Wise Camps
Overview
Expert Summary
Detailed Insights
Wise Camps excels at transforming initially reluctant or camp-averse children into enthusiastic participants through highly engaging, hands-on STEM activities that feel like fun, not school. They foster a lasting appreciation for science, offer unique leadership opportunities, and simplify logistics for parents by providing convenient lunches and maintaining excellent communication.
Key Highlights
- ✓Pre-camp engagement: Sends a physical experiment in the mail with a fun note beforehand, which effectively builds excitement and reduces nervousness, especially for initially reluctant campers.
- ✓Inspires enthusiasm: Children, even those who typically dislike camps or are nervous on the first day, quickly become eager to attend, wanting to come early, stay late, and begging to sign up for additional sessions.
- ✓Lasting impact: The experience demonstrably increases children's appreciation and interest in science throughout the entire year.
- ✓Leadership opportunities: Provides unique opportunities for older children (e.g., a 7-year-old) to assist younger campers with experiments, fostering a sense of leadership and responsibility, which is recognized with a certificate.
- ✓Engaging learning: Offers a curriculum packed with fun experiments, science, engineering, building projects, and rockets, ensuring learning is hands-on and 'doesn't feel like school'.
- ✓Excellent communication: Parents receive great communication regarding camp plans and schedules.
- ✓Shared memories: Provides pictures to parents at the end of the camp week, allowing them to see their children's activities.
- ✓High-quality staff and organization: Described as 'well organized and run' with 'great staff' and a 'very inclusive' environment.
Standout Features
- ⭐Pre-camp 'hook': The personalized mailed experiment to build excitement.
- ⭐Hands-on STEM curriculum: Focus on experiments, engineering, building, and rockets.
- ⭐Leadership recognition: Certificates for assisting younger children.
- ⭐Inclusive and supportive environment.
- ⭐High-quality, engaging staff.
- ⭐Provided hot lunches: Conveniently offers popular options like Panda Express and Costco pizza, eliminating the need for parents to pack daily.
- ⭐Strong parental communication and camp organization.
- ⭐End-of-week photo sharing.
Perfect For
Ideal For
💡Pro Tips from Reviews
- →If your child is initially nervous or generally dislikes camps, Wise Camps has a proven track record of converting them into enthusiastic attendees, often due to their pre-camp engagement and hands-on approach.
- →Ideal for families with children across the 4-10 age range, as all kids mentioned were highly engaged and excited.
- →Take advantage of the provided hot lunches (Panda Express, Costco pizza) to simplify your daily routine and avoid packing lunch.
Things to Consider
- ⚠No specific concerns were reported by parents in these reviews; all reviews were 5-star.
Price & Value
While specific pricing is not mentioned, parents consistently highlight the significant value, citing the high quality of education, the transformative positive impact on their children's engagement and interest in learning, the engaging activities, and the added convenience of provided hot lunches. This suggests a perceived high return on investment for the camp fees.
♿Accessibility & Special Needs
- •No specific accommodations for special needs or accessibility features were mentioned in the reviews.
🍎Food & Drink Policy
- •Hot lunches are provided, featuring popular choices such as Panda Express and Costco pizza, which is a major convenience for parents.
- •The policy on bringing outside food is not explicitly stated, but the provision of lunch suggests it may not be necessary or that specific rules might apply during meal times.
🚗Parking Info
- •No information about parking availability or convenience was mentioned in the reviews.
👥Crowd Levels
- •No information about crowd levels or specific busy times was mentioned in the reviews.
🛡️Safety Features
- •No explicit safety features were detailed, though parents mentioned the camp was 'well organized and run', implying good management and oversight.
⏰When to Avoid
- • No specific situations or child profiles to avoid were mentioned, given the overwhelmingly positive feedback across a range of children's temperaments and ages.
Pricing/Package/Events
Pricing & Packages
All Day Mini Camps
Duration: 8:30am-3:30pm
Educational STEAM Camps
Events & Schedule
Special Events(Last 2 months - Next 6 months)
School Year Camps
2025-2026 School Year
School Year Camps are now available for the 2025-2026 school year.
Summer Camp Registration
Coming Soon
Registration for summer camps is coming soon.
What People Say
What's Great
- Fun and entertaining activities (mentioned in 2 reviews)
Areas for Improvement
- Can get crowded during peak times (mentioned in 2 reviews)
Recent Reviews
Ellen Henneman
9 months agoMy 7-year-old son attended a WISE camp last week. He was not excited to go to an all-day camp at first (he likes staying at home a lot). They sent him a little experiment in the mail beforehand with a fun note and he LOVED it, so that helped. But he was still nervous/reluctant on the first day. By the end of the week, he was begging to get signed up for another one! They do fun experiments and learn a lot of science, but it doesn't feel like school. He even got the opportunity to apply what he learned to assist the younger kids with an experiment and feel like a leader, which I think was really impactful for him (he got a certificate mentioning it). Really thoughtfully applied learning. Will definitely make this a staple of our summer planning next year!
5sToChaos
a year agoIn a nutshell, my kids declared they wanted to go back to this summer camp next year! They attended a week long STEM camp packed with experiments, fun activities, and apparently also great lunch :) From a parent's view, I feel the camp was well organized and run, great communication on plants, etc. Loved the pictures they shared at the end as well! Highly recommend :)
Melissa James
a year agoI have never met a kid so excited to go to camp! My son usually despises camps... However, this one in particular is incredible!!! He not only loves it, but wants to come early and stay late! Highly educational, very inclusive & great staff.
Lauren Lin
a year agoCOOLEST. CAMP. EVER. This is the 2nd year that our kids and their cousins (ages 4-7-8-10) have attended WISE Camp and WOW. I didn't think they could top last year's excitement and a whole year's buildup....but they are loving it again! Each day, every one of them leaps into the car, talking over one another, excited to tell us what cool stuff they did. I've never heard my kids so excited chatting about science experiments, engineering, building stuff, and rockets! And on top of that, they get Panda Express and Costco pizza so they eat well and I don't have to pack lunch everyday?! You guys rock. Thank you for being the best summer camp once again!
Katie Barker
2 years agoMy kids love Wise Camps and as a parent I love sending them to a camp that is rooted in education. The experience has increased their appreciation and interest in science all year long. Highly recommend.