Discover the Best Palisades Summer Camps for the 2025 Season

Families who live in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles have many summer camp options to choose for their kids.  Being so close to the beach, you can try a ocean-based program complete with surfing lessons and sandcastle building.  

If your child's into academics, STEM, technology, or even more traditionally based programs, these kinds of camps are available, too.  Wherever your child's interests lie, our Pacific Palisades summer camp guide will help you find it!

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Aloha Beach Camp

Aloha Beach Camp is a popular beach day camp program among Pacific Palisades kids every summer.  A wide-range of aquatic sport activities is available for campers ages 4 to 15.  Each weekday during the summer, Aloha kids take day trips to one of L.A.'s best beaches or lakes where they go surfing, boogie boarding, jet skiing, boating and tubing. No prior aquatic experience is required because all the activities are instructional. Free ocean swimming lessons from experienced camp counselors and lifeguards are included as part of the program.  The camp takes place primarily at Zuma Beach, Castaic Lake and other aquatic venues, but you don't need to drive your child to camp yourself. Free transportation is provided for for Palisades kids with a convenient morning and afternoon pick up and drop off point at Palisades High School. Just bring your kids to the bus stop each morning, pick them up in the afternoon, and Aloha Beach Camp will do the rest.

Star Summer Camps

Part of the STAR families of summer camp programs, this one takes place at Marquez Elementary School in the Pacific Palisades.  Palisades families know a thing or two about this camp because it's quite popular among kids of all ages and sells out every summer. As much educational as it is recreational, the STAR Palisades summer program really knows how to produce happy campers!  Older campers take field trips to fun Los Angeles locations including Getty Museum, Medieval Times and the Magic Castle. Younger kids stay on-site to enjoy a more traditional camp experience complete with sports, games, arts & crafts, Minecraft animation, cooking, and hip hop dance activities and instruction.  For local families looking for a quality camp experience right in the heart of the Palisades, STAR Camp is the real deal.

Palisades Recreation Center Summer Camps

Many long-time Palisades famlies who've grown up in the local area spent lots of time at Palisades playing games, tennis, organized team sports or just hanging out with friends. As the local park for Palisades families, you'll be happy to know the Palisades Park offers summer camps for kids, too.  So if you live close by and you're looking for a summer camp right in town, the Paliasdes Recreation Center has an outstanding program for your kids. Activities consist of painting, sports, tie-chi instruction, board games, field trips to Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Studios, plus many other places where kids travel to have fun. Contact the camp for more information about pricing and registration.

Sandy Kids Day Camp

If there's one thing we've noticed about camps in the Palisades, it's the myriad of beach camp opportunities for kids. And why not? If you live near the beach, you might as well take advantage of a beach camp experience.  Sandy Kids Day Camp is located right on beach at Lifeguard Tower 10 at Will Rogers State Beach in the Pacific Palisades. Campers enjoy a wide-ranging beach camp program including with educational activities such as beach ecology and nature walks, to more ocean-specific games like skim boarding, sandcastle building, and smash-ball on the shore. When you register for Sandy Days, be aware of the camp's 3-day minimum enrollment commitment, but if you want to try the program for just one day, they do have a trial option for a $100 fee. Unfortunately there is no available transportation service, so you're required to pick-up and drop-off your child at camp yourself.

Fitness by the Sea Beach Camp

There is a reason Pacific Palisades families have made Fitness by the Sea Beach Camp their camp of choice for 21 years. Here are just a few: 100 % safety record. In fact, Fitness by the Sea has been recognized as one of the safest beach camps in the Los Angeles area for the past 21 years. Convenient, flexible, day-by-day scheduling. Come for 1 day or 60, you decide how many days to attend. There well-trained counselors are silly, goofy, but level-headed too! The average age of the staff is 26 years old. Up to 200 different beach activities, so each day is a completely different experience. At any given time, your child can be playing team sports, participating in camp performances, learning specialized skills, or having fun in the water. And NO PRIOR ocean experience is required, non-swimmers are welcome! Come join all the spirit, encouragement, and positivity that Fitness by the Sea has been known for the past 21 years.

Summer at Village School

A well-known private school located in the heart of downtown Pacific Palisades, fans of Village School will be happy to know the school doesn't shut down when the school year ends. To the contrary, when June rolls around the fun's just getting with Village School's summer programs.  One of the misconceptions many families have is that your child needs to be a Village school student during the school year in order to attend the summer camp, but actually, Village School students and non-students are welcome to attend the program. STEM and STEAM projects, water play, sports and games comprise just a few of the many activities that make this camp so fun. Campers from grades kindergarten through 6th grade can attend the camp.

Academy of Technology, Art and Music

ATAM stands for Academy of Technology, Art and Music.  As you can tell by their name,  the people at ATAM pack tons of fun into their program! Campers enjoy hands-on activities taught and supervised by experienced staff.  Beat boxing, 3d animation, print and modeling, robotics, piano and guitar lessons, and just about anything else you can imagine relating to music, tech and art skills are available activities at this camp.  This is a program you won't want to miss, as campers will be able to apply the skills and information they learn at this camp to future jobs and experiences throughout their adult lives.

Palisades-Malibu YMCA

Here's a program every Palisades family looking for a fun, affordable and quality camp experience for their kids should consider. Games, songs, hiking, sports, games and scavenger hunts would be enough, but the Palisades YMCA's summer camp offers so much more than that.  Each day brings a new set of camp activities and fun camp programming schedules.  The excitement never ends because you child can keep attending the camp day after day and always experience something new.  The Palisades YMCA day camp is also an Accredited Camp Program by the American Camp Association. That means the camp is required to adhere to certain best-practice standards in the summer camp field relating to the health and safety of the kids and staff as maintain the overall quality of the camp program. The Camp director's name is Oscar. He will be happy to answer all your questions about this fun day camp program for Palisades kids. Email him anytime at [email protected] or (310) 454 5591.

Beeplanet

 Though Beeplanet generally appeals mostly to younger children (typically ages 3 to 6 years old),  the level of fun campers take away from participating in the program is huge. This is a wonderful program for 1st time campers to learn, play and grow while spending just a little bit of time away from home. Beeplanet is located at Temescal Canyon Park where boys and girls enjoy dress up games, water play activities, arts and crafts, hiking and exploring, music and signing songs (not to mention storytelling) and lots more.  This is a wonderful camp for little campers to learn teamwork, responsibility and how to respect and relate to one another in a beautiful outdoor summer setting.

Camp Gan Izzy

Camp Gan Izzy is a Jewish summer camp, but you don't have to be Jewish to attend.  In fact campers across all religions are welcome to sign up for and enjoy the program each year.  Gan Izzy kids spend their days swimming, playing games, making new friends, and bonding with their camp counselors. Kids who attend the program come away with a strong sense of community, new friends, and an increased level of self-esteem.  Campers sing songs, tell stories, and enjoy dozens of additional camp activities during their camp sessions. It's what make this this program one of a kind! If you ask a Gan Izzy kid what they like best about camp, they always give the same answer: "It's fun!"