Summer holiday playschemes or activities for older children/tweens?

[redjam]

The annual summer childcare crisis is looming larger than usual this year. My kids are veterans of the various playschemes around East Dulwich - Nimble Arts, Gumboots, Artastic - but my oldest daughter is 11 now and seems a bit old for some of them. I was wondering whether anyone could point me in the direction of summer activities or courses for slightly older children? I'm hoping I can find something that my (soon-to-be) 9-year-old can also go to at the same time, but I realise that might not be possible.

I know there's a sports camp at Jags but my daughters aren't keen on wall-to-wall sports. They are more into drama, music, arts and crafts, cooking, coding, creative writing - that kind of thing. Ideally I'd like to find something that offers a mix of sporty activities and more creative/arty stuff.

Any ideas? I need to be able to get on with my freelance work on at least a part-time basis over the summer and don't want the kids vegetating on screens while I do so!

[slh2009]

Supercamps at St Dunstans go up to 14 with different activities... Currently have 15% off summer holiday bookings

[redjam]

Oh, this looks great, slh2009, thank you! Have you had any personal experience with this camp? Is there a good mix of ages?

[Saffron]

I've just booked my 6 yo at St Dunstans for the May half-term camp.

More stuff here: https://www.familiesonline.co.uk/locations/london-south-east/things-to-do/activities-clubs-and-classes/school-holiday-playschemes-workshops-and-daycamps-se-london

[Saffron]

Not local, but it might also be worth looking at what Imperial College has on offer. I think they have all-day science camps starting in August.

My daughter did the Christmas camp last December. It's not cheap, but it was totally amazing. It was well worth the money and the experience, even if you only do it as a one-off.

Imperial is actually pretty easy to get to on public transport. Camps and classes for children are booked through Richer Education. I found their staff to be lovely. http://www.richereducation.co.uk/

[redjam]

Saffron, thank you so much - that link is really useful. Lots of great ideas. And thanks for reminding me about that science camp - also sounds great. Starting to feel a bit less panicked about the summer now!

[Saffron]

No worries, I had the same panic earlier this morning!

I hope St Ds is fun. I've no personal experience with them, but it looks nice and is reasonably priced. And (more?) importantly, the hours are good. I had to pass on several interesting camps that were only doing half days, which is no good for us, or were a little bit more than I can afford atm.

Air Craft Circus youth camps look like fun but are more expensive. I might look into this in the future though, because Air Craft seem like great group. My daughter adored their interactive activities at a festival last year. The staff were so deeply engaged and supportive of every child. http://aircraftcircus.com/

If anyone knows of a good summer session for dance/drama/singing, I'd love to hear more. So far all the theatre and music workshops I've seen didn't really fit the bill for us because they were too short. xx

[slh2009]

No but have booked my 5 yr old for a couple of days in half term!

[Dog-Kennel-Hill A.P]

We are running both a half term play scheme & a summer one at Dog kennel hill adventure playground:

?25 per day

Arts & crafts...tie dye...clay etc

Cooking

Music

Drama

Free play

I.T access

T-shirt design

www.dkhap.org.uk

please email [email protected] for more info and a registration form. Thanks so much

Kate x

[sanity girl]

My two (9 and 5) spent two days at the DKHAP playscheme over the Easter holidays and they absolutely loved it. They can't wait to go again next week. I warmly recommend it.

[redjam]

Thanks for the info about the DKHAP playscheme - but what is the upper age limit for it? I had got the impression it was mainly for younger kids.

[k-lovell]

Check out The Acting Network West End Workshops@ www.theactingnetwork.com/west-end-workshops.html

Half day or Full Day workshops for 8-16year olds!

[maryhenley]

I've just picked my two children up from DKHAP. They had a brilliant day, even with the awful rain all this morning. It was a wide age range. I could see a lot of year 5/6/7 age children as well as younger ones.

[sanity girl]

Yes my kids were there yesterday and are back again today. They just adore it there. There are some older children - my daughter made friends with an 11 year old boy and there are teenagers who help out.

maryhenley Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've just picked my two children up from DKHAP.

> They had a brilliant day, even with the awful rain

> all this morning. It was a wide age range. I

> could see a lot of year 5/6/7 age children as well

> as younger ones.

[redjam]

Thanks so much for all these replies. I will definitely be booking some days at the DKHAP scheme and have already booked a week at the Supercamps place mentioned above. I've also found a drama course at the link Saffron posted above that sounded great. Thanks EDF!

[apple&pears]

http://holidaydropoff.com/

[Dog-Kennel-Hill A.P]

Thank you for all the lovely recommendations for our playscheme. We, the staff team always have such a good time so its great to know the kids do too!

We have a fun packed summer programme & cant wait for the holidays now. x

[kidsclub1]

Dear Sanity girl,

I am running a summer holiday club, please have a look at our attached flyer and website or you are welcome to contact me for more information.

Suzie Dulwich Village Kids Club Manager

[redjam]

Three weeks into the summer holidays and my kids are already veterans of three different holiday drop=offs with another one to go next week! Just wanted to particularly mention Dog Kennel Hill Adventure Playground summer scheme, which is great - really reasonable cost and run by lovely friendly staff. We are so lucky to have this on our doorstep and we will definitely use it again. Nimble Arts is also always brilliant (more for my younger daughter now as my older one has very sadly outgrown it) and we also tried Supercamps for the first time at St Dunstans, which I'd recommend for more sporty organised games etc.

Next week Freedom Academy Film School! (My poor overscheduled children - they are having some relaxing time after all this, honest...)

Thanks again for all the recommendations.

[Dog-Kennel-Hill A.P]

Thank you so much for the recommendation redeem.

Me & my team were talking about all the lovely children we have met so far. We are having soon much fun-were just glad the kids are too lol x

[WildLondon]

At the Centre for Wildlife Gardening (28 Marsden Road, SE15 4EE) we are running activities on Saturday afternoons for 7 - 12 yr-olds. 1.30pm - 4.30pm. We are running the activities as family sessions so I'm afraid it won't help with childcare but if you are looking for some extra activities as a family hopefully it might help. It is free and you are free to drop in without booking.

Sylvia Myers, London Wildlife Trust

[LV0210]

Hi Sylvia,

Do you run any sessions on a Sunday morning or afternoon? I would be interested in outdoor/nature sessions for under 5's.

Thanks.

[ICIANCHI]

Hi all!

I saw aircraft was mentioned earlier and wanted to make sure you'd heard of Flying Fantastic! They have a space based in Peckham so a walkable distance from Dulwich. They are running week long Aerial circus summer camps for kids.

Very active and creative space but there's no experience required.

www.ffyc.co.uk

Issy