Celebrating 40 seasons of fun at California's Great America

The summer holidays may be almost over, but don't stop planning those visits to California's Great America! They are on their 40th season, and the fun is still going strong. I took the family there this weekend to celebrate making it through our first week of school, and it felt like summer had just begun.

If you've never been to California's Great America before, it's not too late to join in the fun, because the park is still open on weekends until November 1.  California's Great America is a great family theme park, with something for everyone. I recommend spending at least 5 hours in the park to be able to experience the most popular rides, and even then you won't be able to do every single ride (there are over 70 rides, shows, and attractions!). That's why a season pass for locals makes so much sense: for the cost of a full-price ticket, you get unlimited entry for the season. If you're just visiting, you can find discounts from AAA as well as the awesome $25 discount at the bottom of this post.

One thing to note: Boomerang Bay is closing on September 20, so make sure you enjoy this awesome water park while the weather is warm! Boomerang Bay has a lazy river, a wave pool, a water play structure, and several amazing water slides. It's our favorite water park in the Bay Area!

Since it's the park's 40th anniversary, don't forget to take a spin on their original rides: Demon, Centrifuge, Celebration Swings, Delta Flyer/Eagle's Flight (gondola), Rue Le Dodge (bumper cars), Barney Oldfield Speedway, and of course the Carousel Columbia, the world's tallest double-decker carousel. These rides are just as awesome and just as popular as they were in 1976!

Of course, it wouldn't be a proper visit without experiencing at least one of their thrill rides. My favorite is the Drop Zone, but Flight Deck is a pretty close second. Both were among the first of their kind when they opened in 1996 and 1993, and I will never forget the feeling when I first rode on them.

But just because a ride isn't a fancy shmancy roller coaster doesn't mean it can't be thrilling or amazing! Great America is chock full of rides like these. It looks like a regular old viking ship, but it actually swings upside down and in a complete loop!  My kids love this ride!

The big addition at the park this year is the expansion of the Planet Snoopy kids area.

The area formerly known as Kidzville has now been integrated into Planet Snoopy, and the entire area (signs, food outlets, attractions) has been rebranded with images of everyone's favorite beagle and his human friends.

They've also added 3 new rides: Joe Cool's Gr8Sk8, Peanuts 500 and Snoopy's Space Buggies. I love the rebrand because it makes everything more cohesive (and who doesn't love Snoopy!).

What's up next

Season pass holders will be really glad they get unlimited entry into the park, because the park is open on weekends through October, so there are still plenty of opportunities to play. The park has several fun special events, including Guest Appreciation Day on Labor Day (featuring $1 hotdogs, soda, and popcorn!), a couple of Halloween -themed events for Girl Scouts, and the 2015 USA Cheerleading and Dance Competition. People are already looking forward to Great America's famous Halloween Haunt, which starts on September 25 and runs every weekend night (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) until November 1.

Save $25 off Great America Tickets

Great news! Bonggamom Finds readers can Save $25 off Tickets at California's Great America Theme Park! Just use code: BLOG4CGA when purchasing tickets at http://cagreatamerica.com

Disclosure: I received free day passes to California's Great America. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Everything You Need To Know About the Disneyland Diamond Celebration

May is always a special month for me, because Mother's Day and my birthday are in May. This year I've got an extra reason to celebrate, because I'm going to the Disneyland Resort to celebrate Disneyland's 60th anniversary on my birthday! The Diamond Anniversary celebrations will kick off with a 24 hour party starting 6:00am on Friday May 22!  The fun continues nonstop till 6:00am on Saturday May 23.

There are so many special things going on during those 24 hours, the time will just fly by! Guests will enjoy, and you may have read about some of them.... but the Disney folks have been releasing them in dribs and drabs over the past few months.  So I've compiled all of the fun and magic (and links!) into one single post. Here is the full list of all the magical opportunities for families to enjoy the Diamond Celebration.

First off, here is everything guests will enjoy at the 24-Hour event on May 22:

Debut of Paint the Night parade

Disneyland Park will light up the night with a new nighttime parade called Paint the Night. With over 1.5 million LED lights flashing and glowing, it's like the old Electrical Parade meets 21st century technology! Even the dancers and props will light up. All-new parade stars include a 54-feet long Mack Truck from Cars, plus Anna and Elsa!

