These camps are designed for children to experience the love of God through community, creativity, and learning. FUMC Dallas is uniquely situated downtown to provide a one-of a kind day camp program for children who have completed K-6th grade.
We are so happy to officially announce new Urban Camp offerings during the school year! After great feedback from you all and a lot of discussion on our side, we have made the decision to add some Urban Camp sessions during the school year to help out our families.
Here are the dates of the sessions that we are planning on offering:
Because these are new offerings and not a part of our current structure, we are starting out small with the hope of expanding if the interest is present. To start, we are opening spots for 20 campers per session. This is largely in part to maintain our MinistrySafe guidelines in taking care of our campers. If we have enough staff to support a larger number of campers, we will then increase the spots for each session. Keeping this in mind, just because you land on the waitlist doesn’t mean that your chances are over!
For clarity, to attend our holiday camps, campers MUST currently be enrolled in Kindergarten through 6th grade. We cannot take any campers that are younger or older than our parameters.
Registration for these sessions will open up on Friday, September 15, at 12:00PM. Just like with our sessions during the summer, there is also an option to pay for aftercare until 5:30PM for an additional cost.
2024 Summer Camp Info will be available in October 2023. Check back for details!
Through day camps, children will experience the love of God through community, creativity, and learning. Each camp has a different focus, but all camps are rooted in faith development. We believe that God is to be experienced, so these are active camps filled with field trips, hands-on activities and lots of fun along the way.
In the heart of the Arts District, First United Methodist Church of Dallas is uniquely situated downtown to provide a one-of-a-kind day camp program for children who have completed K-6th grade.
We are very excited about the upcoming year and we know that a great team is what makes FUMC Urban Camp so great. If you are energetic, passionate and great with kids, we want you to explore being on our team. We hire a great group of college-aged young adults to lead the summer. With great pay and a collaborative environment, it is our goal that this not just be a job, but an opportunity for your own discernment and transformation. This is an amazing place to serve God, we hope you will consider being a part of this summer!
2024 Camp Info will be available in October 2023 including possible offerings around Thanksgiving 2023, New Year’s and Spring Break 2024.
Check back for details!
Have questions about camp? See the FAQs below.
These camps are designed for children to experience the love of God through community, creativity, and learning. FUMC Dallas is uniquely situated downtown to provide a one-of a kind day camp program for children who have completed K-6th grade.
These camps offer a way to experience God and learn about the world. Each camp has a different focus, but all camps are rooted in faith development. We believe that God is to be experienced, so these are active camps filled with hands-on and experiential activities. Each camp is different in its content and format, but all camps have the following:
Faith component:
Kids learn best about faith and beliefs through experiences. An age-appropriate understanding of God and faith is woven into each of these camps to serve as a foundation for future spiritual growth.
Small groups:
We believe that a community is one of the most important elements of life that a church can provide. We will foster a sense of community at camp through discussions and fun activities. Each camper will be assigned a small group that they will spend the majority of the week with. These “family groups” will be a great way for your kid to be connected with other kids and the awesome high school and college-age students we will have on staff this summer.
Interest groups:
Every day, your child will have the opportunity to choose two activities that interest them. We will reveal interest groups at morning gathering and your child will get to choose which activity they’d like to do. These will include activities like games, sports, dance, fitness, yoga, crafts, art, writing, photography, and Legos. Each day is different!
Free time:
The day begins and ends with some free time for kids to explore different stations like board games, crafts, and video games in a supervised setting.
Each day, campers will need to bring a lunch and a reusable water bottle. Occasionally, campers will need to bring a change of clothes for messy activities. We will always communicate in advance when you need those.
While each week of camp is different and the schedule varies slightly, the morning and afternoons follow the same general format.
8:00 a.m. – Drop-off begins. All campers will be in one room for “morning free time”. There will be a variety of activities for campers to choose from.
9:00 a.m. – Camp programming begins with big group assembly and tribe meetings.
10:30 a.m. – Morning Activity & Small Groups. This will vary by camp, but will include field trips, hands-on experiences, etc.
12:00 p.m. – Lunch
1:00 p.m. – Interest Groups
2:30 p.m. – Afternoon Activities & Small Groups. This will vary by camp, but will include field trips, hands-on experiences, etc.
4:15 p.m. – Pick-Up begins. All campers will be in one room for “afternoon free time”. There will be a variety of activities for campers to choose from.
4:30 p.m. – Extended Care Begins (extra cost each week)
5:30 p.m. – Pick-up deadline.
Check the specific camp week for a more detailed schedule. Please note, there are some exceptions to pick up times on select Fridays when there are parent gathering opportunities. We will communicate these gatherings specific to each camp.
Some field trips we will be walking and some we will be using rental vans or buses. The detailed schedule of the week will indicate when other forms of transportation are being used. Individual’s vehicles will never be used for transporting students. All of our drivers have been background checked, are insured, and are over the age of 25.
Campers will be responsible for bringing their lunch every day. Afternoon snacks are provided by camp.
A detailed map and procedure will be provided in your camp packet after you register. We will use a “carpool” line for drop-off and pick up so parents will not need to park or get out of their car during designated pick-up and drop-off times. Morning drop off times will be from 8:00-9:00 a.m. Pick-up will be from 4:15-4:30 p.m. Extended pick up is available for an extra cost final pick up time 5:30 p.m. If parents are planning to drop-off or pick-up during other times, parents will need to park and enter the building. More details will be provided as time gets closer. The weekly fee is the same regardless of pick-up and drop-off time.
We will be taking photos and videos of campers to capture images of all the fun they are having. We will send out pictures from each session at the conclusion of the session. Also, we might use them for publicity purposes in the future. We will not share your registration information and email with anyone, but photos and video will be used.
Our camp director has an awesome team of high school and college students. There will be at least two adults per group of 10 campers. Our entire staff and volunteers are background checked and trained in MinistrySafe™ procedures and policies. There will be at least two adults per group of 10 campers.
We can accommodate epi-pens, asthma rescue inhalers, and daily medications. Your child’s group leader will be carrying a backpack all day and will ensure that these things are with your child at all times.
The church phone number is 214-220-2727.
Please reach out to us at urbancamp@fumcdallas.org.