Camp Imagineerz is my son's favorite camp. He has gone to 4 different camps this summer with this…read moreyear being the first year going to summer camps for him (rising 1st grader). When I asked him which camp he would want to sign up for next year, he listed Camp Imagineerz as his "must" choice without hesitation. Pick up and drop off were all seamlessly done. The third party lunch option offered at the camp was amazing. All the staff I had encounters with had positive and upbeat energy. The curriculum is focused on creativity, problem solving and social emotional skills, and they weave these skills together by planning and prepping for weekly skits they put out at the end of each week. My son absolutely loved this camp, and we will definitely return.

My daughter has always loved Camp Imagineerz and they have fun themes like "Escape from Candy…read moreKingdom" or "The Great Adventure Park Competition". At the end of the camp, parents are invited to see what the kids constructed during the week and they put on a show for you. What I was most impressed with was that they instill in the kids this "I-Can" mindset, which teaches the kids what to do when they face adversity, issues and driving that positive mindset that they can overcome it. The most fun part is at the end of camp where, the kids get to "dunk" the counsellors with water which always ends with squeals of delight ... This is a truly fun and creative camp that I'm sure any child will enjoy!!

We have three children and they've all taken turns attending Camp Horizons for the last 15 years…read more Year after year, Camp Horizons provides a supportive team of teachers, nurturing environment with diversity, and a balanced program of fun activities. Parents get a full itinerary of each day's agenda well ahead of time so everyone is on the same page. You would a expect a program like this to just copy/paste field trips from year to year, but Camp Horizons constantly finds new programs, parks and activities for the kids to explore. I highly recommend Camp Horizons and its incredible team of Camp Counselors to entertain and explore new places with your kids all summer long :D

As a former camp teacher I highly recommend Camp Horizons. Staff and Admin really care about the…read morekids and I enjoyed my time working there. Fun environment! When I have kids I'll definitely bring them back one day.

I am not happy with my son's camp experience at this camp. While they offer an instruction into…read morevarious camp activities, the selection was so limited that my son tried everything the 1st week. We signed up for two weeks and by the start of the 2nd, little man did not want return an this is from a kid who loves playing with stuff. Another part of the problem was the lack of direction during the instructional periods. Outside play time can only last for so long when you are forced to play outside for hours because the alternative was not enjoyable. I wish there was more instruction or something .

My kids (6 and 10) had high hopes and were excited to go, but alas they didn't really enjoy it…read more Aftercare was mostly held outdoors, making the kids stay outside in the high summer heat rather than letting them do indoor activities. I suppose it's easier and more cost effective to just force them to sit or play outside than to do arts and crafts or learn something indoors.

The camp is owned by Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which also operates licensed child care…read morefacilities. Those facilities are subject to significant CA regulations, including the right of parents to observe care unannounced whenever they want. This camp is not, which I found out when I waited more than 20 minutes for the camp to find my 4 year old and was not allowed to go find him, even with staff escort. If the company wants to run the camps with radically different policies from the licensed centers, they can. But I think they should spell out that policy on their website, and then parents can ponder why the policies are different. One possibility is they might not want parents to look into a room and see a bunch of 4 year olds staring at iPad screens? Parents can easily roam the outside areas where campers are playing, just not the inside rooms or hallway. Otherwise the camp has been decent. My son talks about the iPads the most.

My kids have attended the Palo Alto location for several years and it's one of our favorite camps,…read morespecifically because of the freedom the kids have. The day is not specifically scheduled and kids have a chance to choose their own activities and where they want to go. I love the flexibility to drop off and pick up when you want; I love the refund policy. I love that they always, always check your ID when you check your kid out. There are rules and there are daily gatherings and traditions, which the kids like, but they have a lot of freedom. They often sprint through the doors so excited to be there. On countless occasions over many summers the counselors and Director have gone out of their way to help us with our specific issues. Highly recommend if you have an active kid or want an unstructured experience.