Debut of new World of Color show

World of Color show has a new theme: Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney. Neil Patrick Harris will join Mickey Mouse in reliving Walt Disney's story, featuring music, fountains, lasers, plus animation and live action film projected onto a watery canvas.

Debut of new Fireworks spectacular

Disneyland's new fireworks show, Disneyland Forever, is going to be like no other fireworks show. Projection mapping technology will immerse viewers in dozens of Disney movie worlds, from The Lion King to Finding Nemo to Mary Poppins. The show will be viewable not only from Main Street USA, but also from It's a Small World, the Matterhorn, and the Rivers of America, with a different view from each location.

24-Hour Event Food

Guests can enjoy special treats only available during the 24-hour event, such as a Mocha Chip Funnel Cake at the Stage Door Cafe, Creamy Corn Chowder at French Market Restaurant, and Bananas Foster French Toast at Cafe Orleans. I'm definitely going for the Barbecued Pulled Pork & Slaw Cone at the Cozy Cone Motel!

24-Hour Event Merchandise

If you're going to the 24-Hour event on May 22, make sure you stop by a souvenir shop and check out the special 24-Hour tshirts and pins, because they'll only be on sale during the 24-Hour event!  In fact, they might even sell out before the 24 hours are over!

Don't worry, if you can't make the 24-Hour event, you haven't missed the party. The celebrations for Disneyland's Diamond Anniversary will continue throughout the summer and beyond.  Guests will have many opportunities to enjoy the new nighttime entertainment -- Paint the Night, Disneyland Forever and Celebrate! The Wonderful World of Walt Disney -- as well as the special offerings below:

New interactive entertainment

Throughout the Diamond Celebration year, performers will invite park guests to become part of the show at several places throughout the parks. Guests can march along with the Disneyland Band at a daily Diamond March-Along up Main Street USA, sing along with the Dapper Dans quartet, dream along with the Red Car News Boys on Buena Vista Street, dance along with Five & Dime, and party in Wonderland at the all-new Mad T Party.

Diamond Celebration Treats

It wouldn't be a celebration without treats! Guests will be able to indulge in special Diamond Celebration Cupcakes, special drinks, Rice Treats, Caramel Corn, and Cotton Candy. I'm definitely saving space in my belly for a cupcake -- and I'm washing it down with the special mango, pineapple and passion fruit Lucky Fortune Tea! And don't forget the special popcorn buckets!

Diamond Celebration Merchandise

More than 500 merchandise items will be available to purchase during the Diamond Anniversary Celebration. Think blinged-out ears, hats, shirts, jackets, Vinylmation, pins, bags, mugs.... I can't wait to go shopping! Disneyland only turns 60 once, so every single item in the Diamond Anniversary merchandise is sure to become a collector's item!

Diamond Celebration Decor

Have your photos taken in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle and the Carthay Circle Theater, because they've been blinged up for the Diamond Celebration! And don't forget to check out the newly decorated store windows on Main Street USA, which have been specially done for the occasion.

Updated and refurbished attractions

Many of the attractions that you've been waiting for have returned, and they've been bedazzled! The Matterhorn Bobsleds, Peter Pan's Flight, and Soarin Over California have been given new special effects. There's a new ghost in town over at the Haunter Mansion -- watch out for the Hatbox Ghost at the opening of the cemetery scene! Finally, the remodeled and expanded Grizzly Peak is reopening to the public.

Diamond Days Sweepstakes

The Diamond Days Sweepstakes begins on May 22, and guests to the Disneyland Resort can win daily prizes such as VIP tours and dining experiences.  There are even more spectacular weekly prizes to be won, including real Disney Diamonds, a Cinderella glass slipper, a private party in Fantasyland, and a stay in the Disneyland Dream Suite.

photo credits: Disneyland News

Disclosure: I am attending the Diamond Celebration press event at the invitation of the Disneyland Resort. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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10 Ways Galileo Summer Quest stands out

You can tell that Galileo Summer Quest isn't like any other summer camp even before you drop your child off on the first day. There are lots of colorful signs and streamers all around.  Staffers are wearing rubber chickens on their heads, and they're high fiving the arriving campers like there's nowhere else they'd rather be.  As the week goes on, the signs become clearer.  On theme days, staffers show up in wacky outfits. You're given updates on what happened at camp that day.

