by Arti Buxi
Whether you’re a working or a stay-at-home parent, most of us living in here don’t have close family to help with childcare, especially during school holidays. Fortunately, the good entrepreneurial people of Lausanne now offer an amazing variety of camps. Vacations can truly be what they are supposed to be about – a fun, stress free time for both children and parents.
Here are some of our favorite school holiday camps that have been personally tested and approved.
Kids-Trip
“One of the most fun camps ever” described by my son. We’ve used the Kids-Trip group a few times, and it’s always been super fun. They usually have seasonal weekly themes and go to different parts of Switzerland in their buses. All the monitors are friendly and speak both English and French. Communication is great, they create a WhatsApp group and share photos of the children doing things through the day. A word of advice: depending on how tall your child is, do give a car seat. The kids are in the bus for a couple of hours back and forth daily, and I find it’s much more comfortable. You can give the car seat on day 1 and take it back on the last day.
Golf-Tennis
This is the one I wish I could go to – what an awesome combination. The Pra Roman golf club and the Green Club do a collaboration a few times a year to offer a unique stages vacances. The kids learn tennis in indoor courts in the mornings, have lunch in the club restaurant and are then driven to the golf course for the afternoon. You do have to drive your kids in the morning to the tennis club and pick them back from the golf club in the evenings, but it’s quite worth it.
Champittet Holiday Camps
Champittet holiday camps are open to external students, which is great as they offer a very eclectic offering across most school holidays. Since the school has a large campus, all the activities take place on campus, making it easier to drop off and pick up. We love the multi-sports camp. Kids come back home exhausted in the best possible way. We’ve also tried the Science camp, that my son enjoyed thoroughly. There are also coding camps for slightly older kids in collaboration with EPFL & ETH Zurich. Interestingly, girls are offered a 50% discount at the coding camps in an effort to encourage gender equality in science.
Kids Up
One of the most sought-after circus/gymnastics courses in Lausanne, Kids Up also offers holiday camps. They offer half day camps for younger kids, and full day options for older kids (starting 3P). It’s such a great way to get kids moving, build their balance and strength. For kids in 7P onwards, they offer “Cirk Up”– where they learn acrobatics, trampoline gymnastics, juggling and more. Usually at the end of the week, the kids put a ‘spectacle’ and it’s amazing to see what they can do with just 5 days of training.
Pully Sailing Club
Spending the summer lazing around on a sailboat on Lac Leman: sounds idyllic. So, what if you don’t know how to sail? Your kids can learn, and do all the grunt work, right?
Enter Club Nautique de Pully. A bunch of folks passionate about sailing and teaching sailing.The kids actually get to go into the lake in tiny little sailboats. It’s a combination of theory classes in the park, and then practical application as they go into the lake on boats (with life jackets of course). The club also offers half day courses, should you want that. The sailing camps take place in spring, summer, and autumn break – though I feel, if you are doing it for the first time, especially with little kids, start in summer.
Friendly Trainers
Outdoor, half day swimming camps at Pully Plage, one of the best open pools around town. Registrations fill up in a couple of hours after they open. Lada and Steven are amazing with kids of all ages. They have a big team of young girls and boys who help and guide the kids during the day. They do warm ups, dance, play around, have 2 sets of swimming sessions, get a snack and lots of sunshine. For obvious reasons, available only during the summer holidays. Get on their list, so you can register soon as you get the “inscription open” email!
Future Kids
Hidden away in Grancy, Future kids offers robotics, programming, video game creation camps for kids of all ages. My son’s been there a few times, and he’s loved all their camps, with a big preference for the Minecraft coding camp. All camps are half days–mornings or afternoons. You can do both mornings and afternoons but must send the kids with a packed lunch. They offer special discounts for girls (50%), and for families with low incomes.
Bonus Camps
A few others we haven’t tried, but are keen to:
Dance at LBSchool – They teach hip hop, breakdance, DJ-ing, graffiti.
My Magic Moment – these are mindfulness, emotional resilience workshops.
Theatre at TJP – Everyone should do a theatre training, at least once in life. It can bring such confidence, open doors to creativity like nothing else.
Ecole de Cirque Lausanne – Near Malley set in an industrial building with all the equipment – kids learn a bit about balance, climbing, tumbling and juggling, and put on a spectacle for parents at the end of the week.
More Holiday Camp ideas:
Sports
- Montchoisi Tennis Club
- Lausanne Natation
- Education | Bee Creative
- La Ruche Sportive
- Football Intersoccer
- Horse Riding
- Sailing Morges
- Dance Evasion
- Lyon Active | Sports Development and Outdoor Adventure | Lyon Active
- Tennis Club Morges
- Archery
Educative/Art/Variety
- Vacances | Ateliers Bulles d’air | Lausanne
- Learning English – Camps – Key English School
- Lausanne Art School
- Atelier Ardesia
- Bricks4kidz
- La Trace: Currently not a holiday camp, but this art studio offers art ateliers based on the pedagogical research from Arno Stein, every Wednesday and Saturday for both kids and adults. It’s 20 chf per session.
- L’Ecoline will be hosting camps to reconnect with nature with their bilingual staff
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If you do stick around in Lausanne
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feel like you’re on holidays.
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