Spend Summer Vacation at the Boys and Girls Club

If you aren't sure how you're going to get through the summer and keep the kids entertained, consider joining your local Boys and Girls Club. During the summer, the Boys and Girls Club hosts low cost summer camps loaded with supervised activities and field trips.

When I was in college, I worked at a Boys and Girls Club as a recreation leader for five to six year olds. We had a blast each summer. As a parent, I like the price. The local Boys and Girls Club in my community costs just $115 for an entire week. You can also sign your kids up on a day to day basis for just $25 per day. You'll need to pay an annual membership fee and a camp registration fee but those are minimal as well.

I signed my child up for ten days which can be spread out throughout summer vacation. In addition, the hours are flexible. Whether my child spends the whole day, the morning, or the afternoon at the Boys and Girls Club is up to me. This flexibility allows for spontaneous changes of plans. For example, if it's a terrific beach day, I don't have to worry about forfeiting money I've already spend on camp. We can head to the beach and do the Boys and Girls Club thing another day.

It also gives me an option on days where I need to get some extra work done or when my daughter is bored. I'll know she's in good hands and she'll be entertained with relay races, arts and crafts, sports, cooking, computer labs, and games.

The Boys and Girls Club field trips vary from trips to the zoo (for a fee) to free trips to the park, city pool, and fire station. Each kid gets a camp T-shirt as part of the registration fee that they must wear on the field trips.

In speaking with the director of the local clubhouse, she told me that they have different activities and programs for the younger kids and older kids. This is reassuring because I want my child involved in age-appropriate activities. Larger clubhouses break the programs down even further. For example, the clubhouse I worked at grouped the kids by age. Each age had its own group and assigned recreation leaders; all five and six-year-olds would be in one group, seven and eight-year-olds in another, and so forth.

The Boys and Girls Club has locations across the country. Give them a call and see what programs they offer in your neighborhood.