Themes

Designed by expert curriculum directors. It’s hands-on, using real tools and simple materials to make something extraordinary.

Spark

Grade 1 – 5

  • Disruptive Design

    Design and build a circuit board using conductive paint, copper tape and/or wiring. Experiment with pressure switches, LEDs, and buzzers! At the end of the week, link all the creations to form an interactive mural.

    • Build interactive art and inventions that function individually and contribute to a larger installation.
    • Incorporate elements to trigger the five senses.

  • Home Away from Home

    Shelter is one of our basic needs, right along with food and water. In this theme, you will be challenged to deconstruct your assumptions of what “shelter” means. By investigating shelters of all sorts, from tipis to igloos to geodesic domes, you will engineer and prototype your own shelters to withstand a whole host of reimagined living environments from Mars to the North Pole.

    • Strap on that tool belt as you invent and construct amazing new shelters of your design.
    • Test key structural principles underlying various shelters to adapt to different environments.

  • Da Vinci

    Want to walk in the footsteps of a famous STEAMer? Many know Leonardo the artist, but what about Leonardo the inventor? He has been credited with early concepts of flying machines, armored vehicle, diving suit and parachute, and enhanced designs of bridges, catapults and many others.

    • Test your engineering skills designing and building your own bridges and catapults.
    • On day 5, build a self-supporting bridge that can hold a person!

  • Interacting with Invisible

    How do we “see” the invisible and explain that it is real, that it exists, and learn more about it with our interactions? It’s propulsion week.

    • Use air as an energy resource to make things move.
    • Design and build an air-powered car.
    • End the week with a team stomp rocket challenge.

     

  • Playscapes

    Did you know that playing improves the way your brain functions, stimulates new neuron growth, boosts creativity, improves your relationships with your friends and relieves stress? That’s why we’re building our famous DIY Carnival that is 100% designed and run by you!

    • Design, build, and run your own carnival including all of the booths, games, and prizes.
    • Investigate the meaning and importance of play and find opportunities to incorporate systems of play into everything you do.
    • Explore why logic and rules are needed to create structured play (sports and games) versus non-structured play.
    • Offered the week of 7/1.

Primo

Pre K – K

  • Exploring Light and Shadow

    Our shadows go with us everywhere! But where do they come from? We will observe the sun as a source of light, and explore the cause and effect of light and shadows at different times of the day.

    • Observe the changes to shadows during the course of the day. Synthesize how this relates to night and day.
    • Investigate creativity with shadows – drawing, painting, and shadow puppets will inspire campers’ imaginations.
    • Utilize different multi-sensory light sources such as flashlights, LEDs, light projectors, and even natural light in combination with materials that respond to illumination.
    • Become a scientist as you explore the properties of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials in relationship to light.

  • Sound and Movement

    Sound and movement have been important to humans since the first human discovered dance! This year we will investigate rhythm from a multi-cultural perspective. There is a science to the sense of hearing, but there is also an element of art and social-emotional engagement that is intensely creative.

    • Study how our ears work to help our brains process sound.
    • Develop fine motor skills and rhythm with instruments.
    • Explore through art the close relationship between music and emotions.
    • Let it all go with kinesthetic experiences that will develop your gross motor skills, cognitive processing, and emotional intelligence.

  • Myths and Legends

    Come discover the stories of the before-time. Experience ancient myths and legends, and learn about local Native American folklore. Play with Coyote and Raven while exploring elements of character and theater. Are you a trickster or a hero?

    • Learn about oral storytelling traditions in different cultures.
    • Investigate different versions of traditional fairy tales!
    • Think about character traits in stories, and how to tell a story dramatically.
    • Complete the theater experience writing your own myth, creating characters, rehearsing, and performing for an audience.

  • Marvels of the Natural World

    Slow down and really pay attention. Investigate nature all around us – that we can only see if we look carefully. Insects and spiders, dirt and rocks, leaves and sticks transform with magnification. You can visit a whole new world.

    • Become an entomologist as you study the physical science behind all kinds of creepy crawly things!
    • Expand your critical thinking skills as you compare and contrast humans with bugs, birds, and other kinds of mammals.
    • Experience magnification and the detail it adds to your observation – then use it for art.
    • Explore different kids of artistic expression with natural materials, including Native weaving and pottery!

  • Building and Engineering

    Calling all architects and engineers! Design, build and test your structures as you learn to apply different construction principles. Since working with friends is not only fun but also very helpful in the creative process, you will develop construction strategies in collaboration with your peers.

    • Learn the basic engineering design process as you experiment with balance, gravity, measurement, symmetry, and spatial relationships.
    • Develop your divergent thinking as you prototype different three-dimensional designs in different environments.
    • Play with different combinations of materials including rocks and logs, metal and magnets, and new and recycled materials as you test their impact on your structures.