But what makes Galileo Summer Quest (GSQ) special isn't just that people wear cool outfits.  There's a reason why campers come back to Galileo year after year.  There's a reason why 3Po and Jammy have been waiting for years to be old enough to come to GSQ for years, and why they enjoyed camp so much last week.  There's a reason why I recommend GSQ to any parent who says he or she has run out of camp ideas because their kid has done it all and fears camp might be boring.  Actually, I've got 10 reasons!

1) Easy Morning Drop Off
The parking situation at our location (Palo Alto High School) was horrendous, but the GSQ staff made it fast and easy by letting parents drop their kids off curbside on Tuesday through Friday.  In many cases, parents are in a hurry to get to work or to drop other kids off at other camps, so this was a really thoughtful touch.

2) Parent friendly options
GSQ has fifteen locations all over the Bay Area, from Tiburon to San Jose, which means you won't have to drive far to find one near you. Every camp session has optional extended care from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. so working parents can fit camps into their own schedules. They even offer an optional lunch program, featuring hot, healthy meals!

3) Engaged campers
Your child comes home and actually says more than "Okay" when you ask him "How was camp?".  'Nuff said!

4) Teamwork
Collaboration is a necessary part of Galileo's Innovator's Design-Build-Test process.  Many majors at GSQ  such as the Chefology majors work in teams for the entire week, and many others, like Inventor's Workshop, rely on a mix of team projects and individual projects.  I love how this teaches kids to work together and to be open to input from a variety of sources.

5) Amazing Staff
I've mentioned on previous blog posts about the quality of Galileo staff.  Galileo employs full time staff to work year round to develop camp curricula, so it's always educational and entertaining, and it's always updated and fresh.  Many of the staff work in education, and many have been there for years.  But it's their enthusiasm and passion that really distinguish the people who work at a Galileo camp.

Case in point: halfway through the week, 3Po and Jammy asked me if I could come in to camp with them the next morning, because they wanted me to take a photo of their group project. They had built a mechanical gondola, but since it was a group project, it was going to be dismantled.  3Po and Jammy had so much fun making it, they wanted a photo of it  -- it was just too cool not to remember!  But when I got there the next day, the classroom was still closed, and I had to leave.  The boys' faces fell -- until their workshop leader, Donovan, told me he would take a photo for me and email it to me!  The boys were so happy, and I was so grateful.  THAT is what I mean when I say "amazing staff".

6) Fun majors
With so many fun majors, it's almost impossible to choose one!  Digital film making, digital photography, culinary arts, go kart making, chemistry, minecraft.... the list goes on.   Having so many majors makes it convenient for parents because can send siblings to the same camp, even if the siblings have different interests.  And you'll never have to look at another camp -- GSQ has enough majors to keep a child busy for the entire summer!  Heck, even I want to go to GSQ!

7) Partnership with Klutz
Every kid loves Klutz!  They make amazing art kits, craft kits and science kits designed to keep kids entertained, while teaching them something new or allowing them to dig deeper into something they love.  Hmmm... sounds like Galileo Summer Quest!  No wonder their partnership is so perfect!  Many of the materials used at Galileo camps are Klutz kits, both at camp and at the aftercare sessions.  3Po and Jammy loved having piles and piles of Klutz paper airplanes to make after camp ended!

8) An emphasis on innovation
When my friends asked me which Major the boys decided on, I kept saying "Innoventor's workshop" instead of "Inventor's workshop" -- and understandable mistake, because the workshop wasn't just about inventing things, it was about the process.  The important thing about 3Po's floating motorcycle is not just that it floats, but the way he figured out how to make it float.  It's the fact that he even thought of a floating motorcycle in the first place.

Yes, they learned about structural engineering and mechanical engineering, but they also learned about prototyping and the Design-Test-Build process.  That's pretty much how all of GSQ works, and I love it.  Campers are encouraged to try new things, and mistakes aren't looked upon as failures, they're just opportunities to improve.

