by Georgia Sparling
May 2009

Whether you’ll spend a week this summer in Shanghai or a month, great programs and activities abound for all ages. Start your planning here.

Outdoor/Sports
Use the long summer days to introduce your kids to all those sports they didn’t have time to try during the school year. Who knows, you might just have the next trampoline champion!
 
MultiSport Shanghai
Pluck your little couch potatoes off the sofa and plant them on the playing field. Choose from MultiSport Shanghai’s plethora of sport courses (from basketball to trampoline) taught by qualified, professional foreign coaches.
Dates offered: Eight-week program, July to August.
Tuition: 2200 RMB, early bird discount.
5465 5715, admin@multisport.com.cn, www.multisport.com.cn

Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club
Trot on over to Nine Dragons Hill Polo Club for a summer of riding classes and other outdoor activities offered in small groups with a maximum of eight children.
Dates offered: Tuesdays through Saturdays in June and July.
Tuition: 3,600 RMB (member), 4,600 RMB (non-member).
135 0175 0508, christina@ndhpolo.com, www.ndhpolo.com

Language and culture classes
Summertime enrichment classes are a no-stress way for kids to build their Chinese language skills. No exams or report cards involved!

Mandarin House
Well-known language school Mandarin House offers day camp and full (overnight) camp programs for students ages 7–18 as well as summertime family packages.
Dates offered: June 22–August 10.
Tuition: from 6510 RMB.
6137 1987, info@mandarinhouse.cn, www.mandarinhouse.cn

Community Center Shanghai
Ever reliable and a great place for the whole family, the Community Center Shanghai (Pudong and Puxi) offers two classes just for kids this summer. Younger children
(ages 4–11) learn about China through the creative arts while older students learn the ins and outs of Mandarin in intensive, innovative language courses.
Dates offered: June 22–August 14.
Tuition: from 1200 RMB, early bird discount.
3382 1770 (Pudong), 6406 4276 (Puxi), www.communitycenter.cn

Tops Mandarin
At Tops Mandarin, language courses are balanced with fun afternoon activities including Chinese painting, mask making, clay sculpture, cooking and more.
Dates offered: June 1–August 28.
Tuition: from 800 RMB, discount for multiple children. 3382 0087, 3382 0086;
topsmandarinshanghai@gmail.com, www.topsmandarin.com

Music, Dance and Art programs
Take a break from the sidewalk chalk and puppet shows at home with a whole range of summertime performing and visual arts programs in Shanghai.
 
Music Together
Shake, rattle and roll with cool music classes in the hot summer. Music Together, an internationally recognized music curriculum for infants through kindergarteners, offers a six-week summer program that includes two CDs, a new Summer Songbook and Music Together’s research-based parent education materials. Children learn rhythm, scales, pitch and meter in a relaxed, playful community of parents and kids. Courses taught by a Music Together specialist. Ayi participation welcome!

Dates offered: Summer session begins June 23. Weekly classes, Tuesday,10:30am(Hongqiao); Thursday, 10:30am (Downtown).
Tuition: 900 RMB.
www.musictogether.com

Flying Start
Children might design their own chef outfit or create fanciful “goblin knockers” at Flying Start’s range of creative summer art camps.
Dates offered: July 27–August 28.
Tuition: 1000 RMB for five 2.5 hour classes, early bird and multiple child discounts.
6437 0971, info@flyingstart.cn, www.flyingstart.cn

Kids’ Gallery
Sing, dance, and create at Kids’ Gallery workshops and camps that focus on visual, communication and performing arts.
Dates offered: Summer workshops start June 29.
Tuition: 850 RMB/week for workshops, 1,800 RMB for camps.  
6105 9336, infoshanghai@kidsgallery.com, www.kidsgallery.com
 
JZ School
Stimulate your child’s musical side with JZ School summer programs tailored to every age and ability. Among the offerings are musical theater, an ensemble for budding rockers, and jazz camp for high school students.
Dates offered: Course schedules vary, call for info. Tuition: from 1500 RMB, early bird discount.
Mei Yang, 5403 6475, info@jz-school.cn, www.jz-school.cn

A Little Bit of Everything
Fight off summer malaise with these classic camp programs that will have young kids engaged in a broad range of fun, enriching activities.

Kidtown
Ice cream, dinosaurs, restaurants and cooking really do have something in common... They each get their own week at Kidtown’s summer camps!
Dates offered: June 15–August 21.
Tuition: TBD. 6405 5188,
kidtown.sandy@gmail.com, www.kidtown.com.cn

Morgan Rothschild Academy
Spend the whole summer or just a few weeks at Morgan Rothschild Academy’s extravaganza of activities ranging from art, sports, cooking, museum exploration, tae kwon do, and English and Mandarin immersion. Enrolling ages 2–7.
Dates offered: June 29–August 21.

