Making the Most of Summer Break

There is no shortage of summer and day camp options in our area. A basic search will turn up everything from a day camp run by the local Parks and Recreation department to the Adirondack summer camps like you see in the movies. Dig a little deeper and things get interesting.

ID Tech (www.idtech.com) is a nationwide company that partners with universities to provide summer camps focusing on things like AI, BattleBots® robotics, or Roblox game design. In our area some of the participating universities are Columbia, NYU and Montclair State, among others.

SUNY Rockland’s Hospitality and Culinary Arts Center in Nyack brings opportunities for budding chefs making a mess in your kitchen to hone their skills (and make a mess in an industrial kitchen.) Three sessions are offered in July for children ranging from Grades 4 to 8.

EFM Geoexplorers (www.efm.org) is a program at the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum at Rowan University in Mantua, New Jersey. Campers entering Grades 1 to 6 for the 26-27 school year get to explore the museum galleries, dig in the fossil quarry and hike the nature trails. It is an opportunity to learn what it takes to be an explorer and a scientist. 

The Orangetown Parks and Recreation Department has a bunch of cool and interesting programs available—particularly their day camps. There are options for Lego building, sewing and jewelry design, and camps focused on space, volcanoes and the science of movies. 

But what if you want more of a DIY solution? Or you want to save some money? Or perhaps you want the flexibility that agreeing to a week or two (or more) of daily drop offs and pick-ups can’t give you? Here in Palisades, we are privileged to live in an area filled with delightful and enriching opportunities for families. 

The library has numerous free passes you might not be aware of including the Empire Pass that provides free day-use entry to all New York State Parks, passes for most of New York City’s museums including the Museum of Arts and Design in Columbus Circle, or a family pass to see the stunning sculptures at Storm King Art Center. Even simpler, there are some passes that allow you to print your tickets at home, like The Paley Center for Media, or The Intrepid. 

Maggie Downs, the author behind the delightful 50 Things to Do Before You’re 5, sees opportunities everywhere. Her book is a journal filled with activity prompts to help families fill their days with fun. It is ideal for the long summer days of school break. Downs’ goal during her own son’s summer break was to make every day different by including something that makes it distinct. “Otherwise, it all blends together,” she warns.

Most of Downs’ suggestions are designed to be accessible to everyone. “Invest time, not money,” she says. One delightful example Downs gives are the rainbow hunts she conducted with her son. “We’d take walks around our neighborhood looking for the colors of the rainbow in rainbow order.” She suggests repackaging everyday activities into themed events. “Approach things differently. Make it a curiosity-based excursion.” Her book includes things like Watch the sunrise (“Beginning your day with the sunrise injects beauty into the day, it shows us the wonder of nature, and it offers a moment of stillness, a chance to be present before the commotion of everyday life,” Downs writes.) and Cross a border (“For this experience, travel across a border, any border—it could mean the border of your town, your county, your state, or your country. Once you’ve crossed the border, pick at least one thing to do on the other side.”) For us in Palisades, this one is as simple as a trip to Bergen County, or across the Hudson.

Family time is not something that many people have in abundance. But the summer school holidays are an opportunity to mix it up, whether it’s an exciting summer or day camp, a walk around the block, spotting the Big Dipper, or building a pillow fort.

Get creative and get going—many summer experiences book up early.