With summer in full swing, the school year may feel like a distant memory. By now, your kids probably exhausted all possibly entertainment opportunities at home. If you’re tired of watching them waste away their summer break on TV or video games, get them out of your hair and out of the house by enrolling them in one of Beaumont’s best summer camps.
With everything from standard games and outdoor pursuits to more specialized pursuits in everything from art to bible study, there’s a camp for whatever their hobbies and interests may be (and for you to get a much-deserved break). Here are a few of the more unique summer camp options in Beaumont.
Find Your Inner Magic – Wizard Camp
Calling all muggles! If you’ve ever wondered what house you belonged to, now’s your chance to find out. Pack your sharpest hat, cape, and sword for a weeklong Harry Potter themed retreat at the Clifton Steamboat Museum. Designed for ages 5-12, think crafts, games, and activities like wand making, potions mixing, herbology, spellcasting, butterbeer drinking, and Quidditch playing.
Be a Cake Boss - Rao's Café Bake Camp
Ever dreamed your kid would help out in the kitchen? Well now’s your chance. Rao’s is offering both cake decorating and cookie camp to teach children 5-8 and 9-12 the basic skills of baking. Each a one-day program, in cake camp, they’ll learn how to fill and use pastry bags, ice their treats and decorate them like a #boss. In cookie school, they’ll learn to follow recipes from scratch by using measurements, perfecting the art of rolling, and cutting them into fun designs. If that isn’t a sweet enough incentive, campers will take home three cakes and six cupcakes or three dozen cookies so you can rest assured they’ll be on a sugar high the rest of summer.
Go Back in Time – John Jay French Museum
If you’re tired of technology, Camp Lookinback is a chance to trade in your devices to learn skills from the early pioneering days. Part of the Beaumont Heritage Society, disconnect and unplug with interactive, hands-on 1800s activities like cattle branding, frontier cooking, tanning, and quilting. You’ll do things like celebrating Christmas in July crafting paper-mâché presents, identifying local wildlife, and learning to cook over the open flame. Two sessions are offered for kids 6-11.
Giddy Up – Tyrell Park Stables
If you’ve ever dreamed of owning or riding a stallion, spend a week cozying up to the horses at Tyrell Park. Pony Camp and Horse Camp are for ages 9 and up with varying levels of horse expertise. You’ll learn skills like saddling, riding fundamentals, and animal care and even go for a spin or two around the trails.
Sports Camps – Lamar University
Sports are not taken lightly in Southeast Texas so if you want a leg up on the competition the next school year, Lamar University offers one-week intensive training programs. Focus camps for various grades are offered in baseball, basketball, dance, swimming, softball, tennis, volleyball, and even football under the bright stadium lights. Because you know what they say: clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.