Let me explain my 5 stars review. If I could give a 10 of 5 - I would give 10. The camp is amazing…read morein so many ways. My 9 y.o. daughter is a happy camper of Woodside Camp for the past two summers and I think I'm familiar with the place enough to share my thought and feelings about it. Counselors: The camp does really good job to bring counselors from all over the world. It amazing when my little one starts to talk about different countries because her favorite counselors came from there. She wasn't very interested in anything outside of US, but after last summer she took books from library about Scotland, Ireland and Australia. All counselors are kind, smart and funny and they love kids! Schedule: My kid never get bored. She tried fencing, drama, art, mountain biking, Volleyball, etc, etc, etc. The idea of creating personal schedule for a week on Monday and have an option to switch activity if you do not like you is super convenient. Every time she comes back with new stories and ideas what she wants to do as an after school activities during school year. Facilities: Woodside Summer Camp is in a boarding school in Woodside. Priory School has huge campus with everything on site. It's great location. Food: As I said before the camp located on a boarding school campus. They provide hot lunch with at list 3 options for salads, main dishes and sides. Moreover, staff carefully looking what exactly on a plate of your child and will softly suggest to add some meat and fruits to pasta. It's huge relief do not pack lunch every day. Happiness of my child: She wakes up by herself without alarm, gets ready to go in minutes and comes back from the camp singing in a car. She wants go to this camp for a whole summer. Price: Few people mentioned that it's not cheap camp and it's true, but considering that it probably $10-12 per day more than other camps in Bay Area your kid gets hot healthy lunch, excess to swimming pool, all these activities and staff that really care. Convenient: Camp goes until 5 pm. I work, so time is important for me. I also don't like after care programs because kids usually do nothing during this time. So making long story short It's great camp and my little one loves and me too.

My daughter has gone to this camp for the past two years, and this has been her favorite summer…read morecamp both years. The camp is amazingly organized, and what makes it stand out is the quality of the counselors. They are fully engaged with the kids and my kid LOVES them. She tells me she wants to go to this camp every year and become a counselor when she is older.

My kids have been going to J-Camp at the Oshman JCC for 6 years. What distinguishes J-Camp from…read moreall the other single-week theme-based camps is the quality of the counselors. The counselors return from year to year, and so they form relationships with the children. The ratios are also great. Two in charge of a group of maybe 10-12. On the whole, the leadership is older than the group leads at several other camps we have tried. I think this gives kids a sense of security and trust. They might not have a strong sense of that at other places. Obviously, the facilities at the JCC are top class. Also, the camp takes them on field trips once a week to fun places like Great America, Golfland, the Academy of Sciences and the Exploratorium. Thumbs up all around.

This lone star is for their registration process. The website says it's open to all races and…read morestudents. I called the camp and emailed 3 times prior to ensure that I would be able to enroll my child even though she didn't go to school there. No one said that it was a problem nor did they say that spaces were reserved for existing preschoolers. Yesterday, I received an email over 2 weeks after I signed up that they are refunding my money, and that my child couldn't go. Whoever is running the show at that camp has clearly dropped the ball as they really don't even communicate to their own staff about enrollment. Who knows what else they do wrong? What an Asshole thing to do to a kid.

