Penn State Summer Camps and Much More!

Parents, are you looking for a way your children can build self-confidence, learn about and develop skills in activities they enjoy, and make new friends in a fun environment? Penn State offers summer camps and year-round programs in sports, arts, sciences, adventure, nature, leadership, or career exploration.

Every year more than 220,000 youth have memorable Penn State experiences with Penn State faculty, staff, and graduate students who care about helping youth excel.

Discover—For children as young as four years, Penn State offers half-day programs in kitchen science, crafts, and literature and nature appreciation.

Develop—School-age youth can choose from more than 95 sport camps and dozens of hands-on programs in arts, theatre, science and engineering.

Aspire—For pre-college students, participating in a camp sponsored by the College of Arts and Architecture, College of Communications, or College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, is an opportunity to meet faculty members and experience life at Penn State.

Choose a camp link at the upper right hand corner to find the right camp for your family this summer.

Youth Participant Information

Penn State's youth programs offer high-quality experiences in an academic environment thanks to the knowledge and dedication of our faculty, staff and counselors. Our faculty are renowned experts in their fields and are eager to share their knowledge with our participants. Staff and counselors are either educators in their fields or upper level undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in related majors.

All summer youth camp participants are supervised by adults, 18 years of age or older, who have received safety training. Residential counselors have cleared a background check. A ratio of 1 adult to 15 participants is observed.

Parents/guardians of commuting students check their child(ren) in and out every day. Residential participants are checked in at the beginning of the camp and checked out at the conclusion by a parent/guardian.

For residential programs, the resident halls are locked 24 hours a day and can be accessed only by key cards issued to the participants who are staying in the particular residence hall. During these programs, the campus is patrolled at night by Penn State's Police Services.