This has been a long year and a half with COVID taking over the world so it’s no wonder with summer around the corner both parents and kids want to get out for summer. There is no better way to do that than jump into some of the best camps offered in Bergen County, New Jersey. But it can be difficult to know which camp best fits you and your child’s needs. So here is your ultimate guide!
This guide offers three different top summer camps in Bergen County, New Jersey. For sports lovers, the all-day Northern Valley Sports Academy offers a wide range of activities and sports for kids. Camp Lindgren offers a little more for the outdoorsy type and really gives the camp feel. Lastly, Palisades Science camp is a great option for those who love to earn!
Best Bergen Country Summer Camps
1.Northern Valley Sports Academy Summer Camp
Located in Closter, New Jersey the Northern valley Sports Academy summer camp offers 20,000 square feet of climate-controlled sporting arena. Their state-of-the-art turf field, basketball court, game room, and art room, offers something for everyone. While your kids will get to play sports all day they also offer a number of great activities, events, field trips, and more, to spread out the fun.
Here is all you need to know.
What’s Offered:
There are so many different things to choose from which is why your kid will never not be active and staying busy!
Traditional Sports Offered
Your kid may specialize in one of the traditional sports they offer and spend some extra time playing these. They also can try them all out and explore their different options. This camp offers:
- Basketball
- Soccer
- Baseball
- Softball
- Lacrosse
- Tennis
- Floor Hockey
Camp Game Sports Offered
But don’t be disappointed because they also offer a section of what they consider to be camp game sports.
- Volleyball
- Kickball
- Dodgeball
- Manhunt
- Gaga
- Speedball
- Relay Races
- More!
Other Major Activities Offered
Of course, swim cannot be forgotten about when it comes to summer camps! That’s why the water and swim program has so much to offer. Twice a week campers will get to go to the Demarest Swim Club for swimming class. Outside of that campers will also get to participate in many water-based activities like water balloon toss games, bucket brigade, and many more.
This is why everyone needs to bring their swimsuits, towels, and sunscreen every day. Even if it is not the day you are going to Demarest Swim Club, water games can be played daily to cool off from all the sports and running around.
For those who are a little more artistic, don’t worry! There are art activities offered along with fun cooking classes and dance parties! This can be a great way to take a breather from all the running around.
Another great feature of this camo is the special guest performances that they bring for entertainment. Ranging from educational science and animal shows to magic shows, your kids are sure to have a world of fun.
Most importantly, this camp puts a special emphasis on inclusivity by offering theme days so the kids can dress up and bond over that day’s theme. Tie-dye, Halloween in July, Wacky Day, are just to name a few of the fun and silly themes your kid is sure to love participating in.
Cost
- Full-day pricing starts at $475 a week with lunch included and can drop slightly in pricing for multiple-week purchasing.
- Half-day pricing starts at $285 a week with lunch included and can drop slightly in pricing for multiple-week purchasing.
2.Camp Lindgren
Camp Lindgren right is Closter, New Jersey, puts the camp right in summer camp. This camp puts a little more emphasis on your backyard summer campground activities than most. You can expect some of the most traditional pastimes of camping like woodworking, camp games, ceramics, and more! Your children are sure to pick up some new schools that they may not have learned in school or in their free time.
They use their three-and-a-half-acre school grounds to provide a magical summer experience for their campers. Something that they like to put an emphasis on as well is that their campers can spend time with who they wish. Meaning if you are coming with a friend you can stay with that friend. Having said that, meeting new friends is always encouraged.
Read on to see what’s offered!
Activities!
Camp Lindgren is unique in the way that it provides the love of nature and real outdoor camping that is often forgotten about these days with social media and technology. They offer unique skills that are hard to come by.
Traditional Arts and Crafts Offered:
The list in the art department can go on forever. Some of the more well-known activities include painting, printmaking, weaving, tie-dye, etc. But some other activities are fun and unique compared to everyday offerings.
If your child has an interest in sewing, they may have the opportunity to make headbands, stuffed animals, and larger pieces of clothing. Beading and jewelry making is another wonderful pastime that is offered for anyone’s creative jewelry-making visions!
Woodworking is another really interesting hobby that used to be quite popular in school but is seldomly offering. These are valuable skills that could prove handy one day!
Nature Offered
It seems like with all the nature around the possibilities are endless day-to-day. You child can choose to swim daily, Red Cross Certified Life Guards or they can participate in learning how to garden. They will sow the plants, fertilize, and harvest a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. They also can learn the responsibility of farming with live animals as Lindgren has a real farm right in their camp.
