Camp Gnarly NYC — Local services in New York

I remember the first time I reached out to Carol and Gabrielle the two founders of Camp Gnarly. I was immediately impressed by their unique offerings. Carol a parent, who relates to the concerns and challenges of finding the right summer camp for your child. Gabrielle an enthusiastic spirit with a zeal for creating memorable experiences. They offered all the things, a full eventful day of play, door to door transportation and weekly swim instruction. Our family signed up for all 6 weeks. Now, I’d be remiss not to mention some of the challenges. Transportation was a bust week one, I spoke with both founders and they miraculously managed to iron out most kinks by week 2. I always felt like my feedback was considered and appreciated. I remain amazed at how open Carol and Gabrielle were to critiques and how quickly they were able to turn things around. Camp Gnarly is what I would call a self directed - child led day camp. They offer electives and special programming that the children get to choose. My children had swim instruction 4 days a week, enjoyed activities like rock climbing, parkour, horse back riding, paddle boarding and fishing to name a few!! It doesn’t end there folks… on Fridays after their outdoor excursion, the children were treated to a bouncy house and summer time favorites like snow cones and cotton candy. My children loved everyday at camp, from making new friends and trying out activities they would have never thought to explore. The camp counselors were great and attentive to my children’s needs. It was also great to see a neighborhood camp employ so many young people who displayed a real passion to offer the best camp experience to the children in their care. My children are already asking about next year. Thank you to everyone who helped make summer 2021 a memorable one. Way to go Camp Gnarly - a true...

We had an amazing experience at Camp Gnarly. We sent our almost 5-year-old son to the Sterling Place location for two weeks and he had a blast. We now wish we had signed him up for more weeks. Regardless, we plan to send him back there next summer. This was our first experience with a summer day camp in NYC and it was fantastic.

They did a great range of activities, including horseback riding, swimming, magic, art projects, trips to the Transit Museum and Brooklyn Zoo and special celebrations at the end of each week. Our son absolutely loved every day he spent there. We also appreciate the mix of outdoor/indoor activities, which is especially welcome on super hot days.

Staff was super friendly and responsive to questions. No problems with stuff getting lost, which was a nice surprise.

I love the idea that kids get to choose their activities, although this was executed a little differently than I was expecting. The choices are referred to as "specialties", which led me to believe that kids who pick those activities spend multiple days doing that activity. In practice, that was not the case for us at least. Our son chose horeseback riding as one of his specialties and he went once over the two-week period. Thankfully, this was not a big deal and he was equally as excited about all the other fun things they did, but I would keep this in mind when picking activities with your kids. I would present these as different activities they could choose from to do at some point during their camp experience. I think all kids did a great range of interesting, engaging things. We are looking forward to...

Great camp ! Cool fun trips and activities, very diverse.. My daughter hated summer camp till she attended camp gnarly she’s already asking if she can go back next year this camp experience has been amazing for her . She has gone rock climbing, snow boarding, camping, zip lining, and so much more all included in your tuition… The staff is awesome no complaints , and communication was a breeze through out the day if you had any concerns about your camper via the konstella app . Love the fact that they have swimming lessons 4 days out the week, trips and camp events every Friday, and a bunch of electives that you chose when registering your camper like nail art, cooking, fashion design, parkour photography, rc racing and so much more….also a schedule is posted at the beginning of each week of every thing your camper will be doing that specific week. I highly recommend this camp to all parents looking for a fun friendly camp for their kids ! Also if you need pick up and drop off services for your camper they have that available too at a reasonable price. Thanks again camp gnarly for an...