City Kid Camp: A Free-Range Summer of Outdoor Adventure in San Francisco

A San Francisco Camp Built on a Free-Range Childhood

City Kid Camp is the project of founder and director Evan Rivera-Owings, a Sunset resident who grew up exploring the city on his own two feet and one Muni pass. "My childhood was a blessing," he told a profile published in District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio's community newsletter in 2024. He learned the city by riding bikes, taking the bus, and following whatever was beyond his front door, as long as it was outside.

Evan spent his career sharing that love of the outdoors with kids, first as a counselor at Camp Mather and other San Francisco Rec and Park summer camps, then as Stonestown YMCA's Sports and Camp Coordinator, and most recently as the Family Engagement Coordinator at Dianne Feinstein Elementary's after-school program. When the pandemic forced a professional reset, he decided that the thing cooped-up kids needed most was a way back outside. He founded City Kid Camp in 2021, and it has been growing every summer since. "I didn't realize how much more this was needed after the pandemic," Evan said in that same profile. "Everyone is on their screens. I know it's not the same environment that I had growing up, but kids still need to get out of the house, to explore. They love the outdoors." That belief, that a city childhood should be spent learning the streets and parks rather than a screen, runs through everything the camp does.

Kids Camps in San Francisco: A Week of Outdoor Exploration

Among kids camps in San Francisco, City Kid Camp stands on a simple premise: spend the whole day outside, let kids help decide where to go, and treat the city itself as the classroom. Every week-long session runs Monday through Friday, roughly 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., for kids ages 8 to 12, beginning and ending at the Boat playground at 45th Avenue and Lincoln Way. From there, the group heads out on foot or by bus to a new corner of the city's west side. A day usually moves through a few familiar rhythms:

• A slow, social start. Drop-off begins with supervised playground time, board games, and arts and crafts, followed by a community-builder game and a quick look at the day's plan and expectations.
• A field trip chosen together. Counselors share the destination and the group sets out, walking or riding Muni to places like Stow Lake, Ocean Beach, the Beach Chalet soccer fields, the Botanical Gardens, Fort Funston, Baker Beach, or the Sutro Baths ruins at Lands End.
• Youth-choice activities. At each stop kids pick between a group movement game and open exploration, from wall-ball and capture the flag to bird-watching bingo, sandcastle building, or feeding ducks at the lake.
• Reflection and a cool-down. Afternoons wind down with counselor-led reflection and quieter choices like lanyards, dream catchers, journaling, or just chilling in the moment before the walk back.

The staff motto is that there is no bad weather, only bad clothing, and the group goes out rain or shine. What ties the day together is Evan's idea of structured freedom. "I wanted to create an experience where kids feel free. We create invisible boundaries for the campers to ensure their safety, but at the same time, they feel unbound," he said. The Muni map is part of the lesson. Evan invites campers to suggest bus routes before they set out, and over a week they get steadily better at reading the city. "Our kids learn to safely navigate city streets so they can unlock San Francisco and make it their own," he said.

Teen Weeks and the Science of Play

City Kid Camp also runs dedicated Teen Weeks for older kids who have aged out of the 8-to-12 sessions but still want a summer spent outdoors with friends. These smaller groups lean further into independence, longer treks, and the kind of city navigation that turns into a genuine life skill. Across both the younger sessions and the teen weeks, the camp keeps phones away (it is an electronics-free program) so that attention stays on the trail, the game, and each other.

Underneath the fun is a real youth-development philosophy. The staff come from backgrounds in recreation, outdoor education, and sports, and they pair supervised free play with socio-emotional learning and restorative practices. "I believe in the science of play. In play, kids learn social skills, how to feel and process their emotions, and how to behave so they get along with others," Evan said. Each day the group recognizes a Camper of the Day for being helpful, responsible, and kind, and the staff aim to model that same maturity and respect. Families notice the difference. Donna, a Sunset parent who has sent two kids to City Kid Camp since it opened, put it this way in the Engardio newsletter profile: "Evan knows all the back roads, the nooks and crannies of Golden Gate Park. He knows the secret nature spots. Our kids now take us places we didn't know about." She added, "He's a coach, he's a great role model, he's a real San Francisco guy."

An Accessible Resource for San Francisco Families

City Kid Camp has built in several ways for more families to take part. In 2026 the camp formally launched a scholarship program, after years of offering financial aid case by case, with up to three subsidized spaces in camp each week. Aid ranges from 10 percent to 80 percent of tuition depending on need and availability, and families apply through a short form on the camp's website, after which someone follows up to talk through enrollment options. The camp's stated goal is to keep widening access so a more socioeconomically diverse group of kids can enjoy what City Kid offers.

There are everyday savings as well. Families enrolling more than one child receive a 10 percent sibling discount when they register together, and many summer sessions offer drop-in availability for families who only need a day or two rather than a full week. The cancellation policy is straightforward, with full refunds available when families give two weeks' notice before a session begins. City Kid Camp lists its summer sessions on Enrichment.kids, where San Francisco parents can see current dates and pricing, check which weeks have drop-in spots, and register in a few clicks without hunting through email threads. It is one less thing to track in an already full summer.

Where Freedom, Confidence, and Community Flourish

What stays with a parent after a week of City Kid Camp is usually not a craft project, although those come home too. It is the way their kid starts narrating the city back to them, pointing out the trail to the driftwood forts at Fort Funston, naming the birds at Stow Lake, asking which bus goes to Baker Beach. For a child who has spent too many hours indoors, a week of fog, sand, and supervised freedom is a reset. For a shy or restless kid, the small groups and the steady, respectful counselors turn the wide-open city into a place that feels navigable and safe.

Freedom, confidence, curiosity, stewardship, community, City Kid Camp embodies all these values for San Francisco parents and kids. If your child is happiest with grass stains on their knees and a whole afternoon of exploring ahead of them, a summer spent walking Golden Gate Park and the city's coastline with City Kid Camp is one of the better ways to spend it. Browse the upcoming summer camps in San Francisco on Enrichment.kids, ask about a scholarship spot if it would help, and let your city kid go discover the place they already call home.