It's time to get ready for winter break, and that means discovering new ways to keep kids happy and engaged while indoors. So today, we'll share the best winter break camps for kids to keep your child entertained and on track for future success in school and in life. Add in a little hot chocolate and your student is sure to be a happy camper!

Discover fun winter camps, including virtual, free, and in-person options, as well as what age group each camp is best suited for. We’ll also give you pointers on how to choose the camps that will best fit your child’s learning style and interests — and your budget. Read on, and select Thanksgiving break camps and online winter camps today.

Explore Online Winter Break Camps for Kids and Teens

Virtual camps are convenient because you can access them from the comfort of your home, or even if you're visiting somewhere for the holidays. Here are a few online camps this year led live by experts online. Many are designed by professionals from Google, Stanford, and MIT. These camps have won awards and been recognized by HulaFrog, Minecraft: Education Edition, and more.

1. NASA STEM Club

From Mars and aliens, to galaxies and rockets, space fascinates many students. In this series of live online classes, your kids will learn a wide range of topics related to space science, NASA, and practice other STEM skills. All classes are project based to encourage curiosity and develop problem solving skills. The camp covers many fun areas including rockets, Mars, International Space Station, Solar System, and a lot more.

  • Best for: Grades 1-4

2. Budding Digital Artist Camp

Have fun being creative with a variety of interesting digital art projects! In this fun online camp, students create a different art project in each session, such as Minecraft skins, emojis, animations, photography, and more. In each of these hands-on activities, students are guided to observe and understand artistic elements in life such as patterns and symmetry, explore emotions and feelings, and learn about art basics such as color palettes.

  • Best for: Grades 1-4

3. Scratch Coding Winter Camp

Learn how to code games and animations, fast! Developed by MIT, Scratch coding is a great way to introduce kids to computer programming because it uses simple drag-and-drop blocks rather than complex syntax. That means kids can focus on learning core coding concepts and logic, while not getting frustrated with typing errors. Join this beginner-friendly class to jumpstart your coding adventure!

  • Best for: Grades 2-5

There's also Scratch Junior for younger students and Accelerated Scratch for older students.

4. Minecraft Redstone Engineering Camp

In this fun class, your child will learn how to incorporate a set of redstone related blocks to build light shows, automatic doors, and even flying machines inside Minecraft. They will also learn about real-world engineering and computer science. No previous coding experience is required!

  • Best for: Grades 2-5

5. Minecraft Modding Winter Camp

Does your child enjoy playing Minecraft? In this fun winter break Minecraft camp kids learn all about how to build their own mini-games within Minecraft. Built on top of the regular Minecraft game, the platform your child will use in this camp, Minecraft: Education Edition, is a really cool program that includes additional features to teach kids coding and other STEM skills.

  • Best for: Grades 2-5

6. Pokémon Game Building Camp

Build Pokémon games and customize them in all sorts of creative ways! During this fun live online class, an expert teacher guides students through exciting challenges such as how to customize their Pokémon, how to use camera features to catch Pokémon, and other awesome skills to tailor their game-building experience. Create your own Pokémon virtual pet and keep it healthy and happy; Get ready to cast your Pokéball as you make and conquer the Catch the Pokémon Game; design a dynamic functional game of two-player Pokémon soccer; and try to build the tallest Pokémon pyramid possible in the Pokémon Circus Game.

  • Best for: Grades 2-5 with previous Scratch coding experience

7. Digital Design Canva Camp for Kids

Does your child want to create beautiful digital cards, posters, slides or videos for their school projects? Now they can make all of these fascinating projects with Canva - a powerful and trendy graphic design platform with a simple interface (and creating an account is free)! This course explores examples of great graphic design and video storytelling. Your child will learn to use the intuitive drag-and-drop tool in Canva to create their own designs, and share their creations with friends or teachers easily online. You will be amazed to see how creative your child can be with this fun digital design tool!

  • Best for: Grades 3-6

8. Roblox Winter Camp

Take a big step forward with your Roblox experience by actually creating your own games! In this unique live interactive camp, students will learn how to use Roblox Studio to create customized worlds and code mini-games including multiplayer games, and a game modeled after the highly popular infinity run game where players must turn, dodge, and jump to avoid obstacles and gain points. They'll use fun and simple to understand block coding, rather than the complex Lua language.

  • Best for: Grades 3-8

9. Create with ChatGPT Winter Camp

This live online interactive course offers students a comprehensive understanding of ChatGPT and provides practical guidance on utilizing it effectively. Students will learn how to think systematically and critically by planning fun activities with the assistance of ChatGPT, which promotes the development of important executive functions. Additionally, they will enhance their creative writing skills by utilizing ChatGPT to develop storylines, create character profiles, and master sentence structuring for impactful messages. Students also find out how to code their own ChatBot using ChatGPT as a foundation. Moreover, the course emphasizes the ethical considerations surrounding the use of ChatGPT and AI.

  • Best for: Grades 4-8

10. Smart Devices: Arduino for Kids

While lots of students have learned to code, few have had the opportunity to build a physical system, which opens up a brand new world. Learn Arduino coding online to create electronics projects for real world adventures at home. In this live online class, students are introduced step by step to circuit and Arduino, one of the most popular systems for building robots and smart home systems in the industry. Student will learn how to design simple electronic systems for alarms, home sensing, motor controls, etc, as well as creating code to control these systems.

