camp safety + ACA accreditation: a 2026 parent's guide

What the ACA accreditation label really buys you, ten questions any camp should be able to answer without flinching, and six red flags that should end the tour.
Corkboard split into two halves: left side pinned with photos of a daytime camp drop-off with lunchbox; right side pinned with photos of kids in a tent at night by flashlight.
Parents weighing the overnight jump.

Day camp vs overnight camp: a 2026 decision guide

The real readiness signals (age is a proxy, not the answer), the roughly 10× price jump, and a three-year on-ramp that works for most families.
Cyan blueprint paper with a floor plan of a camp STEM cabin, hand-inked circuit-diagram doodles, and a clipped black-and-white photo of kids building a cardboard robot.
Parents of kids into coding, robotics, or science.

STEM summer camps 2026: a parent's guide to picking the real ones

What actually counts as STEM at age 6 vs age 14, what to pay (around $550 a week is typical), and ten questions that tell you if it's real curriculum or marketing.
Back of a faded denim jacket covered in iron-on sports patches with a whipstitched color photograph of kids mid-sprint across a grass field.
Parents of young athletes.

Sports summer camps 2026: a parent's picking guide

Multi-sport sampler or one-sport deep dive, rec or development track, day or overnight — and the safety questions most parents forget to ask.
Kid's crayon-on-placemat collage with three glued-on halftone photos of kids painting, performing, and sculpting, plus a scribbled crayon sun and rainbow.
Parents of creative kids.

Arts + performing-arts summer camps 2026: a parent's guide

Visual arts, theater, music, dance, film — and how to tell an audition-based conservatory from a low-pressure exploratory camp before you sign the check.
A warm photograph bordered by a knotted friendship-bracelet chevron pattern, of a counselor sitting at eye level with a kid while they tie a bracelet together on a calm cabin porch.
Parents of neurodiverse kids.

Summer camps for neurodiverse kids (ADHD, autism, anxiety): a 2026 guide

When a strong general-population camp beats a specialty one, twelve interview questions that surface real training, and how to have the IEP/504 conversation without getting a brochure back.
A newspaper clipping with the word ACCESS highlighted in yellow marker, two column-width photos of grinning siblings, and paper camp-admit ticket stubs stapled to the edge.
Families managing camp on a budget.

Summer camp financial aid + scholarships 2026: where to actually find them

Four paths to bring camp costs down — and the application-timing mistake that costs families thousands every spring.
Four overlapping Polaroids scattered on a walnut desk showing a packed duffel bag, a labeled lunchbox, a rolled sleeping bag, and a row of sneakers ready to go.
Parents prepping for drop-off day.

Summer camp packing list 2026 + pre-camp prep checklist

What to pack for day vs overnight, the stuff you should leave home, and five short conversations to have before drop-off so day one doesn't end in tears.
11
Parents managing overlapping ages, schedules, and logistics.

How to plan summer camps when you have multiple kids and nine open weeks

A practical planning system for research, shortlisting, assignments, and budget tracking without drowning in tabs and spreadsheets.
12
Families in commute-sensitive metros across the US and Canada — the LA westside, the SF peninsula, the NYC boroughs, and the Toronto core all run into the same commute-before-camp problem.

A commute-first summer camp strategy for families balancing cost, commute, and coverage

How to cluster beach, arts, STEM, and multi-activity options by geography first — so pickup stays possible and the shortlist gets shorter.
13
Households trying to stay realistic about total summer spend across every kid.

How to budget summer camp across multiple kids without losing the whole plan

A planning approach for balancing cost, quality, and week coverage when every child has different options.
Done reading?

Stop reading, start planning.

The planner turns every guide on this page into action — shortlist camps, assign kids to weeks, track deadlines.

Open the planner →