Myriad summer camps will be offered throughout the area by a variety of organizations -- the city, hospitals, Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center, private schools and Southeast Missouri State University to name a few.

Conservation Nature Center

In an email to the Southeast Missourian, nature center manager Sara Turner said the Outdoor Adventure camps are the most popular and fill during the first one to two hours of registration.

Baseball is offered for youngsters from kindergarten through eighth grade through Notre Dame Regional High School's summer camps. (Submitted photo)

The rest of the programs, if they fill, will not do so until about a day before the program. Unless otherwise noted, registration is not required. All programs are free.

To sign up, those interested may call 290-5218 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday on or after the first day of the month. Registration begins May 15 for the Outdoor Adventure Camps and Families in Nature.

The schedule for June through the end of August:

June 7: Families in Nature (all ages, registration required)

June 10: Canoeing (ages 5 and older)

June 12: Feeding Frenzy (all ages)

June 12: Nature Center at Night: Fireflies (all ages)

June 14: Mudpuppies: Let's Go Fishing (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

June 14: Snappers: Totally Turtles (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

June 14: Racers: Archery (ages 12 to 15, registration required)

June 17: Mudpuppies: Let's Go Fishing (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

June 17 and 18: Outdoor Adventure Camp (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

June 19 and 20: Outdoor Adventure Camp (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

June 28: Tadpoles: Sensory Scavenger Hunt (ages 0 to 2, registration required)

July 10: Nature Center at Night: Pond Life (all ages)

July 12: Mudpuppies: Music Makers (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

July 15: Mudpuppies: Music Makers (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

July 15 and 16: Outdoor Adventure Camp (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

July 17 and 18: Outdoor Adventure Camp (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

July 17: Archery (all ages)

July 19: Tadpoles: Who Lives in the Water? (ages 0 to 2, registration required)

July 19: Creek Cruisin' (all ages)

July 24: Feeding Frenzy (all ages)

July 25: Snappers: Nocturnal Fun (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

July 25: Fiddles & Forests Concert (all ages)

July 26: Racers: Amidon trash pickup (ages 12 to 15, registration required)

July 29 and 30: Outdoor Adventure Camp (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

Aug. 2: Insect Insights (all ages)

Aug. 9: Mudpuppies: Summer Sand Prairie (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

Aug. 12: Mudpuppies: Summer Sand Prairie (ages 3 to 6, registration required)

Aug. 14: Feeding Frenzy (all ages)

Aug. 14: Nature Center at Night: Slithering Snakes (all ages)

Aug. 16: Hummingbird Banding (all ages)

Aug. 21: Homeschool Special: A Butterfly's Life (ages 6 and older, registration required)

Aug. 22: Racers: Campfire Cooking (ages 12 to 15, registration required)

Aug. 23: Snappers: Predator vs. Prey (ages 7 to 11, registration required)

Aug. 23: Caving (ages 12 and older, registration required)

Aug. 30: Tadpoles: Flutter and Fly (ages 0 to 2, registration required)

Cape Parks and Rec

The science camp offered through Notre Dame Regional High School fills up fast in the summer. (Submitted photo)

The Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department this summer will host health and wellness classes, sports, crafts and special events.

In an email, Recreation Division manager Penny Williams said enrichment and learning classes include a children's theater course, Drawing Jr., Chef's Cooking Club, Painting and Wee Ones Finger Painting, among others.

Health and wellness classes include swimming lessons, Pee-Wee Playground, Pee-Wee Playtime, taekwondo and tumbling.

Sports will be Start Smart Soccer, teens bowling, day camp, teens golf class, teens sports conditioning, teens tennis, teens soccer camp and teens volleyball.

Craft Crazy, Ducktastic Creations, Alley Cats and Culture Café are therapeutic courses offered.

And special events include a teens triathlon, teens catch and release, National Run/Walk Day, St. Louis Cardinals Game Day, Summer Concert Series, Parks and Rec Day, Capaha Classic, and a trip to Fox Theater, the email said.

More information about summer activities may be found in the Parks and Recreation Department Program Guide "Play Cape!," scheduled to come out Friday in the Southeast Missourian. Copies may be obtained at the Arena Building, Osage Centre, Shawnee Park Center, city hall and the public library, the email said. It will also be available online at cityofcape.org under Parks and Recreation, the email said.

Individuals can register by mail, walk-in or drop off at the Arena Building, or by calling 339-6340 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., the email said.

For more information, contact recreation coordinator Cassie Essner, who is in charge of summer classes, at 339-6732.

Jackson

According to Jackson's website, jacksonmo.org/ParksAndRecreation/Events.aspx, everything from football and swimming to science programs are available for teens this summer.

Youth baseball and softball for children 5 to 18 is available starting in May.

The Missouri Department of Conservation will present a clinic on Hubble Creek for students to promote conservation skills.

A teens and adult tennis tournament called All Cancer Erased is set for June 7 and 8 in Cape Girardeau.

Explore Your World summer teens program will run from 8 to 11 a.m. July 14 through 17 at City Park Shelter No. 1. The fee is $20 and gives children age 6 to 10 a chance to explore nature and science, the site said.

The Jackson theater company Acting Out! will present a Midsummer Kids' Camp, where children will work with theater professionals on acting technique through an abridged, revised version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Hours will be 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dates are June 16 to 21. The camp is open to children 8 to 12 years old. Registration fee is $150.

