Trail Blazers Camps

Reviews (31)

• Review from the 2023 Summer Camp Survey

  13 November 2023

  Location: Prospect Park: Prospect Heights/Crown Heights location How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 4 Review: My four-year-old had such a wonderful experience this summer at Trail Blazers, where she spent seven weeks. My husband and I both attended camps growing up and cherished that time outdoors: soaking up nature and getting dirty, playing silly camp games, walking and running a LOT, and generally being unstructured and carefree. Trail Blazers provided exactly that experience for our kiddo. Her group met at the same tree in Mt. Prospect Park every morning and played games (e.g., red-light-green-light). Then they would all walk, carrying the excellent REI backpacks that Trail Blazers provides for each camper, a decent distance -- often to the Picnic House, for instance. I don't know exactly how they spent all their time, but get the sense that they were often "building bird houses" out of sticks or otherwise doing inventive things with natural objects, singing songs, playing on the playgrounds, doing arts & crafts, etc. On rainy days, they would take shelter in one of the tunnels or in the Picnic House and have dance parties. She came home every day sweaty and filthy and tired and happy. They also did field trips once a week -- to Shirley Chisholm State Park, the Museum of Natural History, a beekeeping garden in Sunset Park, the Botanic Gardens, etc. She loved those too. They went to the splash pad once a week. And the camp fairly regularly brought in surprise activities, like a talking parrot that they kids could touch. Of course it varies by kid, and certainly our daughter has always loved nature (and Prospect Park in particular) which I'm sure helped her acclimate, but we were thrilled at how quickly she took to Trail Blazers and how much she loved the counselors. She keeps asking us to take her back to Mt. Prospect Park so she can visit "my camp tree." We plan to send her back next summer too. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? I wish they had done a weekly field trip to one of the NYC swimming pools. They went to the splash pad once a week, and the kids played in the playground sprinklers, but it would have been really nice if they had had some real water time during such a hot summer.
• Review from the 2023 Summer Camp Survey

  12 November 2023

  Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 4.5 Review: My child loved Trail Blazers. Days are almost entirely outside. The camp counselors were super energetic and engaging. There was a really nice mix of different activities daily, but all centered around being outside and engaging with the world around us. My child, especially loved the field trips (to the urban farm in lower Manhattan for example) and the fact that each week has a theme ( for example survival skills, or the Brooklyn bridge). I saw a big improvement in my child’s self-confidence and critical thinking skills about the world around him. One of the best things about Trail Blazers is that their mission includes providing scholarships and sliding scale tuition, so kids from all economic backgrounds can participate. A rarity in children’s activities in my part (dumbo) of Brooklyn. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? Nothing we loved it.
• Review from the 2023 Summer Camp Survey

  12 November 2023

  Location: Park Slope How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 7 Review: Loved the outdoor time. Learned things about the outdoors. Great staff. Inexpensive for extended day.
• Where are you sending your 7-10 year olds for camp this summer?

  1 May 2023

  Trail Blazers is great! I guess it depends on the counselors you get, but my kid’s gone for the last few summers and I’ve never heard about them watching screens or playing board games — just lots of getting dirty, singing songs, learning about cooperation, etc. It’s pretty unstructured, which I think is great — just lots (and lots!) of being outside. It’s a nice counterbalance to all the programming, imo!
• Experiences with Trailblazers?

  15 January 2023

  My kid did Trailblazers at 7. She was one of the oldest at that age. The physical activity was not too much for her even though she is not very sporty. She enjoyed it but didn’t ask to go back.
• Experiences with Trailblazers?

  15 January 2023

  We had a similar mixed experience particularly with administrator communications. But, my kid also did like it -- she's easy going but she had a ton of fun in the end. I feel like it was more irritating for us as parents but she had a lot of fun.
• Experiences with Trailblazers?

  15 January 2023

  Our twins did it last summer. They are turning 5 in February. They generally love being outside and preschool spent a lot of time outside on account of the pandemic the last 3 years. Maybe we just got unlucky, but I wouldn't recommend it. The main challenge is that it was extremely hot and after an entire day of being outside, they were exhausted. The kids really get into the dirt, so between the long hot days and the long bath that was necessary daily, it was overwhelming for them. Meltdown city. We were in backwoodies, so most of the kids were 4-6. The counselors are a mixed bag. They didn't seem that experienced and some were particularly poor communicators. The site supervisor was impossible to reach, which made it challenging to resolve issues.
• Review from the Fall 2022 After School Survey

  9 January 2023

  Location: PS 9 How old was your child during the Fall 2022 semester? 4 What kind of program is it? play Review: Lots of games directed by staff, some time for free play and some limited time outside on the playground of the school. Did not take kids to local playgrounds as promised, and do not take kids to play in the school garden, despite marketing themselves as an outdoorsy program.
• Review from the 2022 Summer Camp Survey

  23 September 2022

  Location: Brooklyn Bridge Park How old was your child when they attended camp this summer? 4 Review: All outdoor camp with great camp leaders. My son loved the different themes (water, garden etc) and that it was close to nature & had lots of unstructured time. What would you change about the program, if anything, and why? The Remind app didn't always work, but that's not their fault. Would you like to add anything related to COVID and how the camp handled it? It was all outside so COVID was not a big concern.