Start A Child Camp

If you enjoy children, start a child camp and start making money playing games and having fun! This is one of my best home business idea for Work At Home Moms, Grandparents, and others who love children.

One of my friends and her family run a successful camp business – they work it from home, partner with a couple of different recreation centers, and provide a children's night out program each week for parents. 

The program is a huge success and each camp hosts hundreds of children each weekend with a variety of activities.

This is a fabulous business -- the kids love being there (and they tell their friends!), the parents love taking their children and having a night out doing adult activities (and they tell their friends!), and my friend just adores the children she gets to PLAY all night long . . .

This is a terrific WIN - WIN - WIN business opportunity!   :)

As you start a child camp business, plan to market this as a terrific service for parents since it allows them quality adult time while their children are in a supervised, safe, and fun environment.  

. . . And the children love some time away from their parents where they get together with other young people to play games, do active recreation, and run/jump on inflatable play toys -- truly amazing!   

Depending on your interests, your business can focus on sports, outdoors activities, arts/crafts, nutrition/health education, math/science, etc. 

Or if you’re offering these services year-around, you may wish to incorporate a variety of these types of activities to keep the kids occupied during times when they are more active than others. 

You may also choose to work with children of a certain age bracket or focus on those who have special needs.  Either way . . . the fun never ends when working with children.  

Niche Notes!!

Children love to learn about everything.  Consider the following specific ideas when starting a child camp: 

1) partner with your local rec center for a children’s night on the town.

2) combine your child camp with day care,

3) teach cooking and baking (e.g. cupcakes and cake pops are ideal for small hands!) 

4) share your love of arts, crafts, or music.

5) encourage interest in math/science.

6) pet care or child/dog camp,

7) have an active camp teaching nutrition and health along with a healthy dose of play/exercise.

8) you can either teach photography or utilize your photography skills to capture some terrific shots of the kids for Mom & Dad.

9) share camping and survival skills.

10) encourage good environmental stewardship and provide green education to each child.

This list goes on . . .  have FUN!   

Start A Child Camp -- What's It Take?

Video Business

Day Care Service

Cloth Diaper Service

• Knowledge of child development
• Ability to organize fun event in a controlled environment
• Interest in hosting multiple events efficiently
• Communication skills  
• Discipline skills

Resources:  Your resources will be partly dependent on the type of child camp business you choose to focus on.  At minimum, you’ll need a computer,  phone, and a place large enough to hold the children who will participate in your camp.  After this, you may need large inflatables, games, art/craft supplies, books/videos, etc.  You may also need transportation for either your equipment and/or the children.

Your marketing costs can be relatively low by partnering with recreation centers (or other venues) and the word-of-mouth advertising generated by happy children and their parents.  If you're setting-up a website, you might research getting one of the new ".CAMP" domain names to market your camp.             

Time Required:    Part Time 10-20 hrs/wk; Full-time 30-40+ hrs/week

Training:  You’ll want to have a super understanding of children’s needs – from a play perspective and also a discipline perspective to maintain control of your camp.  You probably have a lot of this knowledge from your own children, grandchildren, or babysitting. Attending a local community college or university to learn marketing or up-to-date child development ideas could prove useful.   

Market:  Moms/Dads, Grandparents, Daycare Centers, Recreation Centers, Fun Centers 

Home Based:       Yes

Internet:              No

Location:             Local

Start-Up Costs:    $500 - $10,000

Minimizing Start-Up Costs:  Consider purchasing good quality used equipment and materials to keep your start-up costs low.  Work with a local recreation center, health club, schools, or fun center to provide a venue for the children to keep your overhead costs low rather than leasing your own space.  

Discuss your business plans with your attorney to make sure you have adequate liability insurance in case of an accident.  Partner with local businesses to provide marketing and/or advertising incentives for the parents and children. Attend local networking events and other family events to let parents know your are going to start a child camp business and what you have to offer.  If health/nutrition based, discuss with health care providers and health clubs to get their support and referrals.         

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