What great ideas here! For the past 3 summers I have developed "mini camps" at home for my kids. This is actually more like homeschooling, because I am extending what they learned the previous year, reinforcing basics, and exploring topics that they ordinarily wouldn't be exposed to in school.
The key is to make it fun! We have a different theme each week and our "camp" is held for 2 hours every morning. Last year we did a week on Ice Cream. We learned about solids and liquids, graphing favorite ice cream flavors, pasteurization, making ice cream in a bag, and even took a free visit to a local dairy farm to watch cows being milked. Other themes included the Great Outdoors, Insects, Safari, and the Rainforest. This year I plan to do Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Whodunnit Mysteries, Art Week, and Heroes & Heroines. I got these ideas from my kids, believe it or not! There are many lesson plans available online, and I usually use materials I already have and heavily rely on our library for resources (FREE!).
To bridge the age gap of my kids (2 yrs apart), I set up individual learning centers in my basement (science, math, writing, listening, and computer) and have age-appropriate activities there.
It takes a good bit of planning, but the kids are so EXCITED about it and it prevents summer "brain drain." It's cheaper than traditional camps and still leaves time in the day for playing and just being kids.