9) Stuff that's cool enough to keep
After a week at a Galileo camp, kids come home with more than memories: they come home a cool tshirt, a cool pin, and a cool project -- so cool, in fact, that they still wear their camp tshirts, they still collect the pins, and they still keep the projects!  We still have the cardboard buildings and Golden Gate Bridge that the boys built at Camp Galileo a few years ago!  Every now and then I make an attempt to clean out the garage and throw it away, but I always get such sad looks from 3Po and Jammy, I can't bring myself to do it.

10) Kids get to learn so much more than they (or you!) think they can
On the final day, when parents are invited, you get to see everything that your child has worked on, and it boggles the mind.  All that, in just one week?  Your child, who couldn't even boil an egg, can now cook a meal.  Your child, who didn't know how to thread a needle, has just sewn an entire outfit.  Your child, who never liked getting his hands dirty, has built a go kart.  The list goes on and on.


Disclosure: I received a free week of camp for two, as a thank you for writing a series of posts about Galileo Summer Quest. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Find out your Summer Style with Ross Dress for Less

Looking to update your wardrobe this summer?  With all the brands and styles out there, the choices can be overwhelming.  Fortunately, there's one choice that's easy to make: where you're going to shop, and the answer is Ross Dress for Less!  It's always my first destination when I'm looking for a new outfit, because they have so many great brands, and the prices are so great.

This summer, Ross is making it even easier to update your summer look, with their fun new Facebook App which helps you figure out your Summer Style.  Just answer a few easy personality questions, and the app will come up with recommendations for a summer outfit and accessories!  I took the quiz, and I got "Family Fun Patrol", which is just perfect because I spend my whole summer doing fun things with my kids:

Family Fun Patrol:
You love to take care of everyone in your family! With the kids out of school, summer is the perfect opportunity for more together time and you are definitely taking advantage of each moment. You can bet you’ll be creating memories all summer long and will have a ton of photos to prove it.

So, are you a Family Fun Patrol like me, or are you an Outdoor Explorer, or a Social Butterfly?  Take the quiz and find out!

To make things even more fun, everyone who takes the quiz will be entered into a random drawing, with 2 $150 gift card winners drawn each week!  If you share the results of your Summer Style Quiz with your Facebook friends, you'll get an extra entry.



Disclosure: I received a Ross gift card as a thank-you for posting about the Summer Style quiz.  The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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We're going to Camp EdTech!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since The Pea and I got back from our Expanding Your Horizons conference!  My mind is still swimming with ways to nurture my kids' interest in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).  I came back from that conference full of great information, tips, and resources.

One of the most useful things I brought back home was a list of STEM opportunities around the Bay Area for the summer.  There are so many summer camp providers in the area, it was great to have a list of camps specifically geared towards STEM!  Since the conference was held at UC Berkeley, many of the most interesting camps were located around Berkeley and Oakland, which was kind of a bummer, because that's an hour drive for us.  Fortunately, several on the list had campuses conveniently located all over the Bay Area -- including a gem right in our own back yard, Camp EdTech!  I thought I knew all of the summer camps in our part of town, so I was delighted to discover Camp EdTech.  Even more exciting, Camp EdTech is inviting one of my kids to experience a week at camp!

As the name implies, Camp EdTech has a clear focus on hi tech:  campers get down and dirty with real-life, hands-on engineering projects like creating Android-compatible apps, developing video games, creating animated films, soldering circuits and simple machines, and honing their digital photography skills.  Here's their session list:

2-D Video Gaming
3-D Video Gaming
Digital Photography
Film Making
Animation
App Creation
Maker Studio

Isn't it amazing that kids so young get to do these kinds of activities! It's so great that Camp EdTech introduces kids to these kinds of skills and gets them thinking about the kinds of STEM careers they can pursue!

What really excites me about Camp EdTech is that the curriculum was developed with the help of the Children's Creativity Museum and the California Academy of Sciences, two of the coolest museums in the Bay Area!  My kids love, love, love, going to those museums because they have so many amazing exhibits and hands-on activities. Any camp activity designed with their help is sure to be a great experience!

