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
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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)
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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
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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!
Word Camp FAQs
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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.
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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!
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Come with your Zoom video on and your writing brain prepared!
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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!
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For the first time, YES! Please sign up for as many workshops as you’d like!
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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.
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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 :)
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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.
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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.
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Yes! Cosmic Writers Word Camp welcomes young writers wherever they are.
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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.