Summer Writing Camp for Grades 2-9

It’s time for Thurber Summer Writing Camp! Authors, artists, storytellers, and teachers will lead the campers through activities tackling everything from puns and prose to pictures and poetry. If you have a creative person at home, this is the camp for them. They will use their imagination and grow their writing and artistic skills while making friends and having fun!

Check out a brief description of some of the fun, creative, sometimes crazy, and imaginative activities we have this summer:

Deadline Friday, May 3rd!

  • 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.

  • —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, check the applicable boxes, and include the $25 registration fee.

    —We will notify all scholarship applicants of their status the week of May 3rd.

    —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.

  • 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 cancellations 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.

  • —All camp sessions are held at Thurber Center, 91 Jefferson Avenue, next door to Thurber House. 

    —Enrollment is first-come, first-served and each week of camp is limited to 40 students.

    —Campers will be split into four groups of ten, with one counselor per group.

    —The camp schedules are the same so please register for only one week.

    —Grade levels refer to the grade that the camper is entering in Fall 2024.

    —Campers bring their own lunch each day; Thurber House provides an afternoon snack.

    —Any supplies, field trip costs, and a camp T-shirt are included in tuition cost.

    —Our camps fill quickly, so don't wait to register!

    —Deadline for registration is Friday, May 3. 

    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 Katie Warner at kwarner@thurberhouse.org to register. Deadline to register is Friday, May 3rd, 2024.

  • 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.

  • This event will be held at Thurber Center (91 Jefferson Avenue, Columbus, OH 43215).

    Parking on Jefferson Avenue: Free, easy street parking is available all along the Jefferson Avenue oval. 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.

  • 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.


Summer Writing Camp 2024 Offerings

FOR RISING 2 & 3 GRADERS:

July 29-Aug. 2
12:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $200*

Buckle up, because you won't have a dull moment this week! Our teachers will have you making your own story scroll, imagining your own Yes Day adventures, and lots more while having fun along the way. 

*limited number of scholarships are available, see below for more information

Deadline Friday, May 3rd!

 
 

FOR RISING 4, 5, & 6 GRADERS:

June 10-14, June 17-21, OR June 24-28
(June 3-7 SOLD OUT)
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $300*

You will be creating nonstop all week, including trying your hand at cartooning with local artist Victor Dandridge, taking a poetry walk, solving mysteries, creating cryptids, and many more fun surprises.

*limited number of scholarships are available, see below for more information

Deadline Friday, May 3rd!

 
 

FOR RISING 7, 8, & 9 GRADERS:

July 8-12, July 15-19, OR July 22-26

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Cost: $300*

Fight off writer’s block as you jump into creative writing featuring cartooning, poetry, art, script writing, and more. You will leave camp with a journal full of stories and maybe writer’s cramp.

*limited number of scholarships are available, see below for more information

Deadline Friday, May 3rd!

 
 

2024 Teacher Bios:

  • Victor Dandridge is an award-nominated comic book creator from Columbus, OH. Wanting not only to entertain, but to encourage the next generation of comic book fans and creators, he launched U Cre-8 Comics—a bridge between comics and classroom fundamentals. Through U Cre-8 Comics, Dandridge tours across the country empowering, exciting and educating students on the merits of comic books.

  • Andra Gillum (she/her) is the author of five children's books in the Doggy Drama series. She loves to teach creative writing to kids throughout Columbus!

  • Lyn Ford (she/her) has provided writing workshops and storytelling for Thurber House for almost 30 years. A fourth-generation, award-winning storyteller, author and poet. She has been noted as one of the top twenty ghost story tellers in the country. Lyn is the co-author of a collection of not-so-scary stories called Boo-Tickle Tales and the author of a more mature and creepier creative-writing collection called Hot Wind, Boiling Rain.

  • Valerie Cumming (she/her) is a fiction writer who teaches writing at Capital University, Columbus State Community College, and Central Ohio Technical College. She's been involved with Thurber House Summer Writing Camp for 23 years, and lives in Columbus with her husband, four daughters, and four cats.

  • Jim Flanagan (he/him) is a retired middle school principal, author, and storyteller. He has been sharing his talents with our campers for decades and has several of his own spooky stories published including The School of Scary Stories, The Civil War with a Twist, and Stories Heard Around the Lunchroom.

  • Stacy Fabbre (she/her) is a writer and the illustrator of several picture books including the Beverly Hills Books award winner, The Fate of the Frog.

  • Ty Williams (he/them) is a zinemaker, poet, essayist, working musician, and educator. He has self-published three chapbooks and several zines. Ty leads writing and zinemaking workshops, and records music with his band, Manawydan.

  • Cindy Thomson (she/her) has written a dozen fiction and nonfiction books along with short stories for children. Known for the inspirational Celtic theme employed in most of her books, Cindy Thomson is a frequent Thurber House teacher, genealogy enthusiast, and traveler. She writes from her home in central Ohio where she lives with her husband Tom near their three grown sons and their families.

  • Kelsie O’Hanlon (she/her) is an English teacher at Grove City High School. She has been working at Thurber House for a decade and truly enjoys watching young minds grow and learn creatively. Kelsie holds a M.Ed. in English Education from The Ohio State University and a M.A. in English from Ohio Dominican University.

  • Cat Segreto (she/her) intermittently haunts the halls of Thurber House, and she's thrilled to return this summer. She's grown from a mildly sus camper, to a goated intern, to a very cottagecore counselor and now an outrageously cheugy teacher. Please, someone teach her Gen-Z slang. You can find her reading Leigh Bardugo or drinking questionable coffee (did you know strawberry-flavored coffee exists? it should not).

  • Katherine Matthews is a freelance writer and editor. She is the former managing editor at Page Spring Publishing and former editor of Flip the Page, Thurber House’s teen literary journal. Katherine teaches regularly at Thurber House and is the coordinator for the Word is Art Stage for the Columbus Arts Fest.

  • Fredrich Yeager has gone through every stage of Thurber Summer Writing Camp from camper to intern to counselor to now teacher for the past few summers When he's not at Thurber House, he is a preschool teacher and creating elaborate mysteries to solve.

 

See what we did last year!!

Rising 2nd/3rd Graders

2023
Rising 2nd/3rd Graders

August 7-11 Photos

Click the link above for camp photos!


Rising 4th/5th/6th Graders

2023
Rising 4th/5th/6th Graders

July 10–14 Photos
July 17-21 Photos
July 24–28 Photos
July 31-August 4 Photos

Click any week above to see camp photos for the selected week of camp!


Rising 7th/8th/9th Graders

2023
Rising 7th/8th/9th Graders

June 5–9 Photos
June 12–16 Photos
June 19–23 Photos
June 26–30 Photos

Click any week above to see camp photos for the selected week of camp!


Support a Thurber House Summer Camper. Click the heart to make an online donation today to help fund a scholarship, much needed materials, and snacks. With your support nothing is imPOPSICLE!

Questions?

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 event and program speakers in all mediums are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Thurber House, its affiliates, or its staff/board.


Thank you to our major arts supporters: