Kids no longer have to leave home and stay overnight to be a part of the camp experience.

Registration is underway for Eastern 4-H Center’s day camp programs scheduled for July 20-24 and Aug. 3-7 for children ages 5 to 12. The cost is $100 per child.

Chase Luker, the center’s program director, said the day camps involve full days of regular camp activities, such as canoeing, archery, crafts and rock climbing.

He said the program allows kids to experience camp without the stress of an overnight stay, with which many parents and young children are uncomfortable.

“A lot of times summer options run out,” Luker said. “It’s a service we offer to the community.”

About 50 children participate in each day camp, and some of them return for overnight camps in the following years, he said.

Hannah Boaz, 19, a Pittsboro resident and student at Appalachian State University, is working at the camp for a second summer this year. She attended the center’s overnight camps for four years before coming back to work there.

“(Day camps are) more affordable for families,” she said. “I feel like they have the same experience.”

Boaz said the camps at the 4-H center were some of her favorite camp experiences as a child, which is why she kept coming back.

Now that she’s older, her favorite part of working at the center is being able to work with the kids and experience the different cultures she comes across. The goal is to have the campers not want to go back home by the end of the week, she said.

Luker said most of the staff members who work at the camps are college students or recent high-school graduates. He said the camp has a crowd of campers from all over the state, including Beaufort, Dare, Washington and Chowan counties as well as international staff members.

The Eastern 4-H Center is owned by North Carolina State University and is overseen by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“We do it because it’s fun,” Luker said. “If it’s not going to hurt, why the heck not?”

The day camps offer a wider variety of adventures than most other day camps do, and feedback from the campers and their families has been positive, he said.

“You know if it weren’t we probably wouldn’t do it,” Luker said. “It’s a great way for kids to kind of try out camp. … It’s one of those things where you want to gain familiarity with our program.”

For more information and registration forms, contact Emily Kirkman at 252 797-4800 or epkirkma@ncsu.edu.