  • Best for: Grades 4-9

11. Mobile App Coding

Wouldn't it be cool if your student created an app and all their friends downloaded it? This virtual camp teaches kids to build mobile apps, including exploring how to employ text, device sensors, and even the camera to build projects and games that involve image recognition, word games, and riddles. Towards the end of camp students even tackle making a multiplayer game, as well as a cool app that stores their favorite items.

  • Best for: Grades 4-9

12. AI Art for Kids

Delve into the mesmerizing world of AI, exploring state of art tools such as Adobe Firefly, Canva, DALL·E-3 by OpenAI, and Runway ML. From abstract compositions to vibrant illustrations, each session will empower your child to experiment with diverse styles and subjects. Give your child the super power to create, and watch as your young artist brings their imaginative visions to life with AI! 

  • Best for: Grades 5-12

13. Modern Website Design with Wix

This class covers a wide range of topics in Web Design, starting from the basics of how to use WIX and how to structure your website, to designing layout, choosing color schemes, and even to creating a web store to sell products. Whether you are thinking about doing a website to showcase your own art or hobbies, feature school/community events, publicize your sports teams or clubs, or to help local businesses and non-profit organizations, this class will teach you how to make it.

  • Best for: Grades 5-12

14. Python Camp

This camp is great for middle schoolers! Python is one of the most popular real-world coding languages when learning to code. This live online winter break camp covers not only the basics of Python coding for kids and teens, but also puts a strong focus on the elements of Python that are most relevant to Artificial Intelligence, including data structures and libraries.

  • Best for: Grades 5-9

15. Unity Game Development

Unity is the most popular game engine in the world, and is behind many games your child plays such as Angry Birds. In this virtual game development camp, kids build a 2D platform game where players can control the movement of the character and direct its interactions with the environment such as colliding with obstacles and hazards. After that, children progress to making their first 3D game in Unity, while continuing to improve their C# programming skills.

  • Best for: Grades 6-12

16. AP Computer Science Principles Class

In this Computer Science Principles class, we introduce students to a wide range of important fundamental topics in computer science such as binary, encryption, networking, and more. It is a great step for learning more about system and architectural aspects of computers. Developed by expert AP computer science educators, the class also meets the requirements for the APCSP exam as defined by the College Board. APCSP is a fairly manageable exam to pass for high school, and even middle school, students who have done a couple of years of coding and have a solid foundational understanding about computer science principles.

  • Best for: Grades 6-12

Free Online Winter Break Camps for Kids and Teens

Sometimes budget is the biggest concern when looking for things to keep the kids occupied. Here are a few free camps to explore.

1. Free Scratch Ninja Camp

Is your child curious about coding but overwhelmed with where to start learning? Then this is the camp for you. Jump right into creating original games and animations with this fun Scratch coding camp. Scratch is a beginner language developed by MIT, that makes it easy for kids to fall in love with coding, by removing some of the typing complexity. In this free introduction camp, your child will work together, along with a maximum of four other students, to build a fun game of their own.

  • Best for: Grades 2-5
  • Price: Free

2. Free Roblox Coding Winter Camp

Does your child love playing Roblox? If so this camp is a cool chance for them to learn how to code their own Roblox world and games. In this free introduction session, kids go through the process of installing and activating the Roblox Studio where they can build and script, and enjoy a self-paced tutorial to create a simple interactive obstacle experience.

  • Best for: Grades 3-8
  • Price: Free

There's also a version of this class for older, more experienced coders: Roblox Studio Intro: First Project (Grades 6-12).

3. Free AI Explorers Camp Event

With the latest developments in technology, AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning can now compose music, and even read medical images better than average doctors. This winter camp offers hands-on experience with cutting-edge artificial intelligence applications. Your child will have fun learning all about things that impact the real-world in big ways.

  • Best for: Grades 4-7
  • Price: Free live event

How to Pick the Best Online Winter Camp

As a parent, you want a good learning experience for your child. Here are some ways to feel more confident in making the best winter break camp selection possible.

  1. Build on existing interests. If your child are super active, go for camps that feature lots of movement. If they are already sci-fi fans, explore the world of AI.
  2. Check for equipment requirements. If you don’t have a computer, your local library may lend them out.
  3. Read reviews. Most if not all programs include reviews from other parents. Take a little bit of time to see if you “see” concerns you’d have for your child in reviews that are less than stellar.
  4. Buddy up. If you know your child would prefer to have a friend along, see if you can make that happen.
  5. Keep it fun! Remember, you’re planning for the holiday break from the regular school routine. In other words, it’s all for fun while learning. It’s not for a grade.

Enjoy the Best Online Winter Break Camps for Kids and Teens

Providing children with a structured activity during their time off from school can keep them excited about learning, while ensuring you get a little free time. There are so many options to make your winter break a blast this year. So pick your favorite Thanksgiving camps and winter break camps and get signed up before schedules fill up.

Up next, explore some of the best STEM holiday gifts for kids!