If your child is younger than the 5th-8th grade range for Camp EdTech, don't despair.  The same group that runs Camp EdTech (Edventure More) also has a camp for Pre-K through entering 4th grade!  Camp Edmo offers week-long summer camps for kids who love to learn and explore.  Like Camp EdTech, the curriculum at Camp Edmo is designed in partnership with the California Academy of Sciences and the Children's Creativity Museum -- so you just know your child is going to have tons of fun!

Camp Edmo has camps for all kinds of interests and all kinds of kids:

Art and Science camps
This year's themes for Art and Science include Incredible Edibles (exploring the physical sciences), Magic & Medieval Times (exploring the physical sciences), Critterville (exploring the natural sciences), and Planet Power (exploring the natural sciences).  All themes include art and outdoor recreation activities.

Animation camps
You're never too young to learn about technology!  Campers will create an animated short film from start to finish.  Each week has a different animation theme and covers different stop-motion animation techniques.

Park program
Camps are held in local and regional parks, and campers spend lots of time outdoors, going on hikes, enjoying nature activities, playing games, and completing art and science projects.  This year's themes are Bay Camps, Sprout About, Sea Creatures, and Smart Art.  What a great way to get your child closer to nature!

Check out the Camp EdTech and Camp Edmo websites for more details including locations, times, dates, and prices.  Discounts are available for multiple weeks, multiple siblings, referrals, and financial aid is available.


Disclosure: I am receiving a free week of camp for one of my children and a discount for additional weeks and/or additional children. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Reasons why a Ride the Ducks San Francisco Tour is Like No Other

There is no shortage of strange sights around San Francisco, but this has got to be one of the strangest yet....

Yup, it's a car that looks like a boat!  Or is it a boat that looks like a car?  Take part in a Ride the Ducks tour of San Francisco and decide for yourself!  Ride the Ducks graciously offered me some tour tickets, so I seized the opportunity to give my kids a crash course in San Francisco history and culture.  I mean, they've lived all their life in the Bay Area so they ought to learn something about it, right?!  Besides, I figured that even if the tour guide bored them to tears, the novelty of riding on a tour vehicle that went on land and water would be entertaining enough.

Ha!  My kids enjoyed every second of that tour!  I've never seen smiles so huge, and it wasn't just because we were on a floating car/rolling boat.  The tour took us all over the city, through major San Francisco landmarks, with our guide offering fun and interesting facts along the way.  We drove past North Beach, Chinatown, Union Square, the Transamerica Building, Coit Tower, the Embarcadero, AT&T Park, the America's Cup Park and more.  Yes, you could hop on a tour bus to see the same sights.  But here are a few things that you won't get from any other San Francisco tour except Ride the Ducks:

No other tour draws as much attention from passers-by.  We certainly felt like celebrities during our tour!  All Ride the Ducks tours take place in an amphibious vehicle known as a DUKW.  DUKWs were originally designed during World War II,  for transporting goods and troops over land and water and for use approaching and crossing beaches in amphibious attacks. The name stands for "Designed in 1942 for Utility/amphibious purposes, with front wheel drive (K), and two rear driving axles (W)". Is it any wonder people call them Ducks?  The Ducks used in the tour aren't old relics, they're custom manufactured to be safe and comfortable.  The fact that they look cool and they make heads turn wherever they go is just a bonus.

No other tour comes with noisemakers.  Everyone who goes on the tour gets a fun quacker as a souvenir. Of course all the kids on the tour, mine included, couldn't help quacking away as soon as they got on board.  But even the grownups got into the spirit when the tour started. Our tour guide turned something that could have gotten really irritating (QUACKQUACKQUACKQUACK!!) into a fun game, encouraging everyone to QUACK whenever we passed a Walgreen's store.  Searching for Walgreens and quacking when they saw one really kept the kids amused, even when we were stuck in traffic.  Everyone also had fun quacking to the beat of the Blue Danube and other tunes that were playing throughout the tour.  Blue Danube?  Other tunes?  Yes indeed, that's another feature of Ride the Ducks......

