More bang for a bunk: Picking a summer camp - Five tips for choosing a site your child — and your pocketbook — will like

Redmond, WA, USA  (2006-04-12)

Whittle down your options. Today there are over 5,000 day camps and 7,000 sleep-away camps. There are also camps that cater to nearly every interest, from sports and fine arts to academic and adventure camps. To narrow your choices, get a sense of what your child is interested in and then start surfing the Web.

To see all kinds of camp choices, go to MySummerCamps.com where you can search for traditional, specialty or special needs camps. The National Camp Association offers a free referral service on its Web site that allows parents to fill out a form with their requirements and requests, which staff members then research to identify specific camps that fit the bill. The American Camp Association’s Web site offers a database of 2,600 accredited camps that you can search by age, activity and cost preference. Camps accredited by the ACA must meet up to 300 health, safety and program-quality standards. Keep in mind only a small segment of summer camps are accredited and there are plenty of great summer camps that aren’t. In that case, you need to do your own homework — ask the camp why it’s not accredited, and also how they annually evaluate health and safety measures.

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