How to Register

Part 1 - Prepare in Advance for Registration Day!

Review Smithsonian Policies and Our Camp Guides

Review our Terms of Use, Privacy Statement, and the Smithsonian Kids Online Privacy Statement.
After reviewing the Smithsonian policies, review our camp guides!
Review our Camp 101 guide

Verify Your Login & Account Information

To ensure you have the smoothest registration experience and pay the correct rate, verify your login information and membership status prior to registration day.

Individual camp Parent Packs will be sent to the email address listed on your profile one week prior to your first day of each camp purchased. Verify your email address and domestic (US) phone number are correct and if not, update them as necessary.

Create an account Go to your account dashboard

Verify Your Membership

Become a member at any level to register before the general public and to save money on your Summer Camp registration. Support Smithsonian Associates at the Circle of Support - Contributor level to take part in our Camp registration lottery and register even eariler!

Find out more about becoming a donor or call one of our Donor Services representatives.

Join or renew your membership

Contact us

Pre-register Your Campers

Save your child's grade level, parent/guardian contact information, photo permissions, ad other pertinent information ahead of time*. This information is necessary to purchase Smithsonian Summer Camps, and completing it in advance will help make your checkout process go more smoothly.

Pre-register your campers

*

Your child's registration information is disposed of at the end of each Camp season. If your child was registered for any previous Camp seasons, you must still re-register them for the current Camp season.

For a minor to participate in Smithsonian Summer Camps, a parent or legal guardian must complete and sign a waiver for each child they are registering during the checkout process.

Part 2 - Know Your Camps in Advance!

Planning to Purchase Camps as a Gift?

Purchase a gift certificate for the child's parent or legal guardian, who can then use it when they register online for the Summer Camp of their choice. Gift certificates can be applied during checkout.

This keeps the registration under the adult's account, which will ensure they receive their receipt for tax purposes, their welcome letter, and other relevant information. Smithsonian Associates memberships are not transferable. If the gift certificate recipient is not a member, they will not have access to the member prices or early registration.

Consider adding the price of an Associate level membership to the gift certificate to allow access to the member prices and early registration.

Purchase a gift certificate

Browse Our Selection of Camps

Be prepared and plan which camps you want to purchase in advance by browsing our camp offerings. Have a second choice in mind when registering as camps can sell out quickly.

While browsing our camps you will be able to flag the ones you and your campers are interested in attending by adding them to your Wishlist. You may also download our handy Camp Registration Organizer if you prefer to keep track of your camp choices offline.

Browse camps Download your camp registration organizer

Part 3 - Registration Dates

Session Registration

In order for a minor to participate in Smithsonian Summer Camps, a parent or legal guardian must complete and sign a waiver for each child they are registering during the checkout process. This can also be done in advance by pre-registering your campers.

Pre-register your campers

Registration Confirmation

When you receive your email confirmation, please make sure that all the information about your child has been recorded accurately. Please print and save your e-mail confirmation, as no ticket will be mailed.

If you do not receive an e-mail confirmation, you can attempt to resend your order email confirmation to yourself from your order history. You can also call our Customer Service team to confirm that you have reserved a place in your camps.

Important: If your payment cannot be immediately processed, keep the items in your cart and remain active on the site until your order goes through.

The Waitlist

Camp Staff constantly goes through registration numbers and waitlists to bring as many children off the waitlist and into camps as possible. More than 70% of the waitlist get into camps.

If the camp you would like to purchase is sold out you will be able to add yourself to the waitlist online. If a spot becomes available, we will contact customers in the order we received their waitlist request. Customers will have until 3:00 p.m. ET the day after we contact you to respond before we call the next customer on the waitlist.

Additional camp sessions may be created to accommodate large waitlists depending on teacher, staff, and resource availability. If a new session is created, we will contact customers on the waitlist by phone in the order we received their waitlist request.

Other Important Information

Cancellation Policy

View our refund Policy

Dependent Care Tax Credit / FSA Expense

Per IRS guidelines, the cost of a day of camp may count as an expense toward child and dependent care credit. For those who qualify, a receipt can be issued in the name of the person who paid for the summer camp program. For more information on the IRS rules, visit the IRS web site.