No other tour has a playlist.  Music was piped through speakers throughout the tour, and our tour guide had the perfect song for every place we drove past -- That's Amore as we drove through North Beach, Take Me Out to the Ballgame near AT&T Park, Little China Girl in Chinatown, and so on.  Of course, the cruise portion of the tour featured songs like Rubber Ducky, the Blue Danube and In the Navy :)  The music gave the whole tour an upbeat spirit, and everyone had so much fun quacking to the beat!

No other tour has a guide quite like Captain Dan.  He not only fed us with interesting facts and trivia about San Francisco's major landmarks and districts, he also quacked everyone up with all his jokes.  The kids even loved his corny jokes because they could blow into their quackers whenever he delivered a lame punchline.

No other tour involves the tour guide driving the tour vehicle off a dock. What other city tour conducts a portion of the tour on water? About halfway through the tour we went to the San Francisco docks and just drove into the water -- it was crazy!  The sensation of shifting from car to boat, from the vibration on the ground to the swell of the waves, is quite novel.

No other tour gives you this view of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.  We spent about 20 minutes cruising the San Francisco Bay.  The water was quite calm, not too many waves, so we didn't really have to worry about sea sickness (although by the end of the cruise portion, The Pea and I were feeling a bit nauseous, so in retrospect I would have brought our Sea Bands in my purse).  Where the tour goes on the Bay depends on the current, wind and waves.  For the most part, we stuck to the harbor area between AT&T baseball park and the Bay Bridge, which isn't the most picturesque part of the Bay, but hey, safety first right?  And we were treated to some great views of the Bay Bridge, Treasure Island and the San Francisco skyline.

No other tour lets guests drive the tour bus!  The tour guide (I suppose I ought to call him the captain, at least for this leg of the tour!) will let anyone come up to steer on the way back to the docks (the length of time depends on how many people want to do it).  Jammy & 3Po couldn't believe that they were actually allowed to sit in the captain's chair and steer the boat.  It was such a novel experience and I'm thrilled that Ride the Ducks could provide it for them.

One final note: the tour is supposed to last 90 minutes but ended up being closer to 2 hours due to traffic.  If you book a tour, I strongly suggest booking a morning tour to avoid traffic since the streets of San Francisco can get clogged up during rush hour!  Don't forget that other special events like Market Day at the Ferry Building (Tuesdays) and any San Francisco Giants baseball game (which are on the tour's path) can drastically affect traffic.

If you're planning to tour San Francisco -- or if you're a Bay Area native (like we are!) and want to rediscover your local habitat -- I highly recommend a Ride the Ducks tour.  There's no other San Francisco tour out there that literally takes you on a tour of the City By The Bay, both through the City and on the Bay?!

Okay, enough with the review and on to the deals!   If you're in San Francisco and see Splash the Duck around town, make sure you get your photo taken with him, because you can get 1 free tour ticket when you buy 2:

In addition, if you happen to see the DUKW amphibious vehicle on the streets of San Francisco, snap another photo -- you could win Ride the Ducks our tickets for you and a friend:

Disclosure: I received complimentary tour tickets to facilitate my review. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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Keep reading and learning throughout the summer with PBS KIDS

Now that summer is in full swing, you may already be tearing your hair out over wondering how to keep your kids entertained and keep their brains from turning into mush. Research does show that students experience significant learning loss when they do not participate in educational activities during the summer months, so I try to maintain an educational focus throughout the summer.  No, they're not doing homework, but I do ask them to read every day and practice their musical instruments, and I encourage them to visit educational online sites like Khan Academy.  Educational TV programs on the Discovery Channel, NatGeo channel and PBS Kids are always allowed!

Speaking of PBS Kids, they are a wonderful resource for educational summer activities.  They have all kinds of downloadable activity guides and printables to help keep your child reading all summer long.  What's really nice is that many of the activities tie in with PBS Kids TV shows that your child already watches and enjoys.  One memorable summer when 3Po and Jammy were 5, I held a Super WHY reading "camp" to help them progress from sounding out 3-letter words to reading 4-letter words and words with consonant blends.  They loved Super WHY, so they had so much fun, and their reading skills really improved!

