Alameda, CA, USA
Summer days center on hands-on making, open-ended exploration, and themed projects at the Whimsy Play Garden in Alameda. Twirl’s 2026 camp registration connects families to Camp Whimsy, where children work with art materials, simple engineering challenges, sensory experiments, collaborative builds, and imaginative play. The main themed weeks serve ages 4–10, while the specialty Pottery & Mosaic Camp serves ages 5–12. Full-day themed camp runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, with half-day and aftercare options also listed.
Each week uses a different creative focus. Cooking & Carnival Fun combines edible creations with paper mache, clay, mosaics, screen printing, painting, and a closing carnival. Camp Out brings tent making, nature scavenger hunts, constellation maps, trail mix, team building, and possible nature or park walks. Tinker Build adds toy dissection, motorized contraptions, marble runs, group collaboration, and daily design challenges. Paint Splat Active Art uses pulleys, pendulums, bucket spills, and other mechanisms to explore paint through movement, while Slime & Potions combines clue finding, slime making, and a collaborative volcano.
The Play Garden supports this work with science, art, movement, indoor, and outdoor spaces. The venue describes an indoor and outdoor atelier, a science exploration area, pottery wheels, reuse materials, acrylic painting walls, gardens, and tactile learning opportunities.
| Ages: | 4–12 |
| Type: | Day |
| Gender: | Co-Ed |
| Setting: | City |
| Adventure: | Adventure, Nature |
| Technology: | Technology, Robotics, Engineering, STEM |
| Academics: | Academics, Career, Architecture, Culinary |
| Arts: | Arts, Fine Arts, Arts & Crafts, Painting, Pottery, Print Making |
| Time: |
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You won’t be charged yet. The camp will contact you to confirm all terms first.
You can still submit a quick request to let the camp know you’re interested.
The summer program is organized around weeklong themes that give children a clear creative focus while leaving room for experimentation. Main themed camps run from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM for ages 4–10. Families can also choose a half-day format from 9:00 AM to noon, single-day registration, and aftercare from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. A separate Pottery & Mosaic Camp runs from 9:00 AM to noon for ages 5–12.
Projects change with each theme. Children may move between art making, building, sensory exploration, teamwork, and imaginative play. Tinker Build uses found objects, toy dissection, motorized contraptions, scribble machines, marble runs, think-tank sessions, group collaboration, and experiments with objects that fly, float, or crawl. Paint Splat Active Art focuses on movement-based painting, including child-built mechanisms such as pulleys, pendulums, and bucket spills. Slime & Potions combines a mystery, clue gathering, slime experiments, and a collaborative volcano.
Other weeks mix creative work with camp-style or culinary ideas. Camp Out includes tent making, nature scavenger hunts, constellation maps, homemade trail mix, team building, and possible nature or park walks. Cooking & Carnival Fun pairs edible creations with paper mache, clay, mosaics, screen printing, painting, and a final carnival showcase. The specialty pottery program introduces wheel throwing, hand building, bisque painting, texture, pattern, and mosaic art.
Main themed camp runs from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. The official registration page also lists a half-day option from 9:00 AM to noon, single-day registration, and aftercare from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Families choosing the half-day option are asked to note the requested week during registration. Pottery & Mosaic Camp is scheduled from 9:00 AM to noon. Registration is handled through the current Camp Whimsy page linked from Twirl’s 2026 summer camp page.
