Filling Fast: Which Nashville Summer Camps Are Already Closed for 2026

It's the last week of March, and if you haven't registered your kids for a single camp yet, you're not alone. But this year the window is genuinely tighter than it was even two summers ago. Summerly is tracking real-time capacity across 2,600+ sessions at Nashville-area camps, and the numbers tell a clear story: about 18% of all sessions are already closed or waitlisted — and we haven't hit April yet.

The Surprise: Art and Outdoor Camps Are the Real Hot Tickets

Most parents assume the scramble is for sports camps. The data says otherwise. Outdoor camps across Nashville are about 29% full right now. Art camps are about 27% full. Sports camps, by contrast, sit at just 16% full. STEM camps are 17% full. If your kid has a specific sport or robotics interest, you actually have time — and real choice. It's the arts-in-nature crowd that's running short on options.

The pattern makes sense once you think about it. Outdoor and art camps tend to run small groups — sometimes 12 to 15 kids — tied to physical spaces like botanical gardens or studio rooms that simply cannot expand. Sports camps can add a second court, an extra coach, and another cohort. A ceramics room at Cheekwood cannot. That structural ceiling is why art and outdoor camps fill up first, even when they charge more.

What's Already Gone

Cheekwood is the clearest example. It's the first place many Nashville parents look for an art camp in a beautiful setting, and it's nearly the first to fill up. Virtually every week at Cheekwood is already waitlisted or close to it — from the half-week Garden Sprouts and Bugs and Blooms sessions ($190-$225) for 5-year-olds, up through the multi-week Drawing and Illustration and Textile Techniques intensives ($380-$450) for older kids. If you missed the window this year, set a calendar reminder for January 2027.

Nashville Zoo summer camps are waitlisted for all 10 weeks across all age groups. Zoo camp runs $300-$430 per week and tends to fill within the first few days after registration opens — often to families who had it on their calendar since December. The Zoo is effectively a closed chapter for 2026; your best move is to get on the waitlist and hope for a cancellation.

At Ensworth, the picture is weighted heavily toward full. Their All Sports Camp, Nature Explorers, Dance, STEM, and Robotics programs are all showing closed or waitlisted. Ensworth is one of the few private schools that runs camps spanning a genuinely wide range of age groups and interests under one roof, which is probably why demand is so concentrated there. Pricing runs $160-$1,150 per week depending on the program.

Montgomery Bell Academy has already lost its most popular spots. All-Sports Camp, Battle Bots, and the Young Jedi program are closed. MBA pricing sits at $210-$310 per week. Their academic prep and enrichment camps — Foundations of Writing, Algebra Headstart, debate — still have availability, and those tend to be underrated programs that parents overlook in favor of the flashier options.

Harpeth Hall's Tennis, Pickleball, Art, and Science camps are all closed, and their Lion King Musical is waitlisted. Pricing at Harpeth Hall ranges from $175 to $795. USN has dozens of sessions on waitlist. Climb Nashville — which runs weekly climbing programs — has every single session closed. Even the budget-friendly Murfreesboro Parks camps ($30-$275 range) have some sessions filling, which tells you something about how broad the demand crunch is this year. Deer Run Day Camp ($430 per week) is a mixed picture — about half the sessions are still open, making it one of the better outdoor options left on the calendar.

Where Spots Still Exist

Here is what parents actually need to hear: nearly 1,000 camps in the Nashville area still have open availability. Sports camps as a category have 84% of their sessions still available. STEM is at 83%. Nashville Children's Theatre — which many parents assume is long gone — actually has 95% of its sessions still open at $375 per week. Theatre and dance programs have room. Faith-based VBS programs — which run throughout the summer at churches across Davidson, Williamson, and Rutherford counties — are overwhelmingly open and often free or low-cost.

The calendar shift matters too. June 15 through June 19 is the single most saturated week this summer — already the tightest stretch on the calendar and the first place to check if you need a camp that specific week. July looks completely different. Only about 13% of July sessions are full. If your kids can shift to a July mindset, your options open up in a meaningful way. You go from scrambling for whatever is left to having genuine choice across categories and price ranges.

Franklin Road Academy in Brentwood still has most of its lineup available — baseball, basketball, softball, dance, art, STEM, and specialty camps all running $125-$145 per week, which is one of the better values you will find at a private school facility. Brentwood Academy and Currey Ingram both have availability. Summit Sports Center has open sessions. Nashville Gymnastics Training Center is still taking registrations. These are not consolation-prize options — they are solid programs that just happen not to have the same name recognition as the camps that fill in January.

Five Things to Do This Weekend

1. Check June 15. That week is the most saturated across Nashville. If you need a camp that specific week and haven't registered, start there first.
2. Shift to July if you have any flexibility. July camps are about 87% open, which means real choice instead of picking from whatever is left.
3. Look at your second-choice category. If art camp is full, your kid might genuinely love the STEM or sports version of summer. Most kids are more flexible than parents expect.
4. Call instead of clicking. Some camps show closed online but are holding one or two spots. A five-minute phone call can get you into a session that looks unavailable on the website.
5. Sign up for waitlists anyway. Cancellation rates spike in the two weeks before a session starts. A spot that looks completely unavailable today might open up by mid-May.