Summer Writing Camp for Grades 2-9

2025 Summer Writing Camp

Break out your imagination, because it’s time for camp! We will help take your student’s ideas and turn them into stories, poems, artwork, and more.

Each camp lasts one week and is held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Ave., Columbus, OH 43215). Please register your student for one week of camp in the grade level they're entering in fall 2025.

Rising 2nd/3rd grade

Buckle up, because we will jump right in! Your afternoons will be filled with illustrating your own little zine, creating story characters, and building a world for them—and lots more!

Tuition: $200 + $25 registration fee

July 28-Aug. 1 (12:30-4:00 pm)

Rising 4th/5TH/6th grade

Banish writers’ block at camp! Your week will be nonstop with mystery solving, poetry creating, mess making with recycled characters, map creation, and ideas galore from all of our writing activities.

Tuition: $355 + $25 registration fee

June 2-6 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) (FULL)
June 9-13 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) (FULL) OR
June 16-20 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) (FULL) OR
June 23-27 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) (FULL)

Rising 7th/8TH/9th grade

We’re throwing everything at you this week! There is fantasy with cryptids, developing drama for your characters, choose-your-own-adventure stories, and plenty of prose and poetry fun.

Tuition: $355 + $25 registration fee

July 7-11 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) OR (FULL)
July 14-18 (9:00 am-4:00 pm)(FULL)
July 21-25 (9:00 am-4:00 pm) (FULL)

To be added to the waitlist for full weeks, please email Meg Brown at megbrown@thurberhouse.org.

CAMP INTERNSHIPS & PROGRAMS FOR TEENS GRADES 10+

Is your student too “old” for camp? Encourage them to apply for a camp internship (application due February 28) or sign them up for Young Writers' Studio (grades 9-12)!

CAMP COUNSELOR POSITIONS

Do you like working with kids to develop their creativity? Looking for a temporary summer gig? Each year, Thurber House hires counselors to lead and mentor groups of campers. Counselors must be 21 or older and complete a successful background check. Learn more and get the 2025 application here.

—All camp sessions are held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215), next door to Thurber House.
—Enrollment is first-come, first-served and each week of camp is limited to forty students.
—Campers will be split into four groups of ten, with one counselor per group.
—The camp schedules for each grade level are the same for each week, so please register for only one week.
—Grade levels refer to the grade that the camper is entering in fall 2025.
—Campers bring their own lunch each day; Thurber House provides an afternoon snack.
—Tuition covers all supplies, a camp t-shirt, and daily snack.
—Our camps fill quickly, so don't wait to register!
Full payment must be received to confirm each registration. We will be confirming receipt of online registrations via email. If you are unable to register online, please contact Meg Brown at megbrown@thurberhouse.org to register.
Camp is held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215).
Free, easy street parking is available all along the Jefferson Avenue oval for up to three hours. Note: only the spots along the one-way oval are free; the spots along the two-way ends of Jefferson Avenue (near Broad Street and Long Street) are not free.
The first floor of Thurber Center is handicap/wheelchair accessible, including the first floor restrooms.
How to reach the wheelchair ramp:
—If you park on Jefferson Avenue: There is a slight curb (some wheelchairs can navigate this). The closest “ramp” cut is the entrance to the large parking lot on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Long Street (here). Follow the sidewalk through the Thurber Center front gate. Take the sidewalk around the porch on the right side of the building. The entrance to the wheelchair ramp will appear on your left, past the porch.
—If you park in the Thurber House rear parking lot: Follow the sidewalk between the handicap parking signs (here). The sidewalk will take you around the north side of our multipurpose building, Thurber Center. The ramp will appear on your right and leads up to the front porch.
— Scholarship application deadline is CLOSED for 2025.
—Students who need financial assistance may enter a lottery for one of a limited number of scholarships.
—We are only able to offer one scholarship per family at this time.
—To apply, fill out the regular registration form and fill out the applicable scholarship fields.
—We will notify all scholarship applicants of their status in early May.
—For questions about the scholarship or how to apply, please email megbrown@thurberhouse.org.
—Scholarship spaces are reserved in the requested week along with all other registrations.
If we are unable to provide you with a scholarship, we will work with you on a plan or try to help you as much as we can.
Masks are optional. Extra masks, hand sanitizer, and air purifiers will be in the classrooms. For everyone’s health and safety, if Thurber House feels it is unsafe to meet in person, we will move classes online to Zoom.
The registration cost includes a non-refundable administration fee of $25. If a camp session is full or is canceled by Thurber House, a full refund minus the administration fee will be given. Tuition is 70% refundable for cancelations received no later than two weeks before the scheduled start date for your chosen week of camp. There are no refunds of any kind within two weeks of your chosen week of camp.
Contact Meg Brown at megbrown@thurberhouse.org. To receive email updates about children's education programs, please use the sign up form at the very bottom of this page.
Disclaimer: Views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by teachers and counselors in all mediums are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Thurber House, its affiliates, or its staff/board.

Last year at 2024 Summer Writing Camp…

We kicked off our 2024 “space odyssey” with the 4th-6th graders. They flew right in with cartooning and creating short comics, developing their own characters and putting them in alternate universes or putting them in new genres, and making aliens, cryptid stories, poems, and so much more. Our author visit was “crashed” when the campers had to solve The Hot Sauce Swindle! Whew. The correct culprit was caught and received a swift cream puff to the face.

In July, we welcomed the 7th-9th graders to our planet/camp. They worked on zines full of short form poems, learned about suspense writing, went “mudlarking” and developed their persuasive storytelling skills to “sell” their items. We took them to the Columbus Museum of Art to inspire them and to play in the Wonder Room. You’re never too old for the Wonder Room!

We wrapped up our galactic visit with the 2nd and 3rd graders! While it was only a half-day camp, it was full to the brim. They made really fun story scrolls, were visited by a picture book author, and created their own alien stories. We walked them over to the Columbus Museum of Art to have fun with their art activities in the children’s area, as well as—of course—the Wonder Room. This group always has the funniest jokes and reactions to our Town Crier visits at the end of the day!