Empower your child to explore their passions at the Y’s specialty camps

Walk into the Fry Family YMCA on a summer afternoon, and you’ll find camp fun taking on many forms: Young scientists enjoy the sunny weather while concocting colorful creations by the center’s playground. Budding athletes play a spirited game of kickball in the gymnasium. Throughout the building, campers and counselors share moments of laughter and encouragement, exploring their interests in a learning environment that doesn’t quite feel like school.

At all of our centers offering day camp, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s specialty camps give youth ages 5 and older a chance to develop new skills and hobbies while making friends with peers and finding role models in the Y’s caring, knowledgeable counselors.

Here’s how some of our specialty camp participants kept busy this week:

Science Camp participants at the Fry Family Y got their hands delightfully dirty with some ooey-gooey experiments. Campers learned about chemistry, physics, and states of matter by making slime and “Oobleck,” a mixture of cornstarch, water, and food coloring. Youth were fascinated to learn that “Oobleck,” a non-Newtonian fluid, acts like a liquid when poured but behaves like a solid when force is applied to the material.

By taking a playful approach to concepts they’ll come across in their science classes this fall, these budding scientists are developing the curiosity and critical thinking skills they’ll need to thrive as lifelong learners.

Meanwhile, teamwork was the name of the game at the Fry Family Y’s Sports of All Sorts Camp. While playing games like kickball, basketball, and soccer, campers learned how to work together, practice good sportsmanship, and maintain active lifestyles in a supportive, supervised environment.

Whether these athletic campers decide to train further in a particular sport or explore other activities, the positive relationships they make with peers and counselors, rooted in lessons on leadership and character development, will stick with them for the rest of their lives.

No matter your child’s passion, there’s a camp for them at the Y. Young directors and producers can put their filmmaking chops to the test at the South Side Y’s Movie Makers Camp, while future paleontologists can dig into their love of all things prehistoric at the Hastings Lake Y’s Dinosaur Camp. From adventurous youngsters scaling obstacle courses at the Buehler Y’s Little Ninjas Camp to FIFA enthusiasts channeling their favorite players at the Rauner Y’s Soccer Camp, the possibilities are endless.

And it’s not too late to get in on the fun! Visit our website to explore everything our specialty camps have to offer, and sign up today!