Summer can be a boring time for kids with nothing to do. So the Camden Parks and Recreation Department came up with a way for kids to get out and enjoy themselves at some places they don't usually get to go.

The skateboarding camp took a group of kids ages 10 to 15 to a variety of skate parks in the area this week.

Brett A. Clark/Daily Advance (ENLARGE)

Bo Griffin, 15, skates the half pipe at Fun Junktion during the Camden Parks and Recreation Skateboard Camp, Wednesday.

"The kids really wouldn't be doing anything else," Ben Carter, the camp's director and a programmer for CPRD, said. "They get the chance to go skating all week."

Carter said that the group started Monday with a trip to the Patrick Memorial Skate Park in little Washington. Tuesday, the group went to Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach. Wednesday, it was Maple Skate Park and Fun Junktion, followed by a trip on Thursday to the Nags Head YMCA.

"We went up to Mount Trashmore, and I think they really enjoyed that." Carter said. "A lot of them liked the bigger ramps. Some of them really don't like the ramps and stuff so much."

Carter said that the kids had not been to all of the places they were to visit during the week and he hadn't either.

"I haven't been to little Washington, so that was pretty cool," Bo Griffin, 15, said. "I like them all pretty good. I like the Washington Skate Park real well, because they have a nice bowl and a pretty good street park in there, too."

"I've only been to one new one, Mount Trashmore," Bradley Wilson, 12, said. "It was fun."

Carter said that he was able to teach the kids some new things, but admits that some of the group could teach him a thing or two.

"There is some instruction," Carter said. "Some of the kids will come up and ask, 'how do you do this?' or 'can you show me how to do this?' Some of the skaters are way better than me, so they're teaching some of the younger ones how to do things."

Showing the others some new tricks was enjoyable for Griffin.

"I love it," he said. "I like to teach kids tricks all the time."

The younger members of the group seemed receptive to picking up tricks from the older skaters.

"Pretty much, a lot," Wilson said he learned during the week. "Anything I can see, I'll try."

But regardless of the age or skill level, Carter believes that the camp was a success.

"Some of them skate a lot and some of them don't," Carter said. "But I think they're all having a good time."

Contact Thom Chalfan at tchalfan@coxnc.com