Nantucket kids camps

As Alice Cooper once blasted from car radios everywhere – “School’s Out For Summer!”  Kids are bright eyed and ready to trade their homework assignments in for a couple months of fun in the sun.  For kids living on or visiting Nantucket the opportunities for how to spend their days are endless.  There is a summer camp for every age, interest and skill level.   With the amazing menu of options to choose from, kids can get educated, keep busy and have a blast, all at the same time.  One thing is certain, you won’t find any Nantucket camp goers singing the famous “Camp Grenada” tune this summer – they’ll be much too busy having fun to write home to mom.

The summer camp menu is expansive.  Kids can attend any number of sports camps at the Nantucket Community School.  They can join a comprehensive program at the Murray Camp where options range from swimming lessons to Hip Hop dancing to marine exploring – and everything in between.  At the Nantucket Artists Association, budding young artists can learn how to draw, paint, photograph or wheelthrow.  They can step aboard and learn to sail at Nantucket Community Sailing camp.   How about an aviation camp, a Maria Mitchell discovery class, a Children’s Theater camp or a workshop at the Nantucket Island School of Design and Arts? And summer camp isn’t just for kids anymore…mom and dad can take some classes too!

One of the many benefits of summer camp in Nantucket is how familiar the kids get with the island.  Our daughter Ashlie attended a small private day camp with the then beloved Kindergarten teacher, Jackie Fey (she was Jackie Peach then!)  Miss Peach took the kids on a big adventure every day.  Ashlie discovered hidden walking paths and tiny bridges at Squam Swamp where they searched for frogs and snakes.  She climbed trees in the Hidden Forest and ate a picnic lunch on the Cliff overlooking Tuppancy Links.  She went turtling and crabbing from the Madaket bridges and frequented the bird sanctuary at Jetties Beach.  Each afternoon she returned home exhausted, excited and a little grungy…and always filled with enthusiastic stories about her newest Nantucket discovery.  2 of our kids took their Nantucket summer camp experiences and “paid it forward” in their teen years when they volunteered as camp counselors at the Boys and Girls Club.  It was thrilling for them to introduce new kids to the island “secrets” they had discovered as kids.

So, whether you’re bringing your kids or grandkids to the island for their first summer visit, returning for the summer or you have a local youngster looking for a new passion – check out the countless options to broaden their horizens and fill their days.  Who knows, you might just have a budding artist, a star tennis player or our next Cape Air Pilot living right under your own roof!  Come experience Nantucket kids camps.

Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda….

Shellie Dunlap