My friend pulled her kid from the camp at Petworth Rec because they basically let her get heat stroke. Despite having an indoor rec room, a spray park and a small playground, the facility has issues - have you ever seen the bathroom? Ew.
There is one at Turtle Park (Friendship Heights) that is hard to get into but in my opinion it is not well supervised. Some of the kids were throwing sand and riding down the hill - not the small hill in the playground but the far back hill out by the ball field on old ride-on toys - unsupervised. When an adult finally noticed them, they just stood there and yelled instead of walking out to collect the kids.
I am not dissing all camps and we blew out budget (for us anyway) for private school camps last year. But it does seem like you get what you pay for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Explorers program at Watkins was just okay. I agree with PP who mentioned the apathetic teen hires. They didn't bother to learn the kids' names and they did not engage or distract the kids who were crying at drop-off. I picked up early twice it was social hour for the teens and their smartphones. The kids colored worksheets a lot. I would not recommend the Watkins program unless you are desperate.

Was this last year?

Yes. We signed up for two sessions, but ended up going only one week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

My little one went to Turkey Thicket and it was terrible. They spent hours in front of the TV and would not go to the pool which is right there because the team was "understaff" I felt so bad leaving him there. Maybe it will be better this year but for my son, never again.

My son was at Turkey Thicket last year too and I wasn't aware of any TV watching. He's very reliable/accurate about relying what happened during his day so I'm pretty sure there wasn't excessive TV watching going on. I don't think there's a ton of structure but he enjoyed it.

I'm the OP of the "Turkey Thicket filled up fast" thread, and I'm really glad to hear this. I read the post from the other PP who had a bad experience, and I stopped by TT twice to ask if anyone who would be there this summer was there. One woman spoke to me both times, and she swore that t.v. wasn't a common occurrence and that the kids go swimming in the kiddie pool twice/week, every week. Combining that with reading your post that t.v. wasn't such a big factor and your child enjoyed it, that makes me feel a lot better. And now they have this great new playground, so... hoping this summer will be good for the TT kids!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

My little one went to Turkey Thicket and it was terrible. They spent hours in front of the TV and would not go to the pool which is right there because the team was "understaff" I felt so bad leaving him there. Maybe it will be better this year but for my son, never again.

My son was at Turkey Thicket last year too and I wasn't aware of any TV watching. He's very reliable/accurate about relying what happened during his day so I'm pretty sure there wasn't excessive TV watching going on. I don't think there's a ton of structure but he enjoyed it.

I am the pp. I am glad to hear your son had a better experience than mine. Mine went to the last session (the so called session 5 which they don't seem to have this year) and maybe the staff was different. My son did not enjoy this camp but he had a good time at other dpr camps.

Interesting... the session 5 that we went to last summer (at a different location than where DC attended the other 4 sessions) the 5th session location was off the chain completely. The staff to child ratio was so ridiculously off balance, unfortunately we didn't even bring our child back for the rest of the week. We reported it to DPR. I wonder if there is something about staffing the 5th week that just didn't work out, and that's why they're not offering it? Or maybe the DC public school year this year just doesn't require it? Although the official 1st day of school hasn't been announced yet I don't think, so who knows...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

My little one went to Turkey Thicket and it was terrible. They spent hours in front of the TV and would not go to the pool which is right there because the team was "understaff" I felt so bad leaving him there. Maybe it will be better this year but for my son, never again.

My son was at Turkey Thicket last year too and I wasn't aware of any TV watching. He's very reliable/accurate about relying what happened during his day so I'm pretty sure there wasn't excessive TV watching going on. I don't think there's a ton of structure but he enjoyed it.

I am the pp. I am glad to hear your son had a better experience than mine. Mine went to the last session (the so called session 5 which they don't seem to have this year) and maybe the staff was different. My son did not enjoy this camp but he had a good time at other dpr camps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

My little one went to Turkey Thicket and it was terrible. They spent hours in front of the TV and would not go to the pool which is right there because the team was "understaff" I felt so bad leaving him there. Maybe it will be better this year but for my son, never again.

My son was at Turkey Thicket last year too and I wasn't aware of any TV watching. He's very reliable/accurate about relying what happened during his day so I'm pretty sure there wasn't excessive TV watching going on. I don't think there's a ton of structure but he enjoyed it.

Anonymous wrote:The Explorers program at Watkins was just okay. I agree with PP who mentioned the apathetic teen hires. They didn't bother to learn the kids' names and they did not engage or distract the kids who were crying at drop-off. I picked up early twice it was social hour for the teens and their smartphones. The kids colored worksheets a lot. I would not recommend the Watkins program unless you are desperate.

Was this last year?

Any other feedback on Watkins versus Trinidad?

We did Chevy Chase Rec center last year and you get what you pay for. Is it as intensive as the $1400/month daycare our kid started in? No. Bu the teenagers working there seemed to actually enjoy playing with the kids and were especially good tryign to help our shy daughter adjust to being there. They do two field trips per two week session, usually one of which is to the Wilson pool. For the price, I think it is a pretty good deal. They did occasionally have TV tie, but not as much as one might expect. I wish they did use the library more often since it is located right across the courtyard.

Anonymous wrote:I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

My little one went to Turkey Thicket and it was terrible. They spent hours in front of the TV and would not go to the pool which is right there because the team was "understaff" I felt so bad leaving him there. Maybe it will be better this year but for my son, never again.

The Explorers program at Watkins was just okay. I agree with PP who mentioned the apathetic teen hires. They didn't bother to learn the kids' names and they did not engage or distract the kids who were crying at drop-off. I picked up early twice it was social hour for the teens and their smartphones. The kids colored worksheets a lot. I would not recommend the Watkins program unless you are desperate.

I had one good experience with Ms. Adrian when she was in Georgetown, when she had a dedicated second teacher with her. We loved it. Rose Park I think? The next year she was at another site in Georgetown near the ball fields; where they have the farmer's market? Anyway she was assigned 4 teenagers from the Mayor's work program instead of a dedicated second teacher and I had to pull my kid after a day and a half. I checked on him a few times and the teenagers were all sitting together and chatting, NONE of them watching the kids. I watched my son try to ask for help over something and get ignored. They didn't notice when another little kid wandered off. It just wasn't worth the risk; I pulled him and got a refund. This was around 5 years ago, possibly 4. Hope that helps. Love Ms. Adrian still, btw. It wasn't her fault she got assigned a bunch of teenagers to "help"!!

I've been searching this forum for "DPR + [insert camp here]" and can't find a whole lot to go on. From what I can glean, there are mostly positive reviews of the camps in upper NW, and less positive or nothing said about camps south and east. I have a sense that the Takoma camp is good because I saw something about it being hard to get into.

I would look for whether or not the camp has indoor facilities. It seems having an actual recreation center makes a difference, especially on hot days.

I am also interested in any experiences with DPR's Little Explorers Camps (3-5y.o.) - specifically turkey thicket & takoma.

Curious of experiences with DPR summer camps, specifically at Watkins. Thanks!