best 11 programs in Brooklyn, NY

Camp Med-o-lark is an all genders arts sleep away camp in Washington, Maine for children ages 7–16, set on the shores of a pristine lake. Med-o-lark offers a fully elective program, allowing campers to design their own schedules from a wide range of activities including performing arts, fine arts, sports, circus, waterfront, and more. Each summer, Med-o-larkers come together to build a kind, creative community where everyone has the opportunity to discover, grow, create, learn, and shine. With a strong emphasis on the arts, Med-o-lark offers one of the most extensive programs in dance, fine arts, handcrafts, and theater of any camp in New England.

Our programs blend literacy, imaginative play, and design thinking to increase reading interest and skill. Creation stories along with tales of conquest and cultural tradition provide the context for our after-school and summer camp engagements where we journey through stories to help children understand themselves, our history, and our world. Our story began with, well, a story. Challenged by fans of The Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series, we set out to create a real-world version of the fictional training ground for modern-day heroes of Greek Mythology; Camp Half-Blood. Armed with no small amount of courage we set out to create a space for the stories kids love to live rich, full lives beyond the pages of the books. Eight years and three programs later we have served nearly 3,000 children with our unique brand of reading enrichment. Expanding the boundaries of the creative class is an important part of our mission and must include kids from the widest variety of families and circumstances. Our latest project, The Daedalus Initiative gifts students in Title 1 schools with science kits and other materials to further their knowledge and interest in STEM.