Lee County camp registration begins

Summer may seem like a long way off, but registration for the Lee County Parks and Recreation Program opens on Monday morning.

Parents are going to have to act quickly because county leaders say spots fill up fast. In 2021, around 1,300 children were enrolled in the summer program, and nd leaders expect the same thing this year. Children must be over 6 but under 15 by Sept. 1 to enroll. The eco-touring camp is $100 per week per child, all of the other camps are $75 per week per child.

Starting at 7 a.m., parents can register their children online if they’ve already pre-registered or they can go to any of the large sites to register their children in person.

“I know that summer camps filled last year, we’re expecting the same this year, we had a great turnout,” said Trever Snearley, a manager with Lee County Parks and Recreation. “Not only were the camps full, but we had our waiting lists for families to get onto the summer camp fill as well… people that are wanting to go and register for some of our big sites—Wakehatchee Rec Center, Estero Rec center, Veterans Park Rec Center, or North Fort Myers Rec Center—need to have a membership before they can register.”

Lifetime membership for those sites is $10 for one person and $25 for a family. Parents can register their child for camp all the way up until the first week of camp, which starts on June 13.

They have seven different specialty camps ranging from the Wilderness Explorer Camp, where children will learn about shelter building and tracking animals, to the Slough Secrets Camp, where children will have activities in nature learning about plants and animals. There’s also an Arts in Nature Camp where children will be introduced to art skills like sketching, creative writing and photography.

The cost for all of the specialty camps—except the Eco-Touring Camp, which is $100 per child per week—is $75 per week per child for the 7 weeks. The ages for each camp vary, but county leaders say they have a wide range of specialty camps for children and their interests.

“Some of the specialty camps are at Six Mile Cypress Slough and Manatee Park,” Snearley said. “Both of them are basically naturalistic, you know… they go over the slough, some of the information there. Some of the wildlife, the habitat, they get to do a tour through the swamp. So that’s a pretty cool specialty camp for the kids. Manatee Park has another one, they go over the ecology, manatees, and kind of tour the park.”

The county also offers two camps for children with special needs, offered for ages 6 to 21. Those camps are at the Karl Drews Special Needs Center at 18412 Lee Road in Fort Myers.