Scott City

The Scott City Interactive Parks Program will host the "Summer Fun Days" July 17, 24 and 31. Field trips, swimming, movies and games are on the agenda.

Open to children age 7 to 13, the cost is $10 per child, per day and hours are 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Applications will be at city hall or the pool office the last week of June.

Swim lesson sign-ups will be at the park office May 1 and 2. Kids age 5 and older may register for the July 7 through 19 lessons at the Scott City Pool. The fee is $23. per child.

For more information, call the park office at 264-2322.

Perryville

The High Hopes Hoops Basketball Camp is set for June 2 through 6 in Perryville, Mo.

Open to children in third through sixth grade, the cost is $50 and includes a T-shirt. Checks should be made payable to the city of Perryville and the deadline to sign up is May 30.

Hours for the third- and fourth-grade session are 8 to 10 a.m. and 10:05 a.m. to 12:05 p.m. for the fifth and sixth grade.

It is put on by the Perryville Parks and Recreation Department. Contact Chad Unterreiner at 573-547-7275 for more information.

Health care

For high school sophomores and juniors interested in health-care careers, SoutheastHEALTH's Healthcare Professionals camps will be offered, a hospital news release said.

The camps will be at the SoutheastHEALTH College of Nursing & Health Sciences and various clinical sites in Cape Girardeau, including Southeast Hospital, the release said. Participants will shadow nurses and other health-care professionals patient care areas, earn CPR certification, learn to use a stethoscope and take blood pressure, and talk to SoutheastHEALTH College of Nursing & Health Sciences faculty and graduates, the release said.

Youngsters also will have an opportunity to learn about specialties such as pediatrics, surgery, intensive care, labor and delivery, emergency services and radiology.

The Girls Only Camp is set for June 8 through 11; and the Guys Only Camp for June 15 through 18, the release said. Enrollment deadline is May 1.

The College of Nursing & Health Sciences offers the annual camps in partnership with the Missouri Foundation for Health, SoutheastHEALTH and SoutheastHEALTH Foundation.

Tuition includes all meals and three nights lodging in a Southeast Missouri State University residence hall. A limited number of scholarships are available.

For camp details and application, visit SEhealth.org/HealthcareCamps.

Saint Francis Medical Center is offering a Junior Volunteer program, which offers youngsters a chance to earn volunteer hours and to see if a medical career is for them, said Emily Blattel, account services coordinator.

Participants must be at least 14 years old; once they hit 18, they are considered adult volunteers, she said. Permission from a parent or guardian is required. Youngsters work in different areas of the hospital, such as a waiting room, or they help with transportation of patients in wheelchairs.

There are two junior volunteer sessions -- June 3 through 27 and July 8 through 31. Space still is available.

Saint Francis also offers camps at Fitness Plus for children 6 to 12, but those have filled up.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame Regional High School will offer sports, drama and science camps this summer. Sandy Tyson, athletic director's assistant, said the age range is kindergarten through students entering eighth grade.

Tyson noted science camp and Bulldog Olympics have been popular through the years.

The five-day Bulldog Olympics, July 21 through 25, offers a chance for children in grades three through eight to participate in several track and field events, capped off with a meet on the last day. Hours are 6 to 8 p.m. Coaches Paul Unterreiner, Chuck Goodale and Bill Davis conduct it.

World of Wonders -- Science with a Twist has instructors Jerry Landewe, Angie Schaefer and Notre Dame students offering indoor and outdoor activities July 7 through 11 for students in grades four through eight. At least one evening will be spent stargazing through Notre Dame's high-powered telescopes.

Tennis, wrestling, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, boys and girls soccer, boys baseball and pitching and catching camp and girls softball also are on tap, along with drama club.

For more information, visit the Notre Dame website, notredamehighschool.org.

Southeast Missouri State University

Offered through Southeast Missouri State University, the Horizons program offers camps in June and July for children 5 to 8 and 9 to 14. Horizons is available in three one-week sessions and offers everything from crafts to creating baseball cards and video game programming to name a few.

Christy Mershon, assistant director of extended and continuing education at Southeast, coordinates the Horizons Summer Camp program. Horizons has been around for 28 years and began as a way to provide summer enrichment activities for academically gifted children, but evolved over the years to be inclusive of all children who are interested in fun summer learning opportunities, Mershon said in an email to the Southeast Missourian.

The camps average about 350 to 400 children each summer, Mershon said.

Horizons camps are different from a "traditional" summer camps in a number of ways, she said. The majority of the workshops are taught by college faculty, so participants get a chance to "experience a bit of Southeast," Mershon wrote.

"We also have a number of community members who are experts in their various [fields] who help make our camps unique. This partnership has allowed us to do things like allow children to interact with zebras and giraffes at Lazy L Safari Park and visit the SEMO Crime Lab as they solve their own case and become certified 'Southeast CSI,'" she said.

New programs are added each year to keep youngsters interested, but favorites are kept as well.

"This summer I am super-excited about Fun-gineering," she said. Attendees will spend the week building a Rube Goldberg Machine, like one in GoldiBlox commercials that may be watched at youtube.com/watch? v=_BSd2cy-QWk.

"We have new workshops for all types of interests from computer game design to costume making; our goal is to have something to spark the interest of all children," Mershon said.

Horizons has expanded its age range over the past few years, she said. Traditionally, the camps were for 9 to 14 year olds, but Little Horizons for 5 to 8 year has been added, Mershon wrote.

For more information, call 986-6879, or visit semo.edu/continuinged/horizons/index.html.