With the tips and activities found on PBS Kids Parents website, you can easily put together your own "summer camp" at home.  PBS Kids has also partnered with Education.com to provide more resources for DIY home camp activities at www.education.com/read. Your "camp" can go on for multiple weeks, with different themes each week!  If you're at a loss for camp themes, just check your local PBS Kids station, because PBS KIDS is showing episodes from a different PBS Kids TV series each week, all summer long.  Each week has its own theme, so you can tailor your "camp"'s activities to fit the theme:

• DANIEL TIGER’S NEIGHBORHOOD – “Let’s Play Outside Week,” July 15
• THE CAT IN THE HAT KNOWS A LOT ABOUT THAT! – “Let’s Get Wet Week,” starting July 22
• ARTHUR – “Sports Week,” starting July 29
• WORDGIRL® – “What’s Up With WordGirl Week,” starting August 5



Disclosure: I did not receive a sample or monetary compensation for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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How Galileo makes summer camp fun and easy for PARENTS

There is no doubt that kids LOVE Galileo camps.  Just ask any kid who has attended one!  There's just something magical about the combination of amazing staff, cool (and ever-changing) themes, zany camp traditions, fun activities and a challenging curriculum that makes kids THINK.

My kids always look forward to their week(s) at Galileo. But they're not the only ones -- I look forward to it just as much as they do!  And it's not just because I love seeing how much they enjoy themselves.  It's also because Galileo Learning does so much to make things stress free and hassle free for parents, so they can enjoy their week as well.  Here are some ways Galileo helps parents out:

1) Check-in is quick and easy at Galileo summer camps; the staff is so efficient that after the first day, they only need 10 minutes to check in all the campers! There are about half a dozen check-in stations (arranged alphabetically at Camp Galileo and by major at Galileo Summer Quest).  Additionally, certain locations allow curbside check-in: just pull up to the curb, kiss your camper good-bye, watch him run to his counselor to pick up his daily name tag, wave and drive off!

2) At Galileo Summer Quest, parents have the option to authorize their children to check themselves out.  This means your middle school child can bike to GSQ in the morning, and bike back home when camp ends.   Obviously not everyone will be comfortable with that, but many kids already bike themselves to and from school during the schoolyear, so why should the summer be any different? I for one am glad that GSQ gives parents that option.


3)  Both Camp Galileo and Galileo Summer Quest offer a hot lunch option via Choicelunch.  You sign up for the week, and your camper gets a morning, a lunch entrée, a healthy snack and fresh-cut fruit. There are at least 5 lunch entrées to choose from every day, all kid-friendly options like Annie’s Organic mac and cheese, california roll, shredded beef tacos and Caesar salad.


4)  Parents get regular updates on what their campers are doing.  On the first day you'll receive a sheet with staff bios, as well as a list of activities your camper will be enjoying throughout the week.  The list includes information about special theme days (water play day, superhero day, etc...) so you and your camper can plan ahead and join in the fun.  When I pick my boys up from Camp Galileo, the staff always gives me a "what we did today" sheet with personalized notes about how they did.  I LOVE this, because all too often, when I ask them "How was your day?", all I get is an "Ummm... it was okay".  Galileo has figured out how to give parents a "cheat sheet" so they can ask their kids specific questions about their day ("how did you figure out where to put the drive train on your Mars rover?")!!

5) I can't say enough about Galileo's extended hours!   You can sign your child up for AM before-care sessions or PM aftercare sessions or both.  It's not just a blessing for working parents, it's also a blessing for stay-at-home parents who have kids at camps in different locations that end at the same time, or parents who want to spend some one-on-one time with one child (trust me, I have 3 kids and it is wonderful!).  My kids have been to the extended hours sessions at both Galileo Summer Quest and Camp Galileo, and they give high marks to both programs.  Kids aren't just left to themselves -- the staff stays and plays with them, making sure everyone has a good time and no-one gets bored.  This week at aftercare, my boys have played with LEGOs and KNEX, had their faces painted, made lanyards and played basketball.  It sure beats going to the supermarket and the bank with mom!

Disclosure: This is part of a series of posts about Camp Galileo and Galileo Summer Quest, for which I am receiving a free week of camp for each of my children. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

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