Word Camp

Signups for Word Camp 2025 are now open!

Join us for our 6th summer of Word Camp, our free, virtual creative writing camp! This camp is an opportunity for rising 3rd–8th grade writers from all over the U.S. (and beyond!) to come together to hone their crafts. This year, camp runs from July 7th–18th, with workshops ranging from villain-building to journalism. Our workshops are first-come, first-served, so sign up quickly!

Word Camp 2025 SchedulE

  • Week I: July 7th–11th

    10:00–11:00 ET Blurring the Lines: Creative Nonfiction for Elementary Schoolers

    11:00–12:00 ET Elementary School Office Hours (Optional)

    3:00–4:00 ET Do or Die: Suspense Writing for Middle Schoolers

    4:00–5:00 ET Spells and Skyscrapers: Urban Fantasy for Middle Schoolers

    5:00–6:00 ET Hot Off the Press: Journalism for Middle Schoolers

    6:00–7:00 ET Middle School Office Hours (Optional)

  • Week II: July 14th–18th

    5:00–6:00 ET Fountain of Creativity: Adventure Fiction for Elementary Schoolers

    6:00–7:00 ET Elementary School Office Hours (Optional)

    3:00–4:00 ET Storytelling for the Stage: Scriptwriting for Middle Schoolers

    4:00–5:00 ET The Self: Identity-Focused Poetry for Middle Schoolers

    5:00–6:00 ET Becoming the Bad Guy: Villain-Building for Middle Schoolers

    6:00–7:00 ET Middle School Office Hours (Optional)

Workshop Descriptions

  • Week I, 10:00–11:00 ET

    Do you like both fiction and nonfiction? Have you ever thought about combining the two? Join us in an adventure to write stories that are both real and fake, leaving the readers to guess for themselves what is true!

  • Week I, 3:00–4:00

    Do you think you have what it takes to be a secret agent? In this workshop, we will learn how to create suspense in our writing by taking inspiration from famous spies — real and fictional. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to invent your own spy character and craft a suspenseful scene.

  • Week I, 4:00–5:00 ET

    You never know what’s lurking inside a dumpster or hovering inside a construction site. In this workshop, we'll learn how to craft urban fantasy stories with brilliant characters and vivid settings. By the end of the week, each camper will have written a short fiction piece in a city of their own creation.

  • Week I, 5:00–6:00 ET

    Extra, extra — write all about it! In this workshop on investigative journalism, reporters will learn how to research, analyze, and write journalistic pieces about the real-world events and people they care about.

  • Week II, 5:00–6:00 ET

    In this course, we’ll be using our creativity to pull adventure stories from everyday objects and occurrences. Music, places, and common phrases can all hold the key to your next great story idea. A blank page will never feel intimidating again!

  • Week II, 3:00–4:00 ET

    The stage is set for young playwrites to make their debut! This playwriting workshop will teach participants the foundations of scriptwriting and challenge them to write their own one-act play. As a finale, participants will perform their plays with their peers as cast members!

  • Week II, 4:00–5:00 ET

    ​​What makes you who you are? How have your memories and experiences, and your social and cultural background, shaped your identity? In this workshop, we will explore "the self" through poetry. We will dive into our perceptions of ourselves and others, learn how to use poetic techniques to enhance our words, and deepen our connections with the writing we produce.

  • Week II, 5:00–6:00 ET

    Have you ever wanted to get inside the mind of a villain? Or wondered what it would be like to do bad things? In this workshop, we will create our own villain characters and drop them into various villainous situations. By the end of the course, each writer will choose one specific circumstance they'd like to explore in-depth and write a piece — in any genre! — about their character in that situation.

  • “I was truly blown away by how much my son, who can be very reluctant to write anything (even though he has good language skills), loved Word Camp and how enthusiastic he was about writing about the topics. He loved every moment of it and was so excited about logging on each day! We've truly never seen that before in any of his school-based writing activities, and I think it is a testament to the quality of the program and Sophie's excellent teaching. Bravo!”

    — Parent, Word Camp 2021

  • “It felt comfortable, like everyone belonged there. I didn't feel left out, or like my skills were subpar.”

    — Camper, Word Camp 2021

  • “It's very difficult to find creative writing courses and camps for my pre-teen as most are geared toward high school students. This camp was just what I was looking for to keep my sixth grader engaged and boost her love of writing.”

    — Parent, Word Camp 2020

  • “I liked how you were given several strategies to express your writing in a non-overwhelming way. I also really enjoyed the opportunity to write, and not feel pressure about grades or what to write.”

    — Camper, Word Camp 2020

  • “My daughter was excited about [camp] every day and could not wait for it to start. She was eager about it and enthused to write outside of the camp time.”

    — Parent, Word Camp 2021

Word Camp FAQs

  • During the first four days of the week, participants will learn about/read/write/discuss work within the genre, and then on the fifth day, they'll share their own pieces. Each instructor also offers optional one-on-one hours every day where kids can come in to get individualized feedback and talk about their writing.

  • As much as possible, we'd like this to be a kids-only experience, just like in-person camp. Of course we understand if parents want to look over their kids’ shoulders on the first day of the workshop. After that, though, we encourage parents to step back and prepare to be wowed by what their kids write by the end of the week!

  • Come with your Zoom video on and your writing brain prepared!

  • Not very big — up to 20 campers. We want each writer to get lots of individual attention from the instructors, and we also want to maximize opportunities for kids to interact. Our workshops are first come, first served, so sign up quickly before space fills up!

  • For the first time, YES! Please sign up for as many workshops as you’d like!

  • Undergraduate students from across the U.S.! Most of our instructors are very involved in the writing communities at their schools, where they've taken and taught writing courses much like these.

  • For some kids, it is! For other kids, we know they need more time. Each workshop is structured so that writers can work on their projects as much or as little as they'd like outside of the four hour-long periods. We're flexible :)

  • While of course you should use your judgement about whether Word Camp is the right environment for you/your child, we encourage disabled and/or neurodivergent students to sign up. We‘ll work with you however we can to make sure that you/your child has a positive experience. That said, please know that we don’t have paraprofessionals or special education experts on our instructor team, since all instructors are college students.

  • Decide based on the year the writer is going into. If the writer is going into 6th grade, sign them up for the middle school workshops.

  • Yes! Cosmic Writers Word Camp welcomes young writers wherever they are.

  • Writers will come away with a piece that they can share with their friends and family, and treasure forever — plus a gorgeous digital anthology of their group’s writing.