As the school year winds down, get ready for summer camp

There's only a few weeks left in the school year and some parents may still be scrambling to find some summer camp options for their children.

Luckily, Morning Edition parenting columnist Tenille Bonoguore has rounded up just some of the options in the region.

Bonoguore has a few options for every kid's interest including arts, sports, the outdoors and entrepreneurship.

Artsy options

Bonoguore calls Mindful Makers an "explosion of creativity," offering camps for bookbinding, sewing, weaving, design, sculpture and more. The camp is a chance for kids to work with local artisans and this year's unofficial theme is Harry Potter.

As usual, the local YMCA branches have a wide variety of camps to offer kids, but this year's new camp is Magic Camp, where campers learn tips and tricks and perform in a magic show on the Friday.

The Stratford Theatre Camp is two-weeks long, and isn't a bargain, but gives the teen actor in the family a chance to work with Stratford actors, take improv classes and put on an end-of-camp performance.

"If you've got a teen actor and they've been saving their pennies and you've been saving your pennies, that might be the one."

Science and nature camps

Bonoguore reminds parents of the many long-running options including Engineering Science Quest at the University of Waterloo and Camp KummonIWannaGo's nature program at Laurel Creek, and points to some newer options like spending time as a farmer at a Steckle Heritage Farms Agriventure Day Camp. 

For the family's animal lover we have good news and bad news. The Humane Society's Vet Camp is sold out already, but the good news is Animaniacs camp still has room for children 6-12.

Active camps

If you have a kid who wants to become an entrepreneur, maybe they'll be interested in the Young Innovators Camp K/W, which has children building prototypes while pitching solutions to real-world problems.

Have you got a kid who needs a little more action? Maybe they want to try their hand at fencing, especially if they're into the indoors.

If they've dreamed of sailing the seas, the Conestoga Sailing Club is running a Sailing Camp for beginners with one-and-two- week sessions.

There are limited spots available for girls in grades 1 to 5 at Kemur Equestrian Girls Camp, which is an overnight camp near Cambridge.   

The City of Waterloo and Evolve Skate Camp are offering skills camps for your little skateboarder or scooter rider in July and August.

Kids who attend rock climbing camp at the University of Guelph will be among the first to climb up the new 12-metre climbing wall.

French options

Parents looking for a bilingual option for their kids also have several choices. The Clay & Glass Gallery offers one week sessions in French, and the K-W French Climbing Camp has a variety of indoor and outdoor activities run by French speakers.

Artshine offers a variety of camps with two weeks of French options with nature and art camps in August.

The University of Guelph also offers a variety of camps in French. They're not immersion programs, but some previous French is required.

Short-term camps

If you aren't looking for week-long camps and just want to find a way to keep children busy for a day or two, Bonoguore says start registering for KWAG Summer Arts Camps single-day camps starting June 1.

And 4Cats Uptown Waterloo offers camps from two-five days where kids can choose their own adventure.

Last but not least is TheMuseum in Kitchener, it's offering a variety of camps, including day camps.

Reader suggestions

After we published this story, some of our readers sent in some other possiblilities. 

Canadian Parents for French offers a variety of bilingual programs in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, including summer camps for kids. Information is available at FrenchStreet.ca.

Brick Works Academy has lots of options in Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph. Some of the camps include  Lego Robotics, Pokemon Designer Camp, Minecraft computer camp, Video Game Design Camp, Computer and Lego animation.

Did we miss a camp? Let us know at yournewskw@cbc.ca