The unpredictable weather this summer hasn’t deterred summer camps from taking place. Here are some camps with an emphasis on writing and literature that are taking place this summer.
As always, Christianne’s Lyceum is offering a slew of interesting summer activities for kids. These activities gently nudge kids to creatively work with their hands to create one-of-a-kind objects or put pen to paper for some worldbuilding exercises. Inspired by the classic, Wind in the Willows, kids will learn how to felt their favourite characters from the book. Lyceum founder, Christianne Hayward will use Aaron Blabey’s Bad Guys to teach kids how to create graphic novel panels. Using the books The Whispering Cloth: A Refugee’s Story and Dragon Pearl, children will learn to craft mixed-media quilts while also thinking about different cultures and storytelling traditions. Spending a day in the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts is a Lyceum tradition, and this year too there will be day-long activities where kids can learn about fantastic beasts and try playing quidditch. Pre-teens and teens can hone their writing skills in workshops dedicated to creative writing, poetry, and essays. Grades Preschool-12
Bard on the Beach holds annual summer camps during which kids and teens get together and make Shakespeare their own, coached by professional actors. This year, all the camps will be in person inside tents at Vanier Park. Each camp is dedicated to one play by William Shakespeare and the whole schedule covers the gamut of his work, from tragedies like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth to comedies like As You Like It and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and historical plays like Henry V. The camps are open to kids with varying knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays and aim to bring his legendary prose to life using their imagination, curiosity, and self-expression. Grades 1-12
The summer camps offered by Arts Umbrella cover a range of subjects, from architecture and cartooning to musical theatre and creative writing. Art, design, theatre, music, and film are the areas of interest and kids can learn a host of different things that can keep them engaged not just for the summer, but also inspire them to take up one of these fields for further studies. In their graphic novel and comic creation workshop, kids can learn how to create a graphic novel from scratch, through character design, scriptwriting, drawing, and composition. In their sketch comedy and improv intensive, kids can improve their creative thinking, team building, and communication skills with the use of improvisation and writing. Grades 1-12