Tuition: 1,450 RMB/week, early bird and multiple-week discounts.

6976 1000, ext. 18, www.morganrothschild.com


Academic Enrichment Programs
Children can explore a new subject, take more classes in subjects they love, or build confidence-boosting academic skills they need in summer classes offered at international schools and academic enrichment programs across the city.
 
New Horizons
Exams? Easier? Impossible. Or is it? At New Horizons Test Preparation American instructors will help kids boost their writing skills and pre-SAT/SAT test scores with small, interactive classes.
Dates offered: June 15–August 13.
Tuition: from 4990 RMB.
Haze Yao, 5228 0110, haze@horizonsprep.com, www.horizonsprep.com

British International School Shanghai (BISS)
Offers EAL Summer School, TOEFL/IELTS and Chinese language and culture classes at its Puxi and Pudong campuses. At its Nanxiang campus, BISS offers a specialized course in LEGO Robotics (kids ages 10–18 will build and program their own robot). Additionally, the Nanxiang campus offers an English language nursery program designed to get youngsters on the right track with UK Early Learning Goals.
Dates offered:  June 29–July 24.
Tuition:  from 5,000 RMB.  
Linda Guishard, 5912 5755, ext. 210, l-guishard@bisschina.com

Shanghai American School
Explore (and learn!) with academics, theatre, dance, orchestra, sports, Chinese culture and more at Shanghai American School’s new and improved Pre-K–Grade 12 summer program.
Dates offered: June 15–July 1, two-week, four-week or multiple sessions.
Tuition: Varies depending on length of course.
6221 1445, summerprogram@saschina.org , www.saschina.org

Technology
If they spend a lot of the summer in front of a computer anyway, then put that time to good use at one of the technology camps around town.

iSummer Tech Camp
America’s top-rated technology camp comes to Shanghai this summer from July 6–31. Held at 60 university campuses in the U.S. including Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, Columbia and UCLA, iSummer Tech Camp offers cutting edge programs specializing in video game design, programming, web design and graphic arts. The camps are led by experienced U.S. instructors and blend innovative, computer-based creative activities with a traditional camp experience in a fun summer environment. The teacher-to-student ratio is 6:1.
Dates offered: June 29–July 31.
Tuition: 750 USD, register by May 8 and save 50 USD.

5566 0137, shanghai@isummertech.com, www.isummertech.com

Children’s Technology Workshop
Find out if you’re raising the next Bill Gates this summer at Children’s Technology Workshop technology camps for ages 3–14. Classes cover everything from 3-D LEGO models to graphic design to robotics programming.
Dates offered: June 15–August 28.
Tuition: 2250–3200 RMB (non-members),
1750–2400 RMB (members).  
6446 6766 (Hongqiao), 5033 3053 (Pudong), info@ctworkshop.com.cn, www.ctworkshop.com.cn


Adults Just Wanna Have Fun, Too
Your children’s slower summer schedule means things relax for everyone. So while your kids are at camp, take the language, cooking or Chinese painting course you keep meaning to. And consider the enrichment classes available for ayis and drivers, too.

Community Center Shanghai
Two of the Community Center Shanghai’s most popular courses – English for Ayis and Drivers and Western Cooking for Ayis – will be available this summer.

English courses: Puxi, June 22–August 10 (Mondays and Wednesdays); Pudong, June 23–August 11 (Tuesdays and Thursdays).
Tuition: 2200 RMB, 2000 RMB early bird special

Western Cooking class: July 6–August 5 (Mondays and Wednesdays, 1–3pm).
Tuition: 2700 RMB, 2500 RMB early bird special.
3382 1770 (Pudong), 6406 4276 (Puxi), www.communitycenter.cn

Expand your culinary horizons this summer with two cooking classes offered at the Community Center Shanghai. Learn what all those green vegetables are and how to cook them at the Healthy Chinese Cooking class. Master other delicious dishes of the east in the Indian Cooking class.

Chinese Cooking: Puxi, Series 1: Tuesdays, June 2 –June 23; Series 2: Tuesdays, July 7–July 28; Series 3: Tuesdays, August 4–August 25; 10am–12pm. Tuition: 1000 RMB/series, 800 RMB early bird special.

Indian Cooking:  Puxi, Series 1: Thursdays, July 2–July 23; Series 2: Thursdays, August 6 –August 27; 10am–12pm.
Tuition: 1000 RMB/series, 800 RMB early bird special.

6406 4276, www.communitycenter.cn

Outdoor/Sports

Active Kidz Shanghai

Language and Culture Classes

YK Pao School

A Little Bit of Everything

Shanghai Community International School

Shanghai Racquet Club

Tiny Tots International Preschool and Kindergarten

Academic Enrichment Programs

Concordia International School Shanghai