Summer Camp’s New Look : Recreation: It seems there’s something for every interest, from space to computers to ancient cultures to volunteering.

The phenomenon started in the late 1800s. Immigrants who lived in the city wanted their kids to taste the country--to play in open fields and swim. Now, 100 years later, the National Camp Advisory Service in New York reports that nearly 5 million kids will head off to one of 8,000 summer camps nationwide this year, staying for a week or for the duration.

Recreational camps with a wide range of outdoor activities still dominate the scene, but specialty camps are increasingly easy to come by.

Here is a small sampling of what’s out there for non-traditionalists:

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The Cottonwood Gulch Foundation expeditions

Thoreau, N.M.

Established in 1926

(800) 246-8735

Cost: Four-week session, $1,800; seven-week session, $3,530.

For almost 70 years, the Cottonwood Gulch Foundation has been teaching youths, ages 12 through 17, about the ancient cultures of the Southwest. Using New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado as a laboratory, the campers spend their days silversmithing, molding pottery and beading. They also explore Native American culture through hikes and archeological digs.

After two weeks at the base camp in New Mexico’s Zuni Mountains, where the campers live in cabins and eat in a mess hall, the expedition begins. Campers head by van to the Four Corners region, to check out the ruins of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, hike the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and tour the gold- and silver-mining districts. During this trek, they live in tents and cook over camp fire.

“The experience changed the way I view life,” said Brandon Neubauer, a two-timer from Menlo Park. “The trip fostered my love for the outdoors, made me less judgmental and made me more open-minded.”

Brandon, 17, made a silver money clip and bracelets during his first summer and hiked to a 14,000-foot peak in the Colorado Rockies during the second summer.

“The second year I went as a completely different person,” he said. “I felt a real oneness with the land.”

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National Computer Camps

Based in Orange, Conn.; programs in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Ohio

Established in 1978

(203) 795-9667

Cost: $525 for the first week; $475 for second week.

Joshua Goldfarb can program a computer, build databases, create graphics, connect to the Internet and hook up to a modem.

At age 11, the Cupertino, Calif., sixth-grader is navigating his way around his third computer. His dad bought him his first at 6. Now, Joshua’s 8-year-old brother, Brendan, uses that one.

The Goldfarb boys are so into computers that their mom sent them to the National Computer Camp at Santa Clara University last summer. The brothers lived separately in the dorms, ate in the cafeteria with college kids and spent their days on the information superhighway. This year, they have registered for a two-week session.

The co-ed computer camp caters to kids ages 8 to 18. Beginner and advanced instruction is taught by college-age counselors for a minimum of five hours daily. Computer labs, where Joshua spent most of his time, are open from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Brendan played tennis and board games in the afternoons.

Both Goldfarbs prefer computer camp to the recreational camp they used to attend. The only downside of camp, Joshua said, was working on the computers in pairs.

But the Goldfarbs wouldn’t spend this summer any other way. “We get to use computers a lot and that’s what I like to do,” Brendan said.

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The Biking Expedition

Based in Henniker, N.H.; offers trips nationwide

Established in 1973

(800) 245-4649

Cost: $1,495 to $3,995 for sessions lasting from one week to 64 days

Sebastian Barreveld of Peekskill, N.Y., pedaled his five-speed mountain bike from Seattle to Portsmith, N.H., last summer. Heidi Berkowitz cycled a rented bike through the Canadian Rockies.

They had their pick of trips through the Biking Expedition, which offers adventures ranging from road trips through Cape Cod to mountain biking in the Southwest, with tent camping, hostel living and outdoor cooking.

For Heidi, the trip was a learning experience. She learned to change her tires and slept in a tent for the first time. She also did some of the toughest cycling of her life.

“There was one path that was eight miles straight uphill in the middle of nowhere,” said Heidi, 16, of Sharon, Mass. “It was awful.”

The co-ed experience helped Heidi build her endurance, although she suffered bouts of exhaustion. “I really learned to push myself,” she said.

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Space Camp

Based in Huntsville, Ala.; programs in Huntsville and Titusville, Fla.

Established in 1981

(800) 637-7223

Cost: $500 to $750 for one-week sessions

Jeffrey Porter was 11 when he first attended Space Camp. Now, as a high school sophomore in West Los Angeles, he says his annual voyage to Huntsville, Ala., means more every year. He hopes to make a career in aerospace and he’s made many friends who return to camp annually.

Jeffrey has built a rocket, served as pilot on a simulated space mission and sampled life in another orbit, all at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, where Space Camp--a temporary home each year to almost 25,000 students ages 10 to 18--is headquartered. As Jeffrey gets older, he acknowledges that the camp food doesn’t seem to taste as good and that he has outgrown the desire to wear a space suit, but the overall experience keeps getting better.

“There’s still a lot to learn,” Jeffrey, 16, said.

The outer-space theme is closely observed here. Bathrooms are called waste-management areas, windows are Earth bay observatories, and water fountains are known as H20 dispensers.

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The Co-Ed Volunteer Work Camp

Based in New York; offers programs nationwide

Established in 1950

(212) 683-6178

Cost: A six-week session is $2,000

In Phoenix, the volunteer campers built a duplex for two low-income families and helped at a school for homeless children. Others replaced siding and patched roofs for the elderly in North Dakota. And Eugene, Ore., now boasts three restored homes and a mural--thanks to a team of teen-agers.

Each year, the American Jewish Society for Service puts high school juniors and seniors to work throughout the United States. Some of them rough it in tents or church basements. But Tamara Spira of Palo Alto, Calif., lived in a dormitory at the state School for the Blind in North Dakota last summer. The accommodations, she said, were very luxurious, unlike the homes they repaired.

“I was around people who were in a completely different situation from me,” she said. “It was a very humbling experience.” Tamara, 17, had hoped to go to Oregon, her first choice. Still, the experience was rewarding.

“I met people who wanted to help others,” she said. “It was very fulfilling.”

More Information

American Camping Assn., Southern California Office, 22231 Mulholland Highway, No. 212, Calabasas, Calif. 91302; (818) 223-9232.

American Camping Assn., 5000 State Road 67 N., Martinsville, Ind. 46151; (317) 342-8456.