I need help navigating holiday camps Post Reply

[Helen_nguyen]

Hi NVN-er,
I am looking at holiday camp options as the first-timer since my son is now 4 year old in a nursery school and hence I am new to the idea of frequent school break... 
I am trying to navigate this maze of school holiday camp options and would hugely appreciate feedback / tips in choosing one or more for the coming 2 weeks Easter holiday break.
I need a camp that take 4 years old and started early around 8:30 - 9 am. I found some options as below but really not sure what criteria to consider in evaluating them:

Active camp at Emmnuel school - full day option only from 4 years old
Young Star (Premier Education) at Belleville Webb's Road site - half day only - morning or afternoon - for 4 years old
Young Star (Sparkies nursery) at St Luke church - half day morning only for 4 years old
The Little Gym Wandswoth - hourly, half day and full day options

If you have sent your children to any of these camps and happy to share any information about activities and facilities, whether you/they like it, I'd be super grateful.

Many thanks 

[sconesplease]

My children go to Active Camp, they really enjoy it. It's well run, lots of staff and lots of children. The have a pool and a climbing wall. My youngest who is 5 hasn't been anywhere else. 

[Ramaboo]

We've done both over the years. Both are good and have adequate care. I remember active camp being a bit more expensive and also a fair bit bigger. This is good when they are older but not so much when they are 4.

NB at that age they will really struggle to do many consecutive full days without getting too tired. I would aim for taking one work day off mid week if you can, or a couple of afternoons (they will be super tired from morning camp, so if you collect them at lunchtime you can likely WFH for the afternoon, if that works for you)

Put a message out on the nursery chat group etc to drum up some friends to go too, that always helped us. They dont' often want to go solo with a bunch of strangers.

And for the first one try to book just a day or two - you don't want to pay for 5 full day's camp then find your child takes a dislike to it and refuses to join. 
 

[Helen_nguyen]

Thanks a lot @sconeplease and @Ramaboo for the feedback and useful tips. I'm going to try a couple of half day sessions this coming half term before going anywhere near full week comes Easter time.
Super helpful! thank you  .

[pie81]

I’ve used all these in the past

Youngstars St Lukes will do 8.30-3pm

Have a look at Lets Act as well if your child likes drama. It’s 9.30-3.30 so you get a longer day if you can be flexible on start times at all.

I would say that Activ camp is definitely tiring, especially at young ages. Great for slightly older kids though, best for age 6-10 or a very sporty energetic younger child.

Youngstars was my go-to option at this time, they loved it and suited up to age 6/7 best. More gentle than Activ with arts and crafts and playground games more than sports. Also not as weather dependent as Activ.

Arty Party is also a good option but 5+ only as I recall