Summer is just around the corner, and San Diego’s community centers, YMCAs, parks and museums are competing to host your kids with an enticing variety of camps, classes and field trips.

"Just about anything you can think of we have a camp for it," says Pattie Griffin, vice president of marketing and communications at the YMCA of San Diego County. The YMCA offers day, resident and specialty camps for kids ages 5 to 17. Areas of interest for the specialty camps include golf, fishing, teens, a junior counselor program, surfing, skateboarding, circus, zoo, science and any sport. One- and two-week day camps are priced at $59 and up, depending on session length, location and specialty of the camp.

"For example, the La Jolla YMCA offers a water and kayaking camp for ages 8 to 13 where they're doing two hours of kayaking and two hours of water-skiing and wake boarding each day," says Griffin. The cost of the one-week camp is $268 for members and $322 for other participants; the La Jolla Branch also offers at $162 for members and $194 for participants an action adventure camp, where campers visit a water park, a laser tag zone, a skating rink and a rock climbing gym during a one-week session. Griffin also points out the Splash Camp at the Copley Family YMCA in the Mid-city area, with a daily swim lesson, field trips, sports, and arts and crafts for ages 6 to 12, costing $120 for members and $140 for participants for a one-week session. For a more general program, the Border View YMCA in South San Diego offers at $59 for members and $60 for participants a traditional day camp where kids ages 5 to 12 enjoy arts and crafts, sports, and field trips to the beach, roller skating rink and the Children's Museum. Scholarships are available through the Community Campership Council at (858) 268-9888; for more information on YMCA programs, phone (858) 292-4034.

Children, teens and adults can take part in adventures with art, ballet, boxcars, dance, drama, rockets, solar cars, zoo animals and much more in Balboa Park. The Old Globe Theatre, Museum of Photographic Arts, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, Aerospace Museum, Civic Youth Ballet, Junior Theatre, Model Railroad Museum, Museum of Art, Museum of Man, Natural History Museum, and San Diego Zoo offer programs ranging in price from free with admission to $230 and up, depending on length and prices of materials. The average price is about $70.

Kids entering kindergarten through seventh grade can sign up for Zoo Summer Camp July 10 to Aug. 18, with each grade level participating in different kinds of classes. "Kindergartners take 'Meet the Beasts' or 'ABCs of Animals,' for example," says Georgeanne Irvine, public relations manager for the Zoo and Wild Animal Park. "We’ll find a schedule that suits your summer." Each weekly zoo camp runs from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. for a cost of $138, with an extended day available from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for $188. Morning sessions are available from 9 a.m. to noon at $73 per week or extended day from 7:30 a.m. to noon at $98.

Meanwhile, teens ages 14 to 18 learn storyboarding, lighting, acting, directing and sound recording to complete a super-8 film at The Museum of Art's Movie Makers camp from July 17 to 21. Museum of Art sessions run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and cost $200 for members, $230 for nonmembers; extended hours from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. are available at $40 per session for members, $50 per session for nonmembers. For extensive information on individual museum education courses, visit our Web site, sandiegometro.com.

The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center, Jacobs family Campus offers June 19 through Aug. 11 Camp Jaycee, a selection of programs for kids 18 months to 11th grade.

"Camp Jaycee is the largest day camp in Southern California under one roof," says Elizabeth Berg, marketing director at the Lawrence Family JCC. The center offers three traditional camps, four sports camps, two theatre camps and three teen camps. The sports camps for grades four to six offer the choice of one the following sessions: soccer, baseball, and a field trip to Sea World; softball and camping with a trip to Catalina; tennis or football and sailing and kayaking; or basketball and an amusement park trip. Berg says the center's theatre and teen camps are another standout.

"Our theatre camp combines acting, singing, dancing and performing," she says. "All camps have swim instruction. Our teen camps take adventure trips to Big Bear, Bass Lake, Knotts Berry Farm and other places." Prices range from $150 to $665 for members for most sessions, depending on camp length and specialty. Nonmembers pay an additional $300 per four-week session per family or $150 per two-week session per family.

After Aug. 11, a series of two one-week camps are available in one subject: theatre, art, gymnastics, aquatics, music, soccer or science. The price is $150 for members, $175 for nonmembers. The JCC also hosts the Denny's Harlem Globetrotters Summer Youth Basketball Camp, where two Globetrotter players and a coach teach kids age 6 to 16 basketball, leadership, and life skills on and off the court. The Globetrotters camp runs from Aug. 14 to 18 at $170 for members, $185 for nonmembers. Finally, kids in grades two to six travel to Malibu from Aug. 15 to 20 at the JCA Shalom Mini Resident Camp, with a cost of $425 for members, $475 for nonmembers. Call the JCC for additional information at (858) 457-3030, Ext. 1112, or call (800) 641-HOOP for the Globetrotters camp.