Incredible Summer Art Camps for NYC Kids

photo: Wet Paint! ArtVentures! Art + Architecture Day Camp

There's really no place like New York City for kids to learn about art. The many professional local moonlighting artists make a very talented pool of incredible teachers and the high emphasis and demand for art programs has created an amazing wealth of exceptional art classes and camps. We looked at dozens of creative arts camps and have selected the ones we found to be really exceptional and we still came out with a dozen camps because there were so many that were great for different reasons.

We found visual arts camps, dance and theater camps, music camps, and even creative writing camps. There are also camps that have programs in cool stuff like video and circus arts and art camps that allow kids to sample a little of everything. We found programs that run all summer or one week intensives. From preschoolers to high schoolers, if your child is ready to dive in to a summer of artistic expression, there's a camp for him.

We called each and every one of the below camps and verified that they have spaces available so reserve your spot today! Be sure to check out our camp guide for dozens of more great camps.

Visual Arts Camps

Children's Museum of the Arts
cmany.org
Weekly and Bi-weekly Sessions
Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm, extended day available
Camps start at $575
Ages 6-12

One thing I love about the summer camps at the Children's Museum of the Arts is that they run on an artist's schedule. CMA summer art camps start at 10am, a very civilized hour, perfect for parents with creative jobs that don't need to be in the office at 9am, and letting summer mornings be a little less frantic than the regular school year. (It's the little things that make me happy) For parents who have regular office jobs, children can be dropped off at 9 or stay till 5 for an extra fee.

In addition to that little hedonistic pleasure, they also happen to have terrific art programs that you won't find everywhere else, taught by professional teaching artists. The popular animation classes are sold out for the summer, but you can still sign up for cartooning, sculpture, drawing and painting, puppetry, film and more. Each session includes a related gallery or museum trip and an art show of student work at the end of the session.

Wet Paint! ArtVentures! Art + Architecture Day Camp
wetpaintartstudio.com
Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
Two Week Session
$1400
Ages 7-14

ArtVentures! treats your kids like little professional artists. They start their day with a warm-up drawing exercise in the art studio, followed by a presentation of a specific art or architecture project for the day, and then the campers head out into the city on a field trip to draw or paint at a museum, an architectural landmark or in a park.Back at the studio the your little Michelangelo works on her own studio art project. Wet Paint instructors are practicing artists and architects and counselors are college art/architecture students.

Greenwich House Pottery
greenwichhousepottery.org
3 Days per week, 9:30-12:30
1 or 4 week sessions
starting at $225
Ages 7-11

Pottery is a great creative activity for kids. It builds agility, coordination, strength, control, imagination and sensory development. The greenwich House Pottery school has been a New York institution for 100 years and is an incredible resource for New York City families interested in learning pottery. Their three day per week summer camp for kids incorporates found objects, body mapping, contour drawing, collaborative sculpture making, and, plenty of clay work. The camps culminate with a show in the Jane Hartsook Gallery.

Bucks Rock
bucksrockcamp.com
Sleep-Away Camp for ages 9 and up 2-8 week sessions
starting at $2490

Bucks Rock is an incredible arts camp that gives kids access to professional level arts facilities where children can learn glassblowing, metalsmithing , woodworking, sculpture, sewing, batik, weaving, printmaking, performing arts and more. After a summer at Bucks Rock your child will have had the opportunity to explore and participate in things that many artists don't have access to until college and many people will never get to try.

As a Bucks Rock alum, I can attest to how Bucks Rock gave me skills that I was able to turn into real work later in life without any further professional training. I consider Bucks Rock a life-altering experience and an amazing opportunity for any child seriously into the arts. (I have placed Bucks Rock under visual arts because, even though they have a great performing arts program, I think the visual arts facilities there are the thing that really distinguish it from any other camp.)

Performing Arts Camps

Broadway Superstars Summer Theater Intensives
www.applauseny.com
Weekly Sessions Monday-Friday
$650 per week
K-8th Grade

Each week has a different curriculum that is specifically designed for the individual age group including classes in acting, singing, dancing, tv and camera work, audition technique, hip-hop dance, set design, costume design, and more. Applause NY also offers Broadway Babies, mommy and me classes and preschool classes for children as young as 6 months old for musical theater fun.

Brooklyn Arts Exchange
www.bax.org
Monday-Friday, 9-3pm, extended day available
Weekly sessions, starting at $540
Grades K-5 

Brooklyn Arts Exchange's Junior Summer Arts Program is a more relaxed "family style" performing arts program with weekly sessions in such things as circus arts, video production, musical theater, puppetry and more. They also participate in fun & original Counselor Led Activities such as arts and crafts, singing, yoga, non-competitive sports, and enjoy themselves during free play. BAX also has a program for 10-14 year olds.

Wingspan Arts Summer Conservatory
www.wingspanarts.org
3-6 week sessions Monday-Friday, full day 1st-12th grades
Free-$1500

Wingspan Arts Summer Conservatory programs allow children to create their own productions from beginning to end. Even the youngest kids write and produce their own full-scale performance learning playmaking, acting, singing, and dancing as they go. The day is split between performance rehearsals and performing arts classes with a break for some outdoor play, quiet games, and lunch in the middle.

Thanks to some fabulous grants, the camps for kids in grades 6 and up are completely free this summer. Unfortunately, the auditions were already held and all the girl spots have been filled, but there are still spots for two boys in the free sessions and plenty of spots for all kids in the elementary school aged group.

French Woods
frenchwoods.com
Sleep-Away Camp
3 week sessions starting at $3150
Ages 7-17

French Woods sounds like kid heaven if I've ever heard of it. Each child can pick his or her activities from a to-die-for assortment including theater, arts, music, dance, sports, circus, waterfront, horseback riding, adventure, computers, skateboarding ,sailing, rock and roll and magic. But when they say they have, say, a circus program at French Woods, they're not talking about teaching the kids to juggle and put on clown noses. French Woods has a full-on 12,000 square foot, professionally equipped circus tent with trapeze, spanish web, stunt bikes, fire twirling, etc. And the other activities at this summer camp sound just as impressive.

Music Camps

Turtle Bay Music School
www.tbms.org
Half-Days, Monday-Thursday Two week sessions, $595
Ages 3-8
Turtle Bay Music School offers three summer day camps for young musicians, Piano Camp, Pre-Suzuki Violin Camp and Suzuki Violin Summer Intensive. Children don't need to have any prior experience to begin or continue learning during the summer camps.

Creative Writing Camps

Kids Lit Corner Author's Camp
www.kids-lit-corner.com
Half days, Monday-Friday One week session
Ages 6-12

During Kids Lit Corner one week summer camp session, kids will write, illustrate and publish their own 32 page hardcover children's book. Teacher, Kimberly Kaustin has a great technique for getting kids to develop their ideas and create incredible work that children go home very proud of.

Multi-Arts Camps

Henry Street Settlement Abrons Art Center Barabara L Tate Summer Arts Day Camps
www.henrystreet.org
Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm 5 week session, $975
Ages 6-12

Children can sample the professional instruction in dance, music, theater, and the visual arts, with classes taught by skilled teaching-artists, and special workshops and performances presented by visiting guest artists. The camp also offers gallery educational tours and performance opportunities. Campers take a cultural field trip once a week and swim in the neighborhood pool. Campers are also provided with a free nutritious lunch in our sunny outdoor sculpture garden and healthy snacks each day.The program lasts five weeks culminating in an original musical performed by the campers in the Abrons historic Playhouse. Abrons Art Center also offers Music and Dance intensive camps as well as a two-week architecture camp.

For more great camp ideas, check out our Summer Camp Guide!