# Kids summer camp/summer pre-school



## busymama

Hi, any advice is appreciated!
I have a 4.5 year old boy (US born) who goes to a German-American pre-school in the US. His German is not that great and he definitely needs a boost. My husband and I were thinking about enrolling him in a summer camp (if there is such a thing) or a German pre-school in July'14. So I would appreciate if you could tell me where to begin my research. 
1. Does the boy need any special type visa to go to a German pre-school/camp for 30 days? 
2. How difficult is it to find a rental for a month? I will need a studio, or one-bedroom.
3. What is the most kids- and weather-friendly city in Germany in your opinion? (We live in N.California) 
4. How much do expats pay for private pre-schools/summer camps?

Thanks!


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## Bevdeforges

Not sure what is available in terms of summer camp or other activities, but for location you might want to look into the Black Forest area around Freiburg. Allegedly the nicest weather in all of Germany. (Can't complain about the weather while I was living there - very mild and lots of outdoor cafés.) Also, in the middle of the Black Forest, there are plenty of Ferienwohnungen available for short term rent.
Cheers,
Bev


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## beppi

There are many kids' activities and camps during the summer vacations. Most are locally organised and difficult to find from abroad. Searching the Internet (in German!) might help, or contacting the youth authorities (Jugendamt) of the places you want to go to.

Short-term apartments are available in many places in Germany and cost somewhere between regular (long-term) rent and a hotel - budget EUR30-100/night (depending on size, location, facilities) and use Google (preferably in German) to find them.

We have a 4.5-years old daughter (who speaks German, English, Chinese) and visits a pre-school in Stuttgart.


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## Nononymous

1 Nothing needed. US citizens can stay up to 90 days in Germany with no more than a valid passport. Student visa not required for day care.

2. Easy. Try the usual suspects: AirBnb, Craigslist, Kijiji, local classifieds. Price and availability will vary by location. Beware of agency sites that will charge you a big commission! In the summer lots of people will look to rent their places while away on holiday. Pro - can be relatively cheap. Con - you're living in someone else's crap.

3. Weather won't vary that much within Germany. Summers are either wet and disappointing or hot and sticky. Broadly speaking just about anywhere is kid-friendly. Personally I would pick a location based on what the parents wanted to do - for the child it's völlig scheiß egal.

4. Do you mean overnight camp, day camp, or day care?

German overnight camps are awesome, plentiful, cheap, and start at an early age. We sent our daughter to camp for two weeks at a stretch when she was seven, eight and ten. (She had some limited German already.) She loved it and it really helped her speaking. It cost us about 350 euro for the fortnight. Compared to Canadian prices, the difference practically paid for her flight. 

Day camps are relatively rare. We were able to find a few things in Berlin, but they would have been a long commute. Instead we put her in half-day art classes at a community program, over the course of several summers. You can find all this with extensive German-language googling. Note that many day camps and programs will close down for part of the summer holidays, on the assumption that most families take a vacation together. When looking at locations, you need to be aware of the Sommerferien dates for each Bundesland, and check carefully.

Given your son's age, 4.5 years, I would just try to put him into day care (aka pre-school) for a month. You can get lists of day cares from the Jugendamt or Google. Then you'll need to make lots and lots of phone calls or send lots and lots of e-mails. Note that the registration process, and cost assessment, is fairly Byzantine and usually requires that you be a legal, official resident, as opposed to a visiting tourist. What will likely happen is that you will explain your situation and a day care would agree to take your child, off the books, in exchange for a cash payment that would go towards equipment purchase or something like that. We did this twice when our daughter was younger, for six weeks at age three, and three months age four going on five, full days from nine to four. It was an excellent, though exhausting and intense, immersion experience for her. (A month might be a bit short - our daughter needed three weeks to begin speaking, though she had only passive exposure to German before, from DVDs.) I believe we paid something like 400 euro/month the second time, in Berlin, though almost ten years ago. Note, again, that most day cares will close for part of the school holidays, so ask about that and plan accordingly.

It's actually a good general rule when taking kids to Germany for purposes of language exposure to pay close attention to the Schulferien dates. There's nothing worse than showing up in August to find empty playgrounds and shuttered programs because all the children are away at beaches, lakes and farms. We made that mistake once - she watched a lot of TV.


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## beppi

We live in Stuttgart and have a similarly aged daughter and thus keep an eye on applicable activities in the region. If you (the OP) would consider Stuttgart, you are welcome to contact me by PM and I can help you arranging something.


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