The transition into the new year often marks a busy season for educators on Outschool. Winter camps attract enrollments from families on school breaks or celebrating holidays in December. January tends to bring renewed interest in classes as learners dive back into their studies.

We always recommend updating your class listings for the upcoming season well ahead of time, and winter is no different. As a business owner, you want your offerings to be available as soon as a family thinks to look for them. Learners start signing up for December camps and January classes as early as October — so don’t wait to schedule new sections and make plans for the new year!

In addition to preparing for Outschool’s biggest month of the year, winter camps can be a great way to round out your year on Outschool and use holiday themes to bring in new learners.

What families are looking for

As mentioned in our Winter 2023 Educator Outlook, classes offering English, world languages, coding and tech, science and nature, and math are winning for academic classes. However, since many learners are home during the holidays, this is a great time to create a Class Mini or a week-long camp to help learners brush up their skills during the break.

For those of you who offer classes on life skills, such as circle time, arts and crafts, book clubs, holiday music, and cooking, these classes are always in demand this time of year.

How to list a successful winter camp

Camps are an excellent opportunity to meet different family needs during traditional school breaks in the Northern Hemisphere in November and December. Consider designing a few multi-day experiences to take advantage of the increased demand for camp-style classes during this time of year.

Learners will still be looking for the flexibility of 1-on-1, ongoing, and one-time classes during this season — so if you’re already filling sections of those class formats, keep it up!

Criteria for a winter camp

For a class to be considered a “camp” by Outschool and show up on the winter camps search page, it must meet the following criteria:

1. The class has live meetings (Flex classes and Groups will not be considered camps)
2. Class sections start between November 15 and January 2.
3. The class meets 2 or more times within one week. The total duration of a camp may be from 1-8 weeks, and ongoing classes may be considered camps if they meet more than once per week.

Marketing tips for your winter camp

In addition to meeting the criteria above, consider the following when designing your camp listings:

• Use keywords such as “camp,” “winter camp,” or “winter break camp” in the class title and sparingly in the course description to help your class show up in searches.
• Create sections from late November through early January, when many school breaks take place. Winter camp bookings have historically been highest between December 6 – December 30.
• Try offering camps that last 3-5 days. While you may create camps lasting up to 8 weeks, families are often looking for shorter experiences to accommodate other activities on their schedule.
• Pick a theme, skill, or project for each camp. Use the insights below, as well as class topic requests and data on classes that need educators, to find themes for your camps that match learners’ interests.

Historic winter camp trends

Use these top subjects and topics from earlier this year to brainstorm your camps for the upcoming holiday season!  And be sure to check out the Winter 2023 Educator Outlook for more winter insights.

Top winter camp subjects in 2023:

• Life Skills
• Arts
• Coding & Tech

Top winter camp class topics in 2023:

• Movie Making and Video Editing
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Coding & Tech
• Animal Crossing and other gaming camps
• Creating Writing
• Social-Emotional Skill Building
• Holiday Baking
• Holiday arts and crafts
• Foreign Language learning
• Spelling and punctuation help camps
• Life skills