With 9 weeks of school holidays, summer kids programs are very popular! Below are some suggestions for Graz and also Styria at affordable prices, some are even free!

The city of Graz offers really affordable weekly sport courses(sommer sport programm) for only €10! for 4 – 18 yrs with 55 different sports to choose from ( approx 2 hours each day) .Places are limited and go fast. To be eligible you must have your main residence in Graz (if there are places left over, people from outside of Graz can apply too). Registration starts Monday, May 27 on-line. Be sure to sign up for an account at partner.venuzle.at/sportamt-graz before registration opens so your Graz residency can be confirmed (take about 3 days). You can choose up to 4 different weekly sports, or two sports for two weeks each (except for basketball, billiards, soccer, climbing, lifeguarding, swimming, skateboarding, sports bowling, dancing, water skiing and water jumping which can only be booked for one week). You can view the brochure here.

The city of Graz also supports full day sports programs (Sommersportwoche mit Ganztagesbetreuung) for kids 6 – 16 yrs with ATG, KICKIT Augustinum, die Naturfreunde Graz und der Verein Union Sport Aktiv Graz for €150 – €170 a week. Registration- partner.venuzle.at/sportamt-graz.

In addition there is the Freizeithits program (offered by partner organisations at affordable prices) where kids can attend circus school, horse riding, art classes and so much more. Registration partner.venuzle.at/freizeithits-graz.

For those who live outside of Graz, also check with your local Gemeinde for summer activity programs.

Plattform Ferienbetreuung Steiermark offers a great overview of many summer programs, camps and activities in the whole of Styria.

ASKÖ offers summer camps at the ASKÖ Stadium Graz-Eggenberg for kids 5 – 10 yrs, €135 for full day, €109 half day (both include lunch and swimming pool entry). Each week has a different theme such as pirates, wild west or disney. Some weeks are already booked up so book soon!

The Karl Franzens university offer a fun Kinder Uni full day summer program in the first 4 weeks of the school holidays for kids 8 -14 yrs, €80 per week. They do workshops in the morning and sports in the afternoon. They have 4 different options to choose from each week, for example robotics, chess, museum visits, adventures in the woods or research – you can see the schedule here.

The TU university also offer a kinder uni summer camp with several different options, including girls only options. Coding, graphics, robotics, game development, make your own videos etc,

Bits4kids offers coding weeks (robotics, gaming, animation etc) for €190 full day for kids 7 – 15 yrs at the WKO Talent Center, Körblergasse 111-113.

The museums in Graz also offer summer programs. Frida and Fred is already booked for theirs (€160 per week for full day for kids 7 – 12 yrs), but you might be able to be added to their waiting list. The Universalmuseum Joanneum offers a week’s program July 15 – 19, 8:00 – 16:00 €169 with visits to different museums and activities each day.

If you have kids between 6 and 10 yrs who attend a Graz primary school (or are about to) who need to improve their German, the city of Graz together with Deutsch&Mehr are offering free summer German courses between 8 July and 23 August (bookable on a weekly basis for up to 7 weeks, morning or afternoon options). They also offer free English courses too.

ISOP also offer a free 5 week german summer school 22.07 – 22.08 for school kids and teenagers along with fun activities, A1 – B1 German.

The Arbeiterkammer offers it’s members a summer refresher school in the last few weeks of the school holidays for kids who need to catch on core subjects such as German, Maths and English (they review the material from the kids last class). €50 for the whole week including food and fun activities. For kids from 3 & 4th class Volksschule, Mittelschule and unterstufe gymnasium.

The following offer fun sport weeks Sports Union , Kick IT Augustinum and ATG.

The Arbeiterkammer also offer it’s members subsidised summer camps for only €50 a week for parents who earn under €3.630 (for each additional child limit increases by 15%), some are overnight and some are local day camps.

The Alpenverein offer 50 summer adventure overnight camps in the mountains and other wilderness spots around Austria. Some are open for the whole family.

Low-income parents receiving family allowance can apply for 80% off a 5 day camp from the Styrian government , more info can be found at the Zwei und Mehr office at Karmeliterplatz 2, 8010.

Caritas also offers a free summer integration kids program for kids 6 – 14 yrs in August for low-income families, with educational activities in the mornings and sports in the afternoon.

The Fratz-Graz abenteuerspielplatz is an urban playground in Lend and offers free in drop supervised fun for kids from 6 yrs on weekday afternoons from 14:00 – 18:00. Activities are offered most afternoons. They have a day summer camp too but it’s already booked up, you might get be able to be put on the waiting list though.

Mehrgenerationenhaus Waltendorf offers a fun summer program for kids 5 – 10 yrs + in their cosy space. €175 per week 7:30 – 14:30.

The Stadtbibliothek Graz Nord in Geidorf offers a free week morning summer program for kids 5 – 9yrs from 29.07- 02.08 or 05.08 – 09.08 9:00 – 13:00. Currently all booked but they have a waiting list.

For younger kids with their parents, the Spielmobile travels to parks all over Graz from May offering free fun activities between 3 pm and 6 pm.

For more tips and updates on life in Graz, and summer kids activities follow ‘IlovemyGraz‘ on facebook