A Dubai Parent’s Guide to Choosing a Winter Camp for Kids

Are you a Dubai parent wondering how to make the best use of your child’s winter break from school? Then an educational winter camp here in Dubai may hold the answer. 

What is a winter camp?

You may have heard of summer camps — fun, educational places that can take care of your kids during the summer break — but winter camps are less well known. All that’s changing, however. More and more parents are looking for purposeful, rewarding activities to keep their kids busy during the three- or four-week winter break we have here in Dubai. This is where winter camps can help.

Winter camps offer heaps of fun and lots of learning in a safe, friendly environment. They are a chance for your kid to make new friends, build on what they’ve learned at school last term, and find new interests. 

What are the benefits of a winter camp?

There are many benefits that come from attending winter camp.

New friendships 

At winter camp, your child will meet other kids from all over the city and a huge range of schools. They’ll be doing lots of hands-on, collaborative activities that require a team effort. 

Therefore, the week (or however long you choose to enroll your child for) offers a brilliant opportunity to build solid friendships with other like-minded children. 

Is your child a social butterfly? Do they love meeting others or are they more reserved? Do they take a little longer to make friends? Either way, your child will love camp for the other kids they meet. There will be ample time and opportunity for wonderful friendships to evolve. 

Specialist teaching and equipment

At Premier Genie, staff are recruited for their excellent track record at teaching their specialist subject. We also invest in the latest technology and regularly update our equipment to ensure everything is of the highest standard, including all our programming, robotics and mechatronics resources. 

This means parents can be assured that their children have access to highly qualified, experienced teachers and the best possible resources available at the time. Kids can make the most of every minute at camp. 

Amazing experiences

Winter camp isn’t usually about replicating or repeating the school curriculum. It’s about going that extra mile and really wowing children. 

For instance, Premier Genie offers some incredible learning experiences that your child will have limited to no experience of in school. Creative writing, 3D printing, and learning to use Arduino microcontrollers are really popular with kids on our STEM camps. 

With specialist teaching staff introducing a whole new subject to your child, and a whole week of exploring it fully, it’s inevitable that they’ll come home with new interests sparked. 

Extended learning

Could your child use:

 - A little extra help with their school work? 

 - Some extra tuition to stretch their abilities further?

 - Some help to prepare for a key exam? 

Winter camp offers all these, too. 

It’s possible to find advanced classes, exam prep classes and other opportunities in our Academics Program. Being taught from a fresh perspective is often the solution when a child is finding a certain subject area difficult. Specialist teachers can also bring exciting challenges to keen minds. Don’t fear, however; winter camp tutors know that these are the school holidays, so they design learning activities to be super fun as well as educational.

Fun!

This is always a priority at winter camp because it’s what school holidays should be about, after all.

What courses should my child take?

If your child will be taking an exam in the spring or summer, then a boost from an academic program at winter camp could come at the exact right time to improve their performance — not too early and not too late. 

Here are some examples of exams that may require a little extra tuition:

- Mathematics and English Olympiad

- SAT, SAT2, SCAT, Dubai College, CAT and competitive test preparation

- IB/GCSE/IGCSE/ICSE Math, English, Science 

All these are often taught at winter camps, including those at Premier Genie.

Alternatively, perhaps your child is a budding writer. They could hone their skills at a creative writing course and meet other creative kids at the same time.

STEM courses are frequently the most popular camp courses amongst children and parents. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. Not only is STEM exciting, but it’s vital for today’s kids.

Why invest in STEM learning? 

Our kids are the next generation of scientists, engineers and doctors. There are some incredible careers in STEM, including many we can only dream of right now. Studying STEM now can help steer their interests towards these exciting opportunities.

STEM winter camp courses can help build multi-disciplinary skills, too. Whatever their chosen career, your child will need problem-solving skills, logic, discipline and a strong mindset for teamwork.  

As examples of the incredible opportunities kids can get on winter camp, here are examples of the STEM courses we offer at Premier Genie. 

1. Robotics 

A week of robotics is guaranteed to wow your child. In this course, kids have the chance to design, build, and program their own robot. This is usually a team project.  

Robotics is fascinating but it is also closely linked with other STEM subjects. They can return to school with a boost to their knowledge of mechanical engineering, electronics, software programming. 

2. Coding 

Kids love time on their tablets and phones. This winter break, how about they build the games rather than play them? Coding at winter camp involves app building and teaching computers to perform functions. 

Coding activities benefit your child across all subject areas and are especially good for working on problem-solving skills. To produce working code, kids must troubleshoot and learn to use trial and error to “debug” their apps. 

3. 3D Printing 

3D printing is having a huge impact across a range of industries, including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and electronics. Skills in this area will continue to be in demand as our children reach adulthood. 

At winter camp, kids are taught how to create models using specially designed 3D printing software. They produce prototypes and troubleshoot problems before producing their own work to take home. This course is popular with lots of kids because it’s creative and it covers a range of STEM skills. 

Top tips for choosing a winter break camp

Choosing the right camp for your kid can feel a little daunting. You want them to have fun during their holidays, but also get maximum educational benefit from camp. Here are our tips for making sure you get a perfect balance.

- The ideal winter camp will hold plenty of appeal for your child but also demonstrate a strong educational content in an area appropriate for them.

- Consider your child’s feelings. Which camps appeal to them? Perhaps they’ll try to insist on an activity they already do plenty of. If this happens, encourage them to broaden their horizons and try something new, without being forceful. 

- Your child should begin camp with a positive, receptive frame of mind — they’ll get so much more out of it. Whichever camp you go for, it needs to be a happy choice for them. 

Find the right camp and your child will get the perfect balance of fun, friendships and learning. They’ll be ready to head back to school in January, more confident than ever. Get in touch with our team at Premier Genie for more information on our seasonal academic camps.