summer camp

noun

plural summer camps

: a camp (see camp entry 1 sense 1d) for children or adolescents that operates during the summer and that often provides lodging for stays of days or weeks

… traditional summer camps—where your child rides a horse, paddles a canoe, reads a compass, and roasts s'mores around a campfire …—

David Lansing

… summer camp is about campfires, trail hikes and goofy skits. It's a chance to meet kids from different cities and to learn to sleep through the snores of cabin mates.—

Emily Seftel

also : such a camp that provides instruction of a specified kind

went to an arts summer camp

compare day camp

: an online usually educational program for children or adolescents offered during the summer

… a virtual summer camp offering free classes in everything from slime-making to dinosaurs to make-your-own Lego movies. Kids aged five through 18 can create their own schedule, with hour-long classes five days a week for each session.—

Lisa Milbrand

Examples of summer camp in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Over the course of the past year, Texas state lawmakers have been investigating the fatal July 4, 2025, floods that claimed over 130 lives, including those of 27 young girls at a Central Texas summer camp. —

Mateo Rosiles, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026 Think of Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 69 youngsters at a left-wing summer camp in Norway, or the Islamic State commandos who killed 90 music fans at the Bataclan in Paris in 2015. —

Graeme Wood, The Atlantic, 26 Apr. 2026 In practice, working parents will have to shell out for another week of summer camp — if programs offer it — or make other child care arrangements. —

Cayla Bamberger, New York Daily News, 21 Apr. 2026 At the age of 18 (an emotionally young 18), Ernaux is hired as a counselor in a summer camp, her first time away from home. —

Literary Hub, 21 Apr. 2026 Naperville Park District will post its summer program guide on its website Wednesday, April 22, for residents interested in summer camps, fall soccer registration, summertime destinations, special events and other activities. —

Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 21 Apr. 2026 This was at Keewaydin, a summer camp on Lake Dunmore, in Vermont. —

John McPhee, New Yorker, 20 Apr. 2026 One of the homeowners’ grandparents acquired the property, an old summer camp, in the 1940s, and expanded it into a rustic family compound. —

Hannah Martin, Architectural Digest, 16 Apr. 2026 Edward Eastland, director of the Christian summer camp, delivered the testimony while on the stand during a court hearing on Monday, April 13, according to The Texas Tribune and ABC affiliate KSAT-TV. —

Abigail Adams, PEOPLE, 15 Apr. 2026