How I Plan for Summer Camps

Color-coded calendars, Pinterest boards, and stocking up on Go-Go Squeezes?! It must be CAMP PLANNING TIME!!

I love teaching our summer camps. Are they exhausting? Absolutely. Are there a LOT? Yes. Can teaching 9 of them in one summer feel a little overwhelming by August? Without a doubt. This year, I’m back off and only teaching 5 which feels less exhausting and like the right choice and also terribly sad - because I love teaching camps. I love seeing the same camper come back week after week, no matter the theme. I love seeing new campers who are shy on Monday bounce into camp without a glance back by Wednesday. I love having campers start with me during half-day preschool ETCB (ETC Beginnings) camps when they are three who stay with me, not just with ETC but with ME, until they are about to go into second grade. Are there tears that last sharing when we realize they are aging out of my camps? Absolutely - that’s how much I love watching them grow each year! I love the new energy that comes with each new group of campers, each new day, and each new story that we create.

I am fortunate that I teach all of our ETC Beginnings Camps for ages 3-5 (PreK) and this year one of our Creative Drama Camps for rising K-2nd. ETC has a ton of fun camp subjects and more focused camps that go for weeks at a time. My camps all last a week. I meet a new group of campers each Monday and by Friday we have written, rehearsed, and are ready to perform in front of families.  That’s awesome! The stories these students create, the ideas that they bring each day, and the enthusiasm that they find in even the most mundane parts of the day are inspiring as a teacher and remind me why I love my job so much.

But first - planning. Once I have my camp assignments, I print out blank color-coded schedules for each week. My original color-coded schedule was for ETCB and was completely stolen from one of our previous ETCB camp directors, Miss Kathleen. I then modified it for a full-day Creative Drama (CD) schedule, and I now use both versions to plan each week.

Starting with the weekly schedules, I go through and put in each week, each theme, and, if possible that year, each chosen t-shirt color so I don’t overlap (I will wear ETC shirts often throughout the year doing our in-school work and other things in my various jobs for ETC, so I try to be strategic in picking colors that both fit the themes and that I can use regularly). From there, there are some basics - on Wednesdays for my CD camps, we write our story in the morning (some teachers do it earlier), rehearsal blocks for each age are pretty much set, getting into t-shirts and costume bits and packing up art projects has a set time on Fridays (and can take longer for ETCB…but not always). Those “known” things go in first.

From there, I brainstorm how we can build each week to get to where we need to be. We need a day identifying our theme for ETCB. We need a day focused on character creation and one for setting for CD and plenty of “parts of a story” games before we all collaborate to write our story. AND we all need to remember how to collaborate - because if we’re writing a story together, we need to have those skills. I put in games and activities that fulfill those goals to build the week, and then identify any holes for “brain break” games, our daily “Open Mic” times in Creative Drama, etc. This year for ETCB, I have invested in a movement cube that can be modified for the theme. It’s been a hit in our in-school PreK classes, so identifying “movement cube” time is key. I try to do at least one obstacle course in ETCB each summer, though sometimes more than one, but they can take a bit to set-up and make fun AND depend a bit on where the camp is going to be.

Next, to the Pinterest Boards! I sillily created two different Pinterest boards years ago - one for Camps and one for Drama Days, despite having overlap in theme and art project ideas. Eventually, I’ll figure out how to combine them. It does not matter how much time I spend on Pinterest during the school year, I still find new projects, pin new ideas (rather for this year’s themes or not) and return to old standbys that I can modify into new projects with similar processes. I try to plan at least four weeks of art projects at a time (if not more) so that I can identify supplies that can stay with me for a few weeks from our storage unit or can be shared with other camp directors, supplies that I can buy in bulk, more expensive supplies that I can justify over more than one camp to stay on budget, etc. For instance, I love doing “calming bottles” in ETCB, but it’s best if I can buy at least two camps’ worth of items at once. We have supplies from previous art projects that I try to reuse and use up when possible so we aren’t wasteful AND to save money. And, whenever I can, I try to ice dye at least one a summer (not in 2025 - this has become more of an “every other year” project as it is time consuming on my end). Each art project gets assigned a day on the color-coded schedules, and I make a list of needed supplies at the bottom of each day so I can have a list of what I need when I go to storage.

That means a trip to storage is next! I will say, first, I do try to type the schedules into a virtual version so that I have a list I can print and schedules to share with camp staff. The truth, though, is that often I am emailing the camp staff with the promise of a schedule because the transfer from handwritten to digital always seems to fall lower on the list… With those trusty schedules/lists in hand, I head to ETC’s storage unit. I pull what I can and anything I can’t find gets circled on the list to order.

Once we’re off and running, there are weekly emails to the families of the upcoming camp and Wednesday midweek camp emails to current camp families. There are emails and planning information sent to camp staff (assistant directors and counselors). There are multiple “hold” lists put into various libraries throughout Arlington, Montgomery County, AND PG County depending on the week and the theme and my needs. There are trips to and from said libraries to pick-up held books and return others. This summer, with more time between camps than I’ve ever had before, I’m not sure what this rhythm will be. I’m daunted a bit by having more time to do administrative and development work. The thing with doing so many camps each summer like I used to is that it was exhausting, but it was also the most regular my schedule is all year long. Those 10 or so weeks (with a week off for vacation and sometimes another week off because of camp schedules) were the only consistent weeks for me in an entire year…and, like, I don’t know what this summer holds. I’m afraid I’ll forget to do things on Mondays or have to carve out other library time because it’s not in my regular weekly world. Is it weird to be scared of less commuting time and more flexibility in my schedule? Yeah…probably.

And each Sunday before camp, there’s the packing up. I often need to make sure that my grocery trip includes multiple nut-free options for my own lunch and snack each week (just in case). The Sunday before the first day of camp, I pack up my own “camp director bag” (in addition to one provided by ETC) that has extra band-aids, sunscreen for myself and other adults, bug spray, bubbles (always handy to have on-hand), back-up games for indoor recess, extra pens and Sharpies, schedules for multiple camps, books from my own personal library that are on-theme, and spare plastic cutlery for campers who either don’t have it or can’t find it (typically the latter).

Each Monday, I try to arrive by 8:15 to set-up the rooms and unload my car. If it’s a site we haven’t been to yet that year, setting up takes more time. If I’m lucky enough to be at the same site for a few weeks in a row, I have less to unload and can set-up faster. The thing with ETC making sure that we have camps near everyone in our community is that we have lots of different sites. This can be awesome, as it means I get to know more schools and community centers AND because if you aren’t at a site you love one week, you’re often at a new site the next week. But, it can also be daunting. Just like with any after school or in-school class, when I walk into a new site, I have to assess safety. I have to consider, like all teachers, how I can keep my students (your campers) safe in the event of an emergency. I do it automatically, like every teacher I know, but it doesn’t make it fun. I set out hand sanitizer and make sure that restrooms have soap.

I love camp. I get pretty into camp planning. But what I love most of all is knowing that what ETC does is important - building community, creating, connecting - it all feels extra important for students so young in a world so big.

*Originally Published June 2022. Updated June 2025