KITCHENER -- Families can now register for summer camps in Kitchener and Cambridge, and Waterloo camp registration will open later this month.
The camps will have COVID-19 protocols in place, including capping cohorts, screening and masks.
Here's a look at what's available at local camps.
KITCHENER
- Summer camp registration is now open
- Camps - City of Kitchener
- Camps at community centres and Summer "Teen Zone," along with camps for kids and teens with disabilities
- YOUth Sense Camp
WATERLOO
- April Break camp available from April 12 to 16
- Summer camp registration opens on March 24
CAMBRIDGE
- Registration for summer camps opened on March 1
GUELPH
- Camps will have weekly ratios of 1:6 for campers, with cohorts capped at 12
Summer day camp spots are already filling up at Merry Hill Gold Club in Breslau.
"We're really, really buys, more so than the past three years," Carly Peister with the golf course said.
Last year, golf was one of the few pandemic-safe activities open during lockdown. Children at the camps were able to take part in distanced activities, which will likely be the norm this year, too.
"The kids are used to it now and they do a very good job of policing themselves," Peister said.
Encore Dance Studio in Elmira also has day camp spots still available. Children need to wear masks and stay inside their designated squares while indoors.
"We group them by age," Crystal Galic said. "We have two separate rooms that never interact, they never cross paths." The Ontario Camp Association said health and safety is top of mind at all of its 400 locations across the province. There will be COVID-19 testing and screening for staff and campers for overnight camps.
In the event of another lockdown, the OCA said it's up to camps to determine policies on returning funds.
Local camps say they plan to give parents their money back if they need to shut down this summer.
