Have you ever wanted to design your own posters from family photos? Create custom art based on your favorite characters or memes? Learn about color theory? With these online graphic design camps students of all ages can learn graphic design anytime, anywhere.

Even if your child doesn’t end up being a professional designer (although they could!), learning skills in graphic design improves communication skills, creativity, and problem solving skills. Understanding the basics of visual communication is useful in any career path! Explore this list of graphic design camps to see what could be a good fit for your child.

Explore online graphic design camps to learn digital art

Check out some fun virtual graphic design camps for students of all ages from 7-18. These classes are a great option to learn live online with qualified teachers or to use self-paced resources for on-demand learning in graphic design. These classes offer fun and engaging options for summer art camps, indoor after-school activities, or homeschool art classes.

Graphic design camps for elementary school students

These fun and exploratory online graphic design camps are for students in grades 2-5, and there's even one for grades K-3.

1. Budding Digital Artist

Explore all sorts of art skills and mediums while creating a fun new project every week in this live online class designed for kids grades 1-4. Designed by experts from Apple and Google, this class exposes kids to a wide range of art topics, mediums, and basic techniques so your child will get a chance to try many different things. Students will enjoy creating a fun art project every session, and learn to appreciate great design in their daily lives.

2. Canva Design Skills for Students

Canva has made graphic design more accessible for students, teachers, and non-design professionals of all types. Now your student can learn graphic design and video editing inside this free software. Create a design portfolio that includes posters, cards, videos, and more.

3. Procreate for Beginners

Join this fun live online class to learn the basics of making digital art use Procreate on iPad. Students will learn different digital art techniques and tools in every session and create a digital artwork for each session. Students will also learn art terms and vocabularies throughout the projects as well as elements of art and principles of design.

4. Graphic Design for Elementary Students

This KidztoPros camp teaches students best practices for design as they create posters, business cards, animations, and more. Students will work with Krita, a free open source painting program that is used by professional artists. After working with a live teacher over the course of a week, students gain a clear understanding of design fundamentals.

Graphic design camps for middle school students

At the middle grades level, students are ready to level up and start using professional tools for their design. These camps are for students in grades 5-8.

5. Easy Website Design with Wix

Does the idea of creating your own websites sound both exciting and daunting? This fun hands-on class teaches students how to build beautiful professional looking websites for themselves, friends, and communities using Wix. This class covers a wide range of topics in Web Design, starting from basics of how to use WIX and how to structure your web site, to designing layout, choosing color schemes, and even to creating a web store to sell products.

6. AI Art for Kids

Students will 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. Join us on this captivating journey, give your child the super power to create, and watch as your young artist brings their imaginative visions to life with AI! 

7. Discovering Design

Students will gain basic core skills to design effectively in two-dimensional design for screens and print in this graphic design camp. Learn how to define and organize color, and how to combine colors to create moods, effects, understanding, and meaning. Students will also have many opportunities to practice using their design sense and visual thinking skills by designing their own projects and receiving feedback each session.

8. Intro to 3D Design

3D design is widely used in many areas such as designing cars, robots, animations, and game characters. This class introduces students to the concepts for 3D design and building 3D models. We will be creating a couple of models in every class. Even though the class will only touch on basic skills, some of our students have created amazing projects using what they learned in class. Check out an example here. In addition, you will have the option of turning the 3D model into lego building blueprints.

9. Modern Website Design

This live online 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. Every student will create a portfolio of websites by the end of this class!

Graphic design camps for high school students

These online graphic design camps for high school students cover professional tools and techniques fundamental for any designer.

10. Basics of Photoshop

Photoshop is the ultimate tool for image manipulation and creation - you can create anything you imagine! In this class students learn to navigate Photoshop to create digital collages that express their creativity with layers, masks, blending modes, editing tools, and more. With just 2-4 students per class, each student will receive plenty of individual instruction.

11. Beyond the Basics of Photoshop

Learn advanced tools and functions of Photoshop! Photoshop is the most popular digital design program used by graphic designers, allowing you to create anything your mind can conjure up. In this advanced live online class, students will learn more complicated and difficult effects to build on the knowledge learned in Basics of Photoshop including smart objects, healing, filters, and even how to make a gif!

12. Basics of Illustrator Camp

Illustrator is the leading vector design program used by graphic designers. Vector programs allow you to create graphics with control and illustrate with precision. Join this class to learn the vector design basics and create projects like logo design, pop art illustration, abstract animal graphics, and more!

13. 3D Modeling

Have you ever wanted to create your own 3D model but didn't know where to start? In 3D Artist Pathway: Modeling Basics scholars will get an entry level introduction into 3d modeling. Find out how to navigate Blender (edit mode vs. object mode, rendering views, toolbox essentials); how to manipulate base models (scale, move, rotate); basic light setups, and more.

14. Digital Media with PBS Studios

This YouTube playlist from PBS Digital Studios introduces the art of logo design, film and TV title design, and animation and motion graphics. The topics of interest are perfect for high-schoolers to learn about how their favorite types of media are created and what design considerations are made along the way.

Join free online graphic design camps

To get started on creating right away, here are a few more free online graphic design classes.

1. How to Create a Portfolio with Images, GIFs, and Video

A digital portfolio is an excellent way to display and remember artwork and coding projects your child has created. Students learn how to create images, GIFs, and video in Canva as they put together their best work into a portfolio.

2. Character Illustration: Drawing Faces, Figures, and Clothing

Get a free Skillshare membership to try out a variety of graphic design classes. In Character Illustration, students learn to draw characters that are dynamic and full of life.

3. Graphic Design Basics: Core Principles for Visual Design

For students who can hold themselves accountable to a schedule, Skillshare classes offer some great on-demand introductory classes such as Graphic Design Basics. Learn to create functional design by seeing examples of the five principles of Graphic Design applied by professionals.

Enjoy online graphic design camps for kids

Learning online is easier than ever, and the resources available are plentiful. There are many places to start creating, whether your student is looking for a live online teacher or curated on-demand resources. Check out some more graphic design activities for kids and learn some important graphic design basics.

Written by Annie Schmitt, a Computer Science Teacher and Teaching Artist from Pennsylvania. She loves using art, technology, and science together to create exploratory hands-on learning experiences for students in grade K-12. As a Teaching Artist, she travels to schools and organizations in her state to teach children stop-motion animation, game design, and visual outdoor art. Annie has taught thousands of students from states all over the U.S. and countries around the world.