Is School's Out! free for parents?

Yes. Always free for parents. No credit card, no paywall. We may eventually charge camps for Featured placement — never families.

How do you pick which camps to list?

Every camp is manually reviewed. We check the website, confirm the ages and location, and only list operators running real programs in the neighborhoods we cover.

Does School's Out! take a cut of camp bookings?

No. We're a directory, not a broker. Parents book directly on the camp's website. Camp operators keep 100% of every booking.

Will my family data be shared?

No. Kid data stays on your device per our COPPA-aligned design. The only data we store on our server is the email you give us for closure reminders — and you can unsubscribe any time.

What if my kid's school isn't listed?

Use the city request form. Tell us the city (and your email) and we'll email you the moment we add your school or expand coverage.

Who built School's Out!?

Noah (age 8) and his dad, in Coral Gables. Noah sketched the first version on a napkin during Spring Break 2025 — when every camp was already sold out.

Should I list on all directories or pick a few?

List on the free ones — submission cost is one hour each, and discovery is non-zero. Skip the paid editorial slots unless you have a specific campaign in mind. The leverage move is to focus your maintenance time on the 2-3 directories that send you actual booking inquiries, and accept that the others are passive backlinks.

Why does School’s Out! list for free?

The parent-side use case (school-break planning) is the engagement driver; the operator-side directory monetizes through Featured listings later, not free-tier submission fees. Free basic listings stay free forever because the marginal cost to us is near zero and the marginal value to parents finding their camp is high.

Which directory should I list on FIRST if I only have one hour?

For a Miami-Dade operator: School’s Out! (free, Miami-specific, EN+ES, AI schema). After that, Munchkin Fun if you serve south Miami-Dade or Macaroni KID if you want newsletter exposure to your neighborhood edition. Yelp claim only if you already have 5+ reviews.

Where Miami operators should list (and what to expect from each directory)

Disclosure first: this is published by School’s Out!, one of the directories in the comparison. The math below is honest about what each platform does well and where each one falls short — including ours. The goal is to help operators decide where the marginal hour of submission effort goes.

School’s Out!

Free forever for basic listings. Miami-Dade only. Bilingual EN/ES coverage included. Article + LocalBusiness + Offer schema on every camp page for AI-engine citation. Unique distribution channel: per-school-break detail pages surface camps with confirmed availability the moment parents search a closure date. Limitations: smaller monthly reach than national directories; Featured tier in early rollout.

Macaroni KID

Hyper-local newsletter network — each Miami edition has its own publisher who curates and emails. Listings range from free shout-outs to paid editorial mentions (varies by edition, typically $50-200/mention). Strong for the wave-1 parents already on the newsletter list. Weak for organic search discovery; not strong for AI-engine surfacing.

Munchkin Fun

Florida-wide kids-activity directory. Strong Miami presence. Listings are typically free with paid Featured upgrades. Weak Spanish-language coverage. Listing detail pages are clean but light on per-break-window structured data.

ActivityHero

National marketplace with built-in booking. Free to list; takes a per-booking commission (~7-15% depending on tier). Heavy on the booking workflow; lighter on the discovery surface for parents already in research mode. Best fit: operators willing to trade margin for the booking infrastructure.

KidsOutAndAbout

National kids-activity site with regional editors. Free basic listings. Older interface; lighter on schema and SEO. Variable Miami coverage depending on editor activity. Worth submitting to but probably not your top channel.

Yelp

General business directory. Local-search advantage. Free claim of business profile. Heavy paid-ad upsell pressure once claimed. Reviews matter here more than listing copy — if you have a strong review base, claiming + maintaining Yelp is worth the hour; if you do not, focus elsewhere first.

Operator decision matrix

For a Miami-Dade short-break / summer operator with limited marketing time, the rough priority order is: (1) School’s Out! and Munchkin Fun together (Miami-specific reach, EN+ES via SO!, free); (2) Yelp claim if you have reviews; (3) Macaroni KID submission for the editions covering your neighborhood; (4) ActivityHero only if the per-booking commission is acceptable; (5) KidsOutAndAbout if you have leftover time.