Don’t worry your child doesn’t have to choose the same thing! They can change it up and participate in different things every day!
Theater And Dance
Local artisans come in and teach children who have an interest in theater the whole shebang! They learn weekly skits, choreographed dances, and even how to work with costume designing and set up. Improv is another great skill that is taught that teaches kids to think and learn on their feet.
Sports Offered
Team sports at a recreational level are offered each day. The campers get to choose with their peers whether they want to play t-ball, kickball, capture the flag, among many more sports options each day.
Music Offered
Just like theater and dance music is offered with a local teacher to work on practicing singing and playing and learning different instruments. The drum circle is one of the camp’s all-time favorites.
Cost
The costs for this camp will be broken down into age groups because the older groups being offered more activities due to their abilities. The camps have two sessions that are three weeks.
Session 1:
Ages 3-4 M-F 9-12:30 – $1,200
Ages 4 M-F 9-3 – $2,000
Ages 5-9 M-F 9-3 – $2,000
Ages 10-11 M-F 9-3 – $2,150
3.Apple Montessori
For kids who love school and feel like they want to keep their STEAM going all summer long, they should take a look at Apple Montessori. These kids will be working with teachers who are experts in these areas to apply everyday problems in a practical way. They have several different programs that offer a unique experience specifically geared towards what your kids like! Which makes sense because some science lovers hate math and vice versa!
Here is all you need to know.
What’s Offered
Each day the kids will be able to explore everything that STEAM has to offer and participate in many of the different program paths offer.
Innovators and Explorers: This is your hands-on program! All these experiments are done in a mirrored lab environment! This is for your designers and entrepreneurs.
Crafts and Creations: Traveled weekly themes will allow yourkid’ss inner artist to explore their artwork with different destinations in mind. Both educational and fun!
Tech Time: Today’s world has a lot of technology and that’s why allowing your kids to play with some computer-based activities is important. They can even participate in their FasTracks program.
Celebrity Kids: This is the time for your child to let out their energy by dancing and singing. They also will get a chance to play instruments and work on acting skills through performance art.
Daily Montessori Lessons: Working with teachers practical life experience working with geography, math, languages, the senses, and science.
All-Star Action: Kids can have a hard time sitting still all day even if they love learning which is why this program puts an emphasis on being active again. Depending on the theme of the week, the games and exercises that will be played will match up!
Other Major Activities Offered:
- Daily swim lesson with Red Cross Lifeguards.
- Daily water play with the splash pads.
- Safely limited camp size to comply with Covid-19 guidelines
- Excellent quality staff led by year-round teachers and support.
- Plenty of outdoor time activities for STEAM and sports!
- Each week’s theme calendar will have three special events.
- One hour of class time a day for STEAM.
- Reading groups for children ages four and up.
- Group settings are based on ability so no child gets left behind.
- For more advanced ages robots and coding is offered.
Cost
Costs for Montessori summer camps will depend on the particular setup agreement you have with the school. They require parents to set up a consultation to formalize a commitment agreement to the number of weeks as well as half verse full days.
They do offer before and aftercare at a rate of $12 for every fifteen minutes before or after the regular session.
Related Questions
These are the most common questions that come up with parents finding the right fit for their kids with summer camps.
Do camps require a down deposit?
Most of these caps mentioned require an application date and some allow for late acceptance if all the spots have not been full.
In these cases, you will often have to pay a late fee of around $100 for not registering by the selected date. This is especially true because of COVID-19 and the limited spaces available. The down deposit will cover a child’s spot in the program in case there were to back out past the accepted date.
What Are The Levels Of Certifications For Camp Staff?
In all three mentioned camps the staff is trained either as teachers or seasoned camp counselors to handle any sort of emergency situation with your child.
For all swimming sessions in the camps, each of them has enlisted Red Cross Lifeguards to chaperone and aid in those activities. It is perfectly normal for a parent to ask during consultation or signup what are the different safety measurements a camp takes with their staff and protocols.
Are Camp Plans Customizable?
Each camp will offer an array of activities and programs to choose from so that your child doesn’t have to do the same things every day. But if they love sports, going with a camp that predominantly offers sporting programs is the way to go.
When it comes to terms of how many days they can attend and what hours, typically these camps require a commitment to a certain and specific amount of days of the week for a given period of time. This can be worked out with each individual camp but likely you will have to pay the full-rate price.