This review is to inform other parents of a very humiliating and demoralzing experience my daughter…read morehad at Camp Via West. I spoke to the CEO and he was very gracious. He showed a general concern for my camper and requested my input in asking what improvements can be made for next year. We spoke through e-mail and a zoom call where I shared my thoughts and experiences. From the negativity of this cumulative experience, his compassion was so welcomed. After four relatively successful sessions at Camp Via West, the last session was an utter mess. Every counselor can be drastically different. It can range from winning the lottery to playing Russian Roulette with your campers well being. Our campers well being should not be in the hands of counselors who may have little or no experience working with special needs. I feel validated after reading the last three Yelp reviews where parents had very similar experiences to mine. Some of the complaints had to do with lack of experienced staff, no therapists or behavior specialists on camp grounds, rudeness and lack of empathy, the camp director having lack of awareness of issues happening in real time, and our campers files and behaviors are not shared with the staff. Adding to this; the camp director being very abrupt and inflexible in making decisions about the campers future placement and not willing to listen to experienced parents explanations about the reasoning behind certain behaviors which personal files collaborated information. I wrote a comment about the camp online and a seasoned counselor who worked there since 2011 replied. She wrote that right before the summer started she was fired abruptly. It made no sense to her already being hired for the summer and she was highly fond of both Via West and the campers. I don't know the context of the firing- though a counselor with her expertise would have been ideal for a lot of the new counselors to emulate. I am so proud of my daughter for how well she is developing in conjunction with her disability. I have worked with her tirelessly on her development. She is so happy, cheerful, respectful and well behaved. I take her to a myriad of outside activities and at school there is not one behavior goal in her IEP. Alleged behaviors arose at camp which were unusual for my daughter. She is verbal though delayed, having a speech and language impairment. She has a communication device for language breakdowns. I believe her device may have been confiscated at night with other comfort toys causing her to feel vulnerable. My trust has been eroded. I am so worried that she was left vulnerable during the evenings and that terrifies me. When we send our kids with disabilities to camp we trust they will be safe. I know for sure if my daughter who nevers shows any negative behaviors started to show them; this is a huge red flag. Not only was it humiliating that I was called to pick her up early. On pick-up day she was looking so sad in the cafeteria, I asked her what's wrong? My usually cheerful daughter tells me they took her bop-it. I find her toy which gives her some relief. I know that my job at this moment is to protect her. At breakfast the mood among campers was eerily quiet flowing with low energy. I felt many eyes on my daughter but no one said anything. Possibly sensing sadness from her, she was now being stared at and possibly ridiculed for being sent home. It felt like the camp was turning their back on her and unbelievably they were no goodbyes. We decided to say good-bye to a beautiful hearted counselor named Lucia. As a parent, I wanted my daughter to leave on a positive note. If nobody was going to say bye to her, I would have my daughter go over to Lucia who was with a group of counselors. To my relief, Lucia opened her arms and heart to my daughter. She said, "Come here" and all the counselors in her group followed suit saying their goodbyes. It was such a beautiful moment which I captured taking photo's. Sadly though, it ended abruptly when both the night counselor and her day counselor approached, escorting us away, saying,"We don't want the other campers to get homesick." It felt very suspicious, unbelievable being escorted away like that, as we did something reprehensible. To make matters worse, they tell the camp director misinformation at the reception area, where more counselors are gathered, that I'm taking pictures of campers. The director in a vociferous tone that was both admonishing and accusatory in nature, repeated, "You're taking pictures of campers and to delete them. " I later got an apology from her through an e-mail, though to be spoken like that was brutal and disheartening. A thought - who are the less experience counselors emulating and should the camp director be taking the word of counselors over dedicated parents who have vast amounts of knowledge? Camps like this are made for my daughter where her independence has blossomed; so lets please demand positive change.

This camp maybe needs to have more background info on campers behaviors and needs. Maybe with the…read moreintake information an IEP and behavior plan should be included and looked over by all staff before each session. When it comes to neurodiversity it's not ever a one fits all and the experience could probably be more individualized, similar to a school program. An experienced, licensed behavioral specialist and therapist should be on site to aid with kids with special behavioral issues. Basic training should be backed by specialists. When an issue arises the parent should be notified immediately to help with supporting staff. When staff doesn't know an individual it's easy to confuse behaviors. Overall this staff and facility is undertrained, unprofessional, unorganized, dirty and combative. Staff takes neurodivergent behaviors personally and lets their emotions rule. Staff, surrounds, confronts and calls parent and attendee derogatory names in front of other staff, parents and campers and disrespects parent when parent is just sitting waiting for her camper. My attendee had overstimulated, stressed behaviors that were not identified or handled properly. However, she did make some friends and enjoyed her time with her new friends. I would not recommend this camp for highly spirited independent teenagers.

I was a camper there in 5th grade. I loved it so much. I went back as a camp counselor, They go on…read morenight hikes, skits ect.U meet different kids from different schools. They asked if I wanted a cabin of girls or boys, I choose the girls. U learn a lot at this camp. I highly recommend. We all went back up and visited next campers.

I want to retell my outdoor Ed experience I stayed in a cabin with bugs with was LIVE OAK. I saw…read morethe other cabin TOYON with was a house It was shocking. My showers were extremely small I could barely fit. I couldn't move at all my water wasn't hot there were cracks on the floor paint ripped off the floor while the TOYON cabin had luxury shower that were nicer than some hotel showers I have seen In RENO they didn't even need there showers shoes. I know this all because my friend was in the other cabin. My cabin leader was a girl with was extremely weird since we were all boys she constantly told us to SHUT UP even though we're children she should have been fired for telling us that. We were completely forgotten by the staff who kept forgetting our cabin name. They sang bad songs. In short I had a bad time.