OP here. Thanks for the (real) posters. Sonshine people, you scare me, and I'm not inclined to send my kid to a camp that relies on sock puppeting as an advertisement mechanism. I have friends whose kids have had a great experience at Valley Mill and Barrie, but unfortunately this summer we just can't work either set of dates for VM since they only enroll for one 6 week or one 3 week session. My friend's recommendation on Barrie sounds good, but the DCUM archives seem kind of mixed.

Yes, Valley Mill girls camp still does the water show.

I wonder if Camp Sonshine is filled with sock children.

My church, Immanuels, runs Camp Sonshine and I can tell you that the camp experience there is amazing! The counselors are trained year round and many of them come from different parts of the world and lodge in Silver Spring for the summer. They also have several events throughout the year, for instance, they are having a snow tubing trip to PA for 3rd-6th graders on Feb 2 and the cost is only $50.00, there's also another trip for older grades...check out the website
www.campsonshine.org ; maybe after sending your child on the snow tubing event you can get feedback on how it went.

I went to Valley Mill as a child and have very fond memories of it. I am thinking about sending my son there next year. I learned to do a lot of things at a young age that have stuck with me. Especially learning to appreciate the outdoors. I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have a water show, which everyone looked forward to every year! To this day, I still know all the words to the Valley Mill pep song which we sang in the mornings. It really is a great day camp!

I am a mother of 3 (2 boys and a girl) and to say "I have been extremely pleased with Camp Sonshine in Silver Spring" is an understatement. All three of my children, now 15, 13, and 11 have been attending the camp since they were in 2nd grade, and pre-school, respectively, and look forward to attending not only the summer camp but the extra activities that happen all year long, such as snow tubing, skiing as well as the Spring Break camp. In addition, now that they are getting older, the two oldest are looking forward to working for Camp Sonshine. Their experience has been absolutely amazing. Camp Sonshine is well run, a very safe environment, a place where a kid can be a kid, a place where a child feels valued, respected and truly loved. The counselors and staff truly are interested in each camper vs. being there just for a summer job. I do not know how they do it but every year for the past 8 years, for every activity, every event, my children have felt so valued by each of their counselors. Camp Sonshine is a place where everybody knows your name, celebrates you every time you walk on the grounds and is willing and ready to have outrageous, wholesome fun with you. From archery, to go karts, to swimming in pools and exploring ponds, to rock climbing, to building bon fires, to special late stays and overnighters, Camp Sonshine has it all. I wish I had a Camp Sonshine when I was growing up!

My 2 boys have attended Camp Sonshine every year, since they were old enough to. It's always their favorite part of summer and by far their favorite camp!
They always come home filthy and exhausted but soooo happy! The activities are always creative and exciting and the staff never never never lets us down!
There really insn't anything better than dropping your children off in a positive and safe environment. Knowing that they want to be there makes it even better!

Yes, it is time to start making summer plans! My two sons have already been asking me how many weeks can they go to Camp Sonshine in Silver Spring this summer, they tell me the more the better! Now ages 12 and 9, my boys have been going to Camp Sonshine each summer since they were 4. Camp Sonshine has highly trained staff and safety is a top priority. They have really won my trust. And the variety of activities and warm-hearted counselors have won the hearts of my boys.

I'm a mom of 5 and my oldest (21 years) did the whole camps "tour" to include sleep away camps. Kind of like my human guinea pig. Once we "discovered" Camp Sonshine, that's where we stayed with the other 4. My youngest is 10 years old and he started going there when he was 4 years old. He is a science fan, swimmer, and overall curious kid and....gets bored very quickly when he is not kept intrigued. Between zip line, ropes courses, archery, canoeing, swimming, field trips, entertaining and relevent assemblies and most importantly, the relationships with his counselors and other staff, we give Camp Sonshine a major thumbs up! They do open houses throughout the school year. It's worth a visit.

We are up in HoCo and consider it well worth the drive to bring our 3 children to Camp Sonshine. (Though there is a transportation option available!) I give Camp Sonshine a 5 smile rating! My children, currently in 6th and 5th grade, have been attending since pre-school. They want to go back year after year. There is a very comfortable, loving environment fostered at Camp Sonshine. The campers are treated with kindness and respect and, in turn, the campers are expected to interact with each other in same manner. There are so many activities available - everything from go karts, water play, inflatables, crafts, nature walks to day trips to local attractions. For the older kids they offer more advanced activities such as archery, climbing wall, ropes etc. I am what you would consider a nervous parent - safety is a big deal to me - and I have been very pleased with Camp Sonshine's track record. As mentioned in a previous post, Camp Sonshine is located on a church property (I think I heard there is 20 acres!) but the message communicated to the campers is not religion per se. Rather the universal message of treating others like you would want to be treated. Bully or negative type behavior is not tolerated and I understand they hold the counselors to a very high standard (even in their off time). They are awesome role models. I highly recommend Camp Sonshine. I truly believe your children will have a great time and come away with some valuable life lessons.

My son has done Calleva, Barrie and Valley Mill. At that age Valley Mill was far and away the winner. Calleva requires kids to spend all day doing the same thing, and he didn't really like that, he liked the variety of switching activities every few hours. Barrie was hot (little shade on campus) lots of walking from activities, and the counselors weren't the greatest with the kids.

Valley Mill was pretty much perfection.

Haven't done Camp Sonshine, once we found Valley Mill we never left.

Another Camp Sonshine fan. They have both archery and some boating type activities. I believe my kids talk about canoeing. Nothing more to add that hasn't been said, except that if you want the early registration discount, you're near the end of the registration period. Payment is due Feb. 24.

My neighbors use Barrie and love it, but it's quite a bit more expensive than Sonshine.

My kids went to Camp Sonshine last year and had fun too!
I found the list of things that 1st & 2nd graders get to do, in case you want to check it out:

http://www.campsonshine.org/summer-camp-explorer-program.html

I know that when he's a bit bigger there is a Wilderness oriented program at Camp Sonshine.

I've posted before about Camp Sonshine, and we've been very happy with it. They do a LOT of outdoor activities, and swimming a couple times a week. DD has come home every day filthy and exhausted, which I count as a good thing. They did have a nature activity last year, and they did paddle boats, go carts...I can't remember all the activities, but once they get to 2nd grade I think most or all of the activities are outdoors.

Plus, it's just a very well-run camp. There is a small religious component (the Silver Spring location is at a church), but it is very minimal. They have late-stays once every couple weeks where they do a cookout and roast marshmallows. Overall, we've been very happy there, and I think your son would like it.

I'm looking for an good all-around camp option for my 7.5yo second grader - he loves nature and animals and science-ish stuff, so he has loved the Zoo and the Audubon Society and we'll probably send him to both places for at least one week. But he enjoys swimming and he'd probably flip over the chance to try canoeing or archery, so I want to at least explore my options for a more well-rounded camp that includes this sort of stuff. We're in MoCo and I've heard of all the above camps and have had some positive feedback on Valley Mill and Barrie, but really don't know enough to sense if these are all equivalently great or if I should be looking more closely at one or another of these options. I'd love to hear from any parents who've sent their kids to any of these camps - thanks!