What do you do with the kids in the sweltering heat of the Arizona summer? How do you deal with their boredom? Glendale, a city of approximately 250,000 residents, on the outskirts of Phoenix, has the answer in the form of a number of child care programs that offer healthy, entertaining, and enjoyable activities for kids from infant age through their teen years.
Child Care Learning Centers
The programs run by the KinderCare learning centers were based on input from almost 3,000 children who had been asked how they would like to spend their summers. Knowing how the majority of kids wanted to spend their time at a summer camp enabled the organizers to put together a program that includes hands-on participation, exclusive experiences, and enticing learning prospects. Each week of the summer-long learning camp is based on a different theme, such as science, nature, and history.
Deer Valley Unified School District
Sun'sational is a summer day camp run by Glendale's Deer Valley Unified School District for children from kindergarten age through ninth grade. Subjects and class schedules vary from one campus to another. The programs include field trips, interesting science experiments, and presentations by guest speakers. Four different camps are involved, so there are plenty of activities to choose from, and kids can attend one or more weeks. The programs are designed to inspire the children and to cultivate their self-esteem.
Glendale Library Programs
Glendale libraries offer teenage reading programs in which every time a student reads a total of 600 pages or completes six hours of reading, a prize is awarded, and the child is entered into weekly drawings for more prizes. Harkins Theatres and a restaurant chain donate the prizes, and three Kodak Easy Share Digital Cameras are awarded as grand prizes. The libraries also run a program for younger children with a free ticket to an Arizona Diamondbacks game at the completion of the nine-week session. Other age-fitting prizes and game boards are awarded during the programs.
Passport to Fun
Glendale's Deer Valley Unified School District also runs a Passport to Fun Preschool Summer Camp for children aged three to five. It takes place at Sandra Day O'Connor High School and at the Arrowhead Elementary School. Participating children will learn about different animals and cultures. This camp helps pre-school children to learn in a different environment from their home and gives them a chance to carry out experiments in the open air.
Great Beginnings
Great Beginnings Preschool and Childcare offers an inspirational summer school program at Glendale and three other nearby centers. The programs include arts and crafts, sports and games, music and dramatic play, water activities, and creative cooking. A different theme is introduced each week, with such inspiring names as "Ooey, Gooey, Icky, Sticky", "An Adventure in Space", "Red, White, and Blue," and "County Fair." All participating staff are high-quality teachers who work in the school year program and are CPR and First Aid Certified.
