Summer camps teach kids video production
NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - This summer, New York City-based CinemaKidz will offer its second summer of video production camps to children as young as 5 years old, and enrollment has more than doubled since last year.
"They're all passionate about it, they love YouTube and videos and animation and film," said Ingrid Aravena, CinemaKidz's founder. The camp starts at $500 a week.
The commercial success of other kids on YouTube, is fueling interest from parents too. Ryan of Ryan's Toy Review, for example, raked in an estimated $22 million last year. He is 7 years old.
"I think there is a little bit of motivation with that," said Ricky Bennet, VP of innovation and partnerships with ID Tech. "My son more than likely you won't make it to the NBA but loves basketball, but I'm going to put him in a basketball camp because of the skills."
ID Tech offers classes at 175 locations around the world beginning at $700 a session. Their YouTube production classes have 4,000 kids enrolled, many in the New York City area.
"Our video classes are very specific to social media and we have seen an increase in those courses specifically," he said.
Bur for every toy review or video game play posted online, there come concerns.
"All those skill sets are fantastic, I just think parents need to be careful about privacy controls about cyberbullying," Dr. Nava Silton, a clinical psychologist, said.
ID Tech says teaching online safety is a core part of their programs.
Another concern is that kids will spend the whole summer sitting at a computer instead of playing sports and swimming.
"I think you need to get your kid outside, have him or her interacting with other kids," Silton said.