Weekend Art Camp in Richmond Hill: Saturday and Sunday Art for Kids

What is a weekend art camp?

A weekend art camp is a full day of supervised art and creative activity that runs on a Saturday or a Sunday, rather than during a school holiday. It sits between a weekly one-hour class and a week-long seasonal camp: longer and more varied than a class, but without committing a week of the school break to it.

Our Weekend Art Camp runs every Saturday and Sunday at our Richmond Hill school, from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, with a half-day option and a drop-in option.

What does a day actually look like?

The day is built so that art blocks alternate with breaks, food and movement. A seven-hour day of painting would not work for most children, and this is what the hours actually hold:

The schedule and the projects vary with what is planned and with the weekend theme, so two Saturdays in a row are not the same day twice.

How much does weekend art camp cost?

Full day, half day or drop-in: which should you pick?

These are three genuinely different things, and the right one depends less on budget than on what you already know about your child.

• Drop-in is the one to start with if you have never done this before. It is a single day at $100 with nothing booked beyond it, so it is the cheapest way to find out whether a full day suits your child before committing to anything.
• Half day is the right call for a younger child, a first-timer who found a full day long, or a weekend that already has something else in it. Morning is the drawing, painting and craft workshop block. Afternoon is the art projects, digital art and free art time block.
• Full day at $85 is the option for a child who is already happy here and wants the whole day, and it is the lowest per-day rate of the three.

Booking a block rather than day by day secures the same spot across consecutive weekends, which matters more than it sounds: weekend places are the ones that go first.

What should my child bring?

Full-day campers bring a packed lunch and their own snacks from home. Please make sure there is enough food and water for the whole day, since nothing is provided and a full day is longer than most children expect.

Art materials are a different matter. Everything needed for the day is included, including iPads with Apple Pencil and Procreate for the digital art block, so there is no supply list to shop for.

Dress for mess. We use child-friendly materials, but art is hands-on and paint does not always stay on the paper.

How is this different from a weekly art class?

A weekly art class is one or two hours on the same day each week, through a school-year term, with a curriculum that builds from session to session. It is the right structure for a child developing technique over months.

Weekend camp is a whole day, booked by the day or in short blocks, with a broader mix of activity: crafts, digital art, games and free art time alongside drawing and painting. It suits a child who wants variety and a longer stretch of time, or a family who wants to fill a weekend rather than commit to a term. Plenty of students do both.

How is it different from summer or March Break camp?

Only in when it runs. Our summer, March Break and winter break camps are tied to school holidays and are booked by the week. Weekend camp runs all year and is booked by the day or in 5-week blocks, which makes it the option when there is no school break in sight and the weekend needs filling.

It is also the answer to a question we get often: whether there is anything for a child who is at school during the week and cannot make a weekday class time.

Serving Richmond Hill and York Region

Weekend Art Camp runs at our school at 14 Oxford St, Unit 201C, Richmond Hill, ON L4C 9S3. We welcome families from across York Region, including Thornhill, Vaughan, Markham, Aurora and Newmarket, who are looking for something to do with the children on a Saturday or a Sunday that is not another screen.