Creative Works – Art

Do you like to think outside the box? This camp is a young designer’s dream come true! With an emphasis on the creative process and design thinking, campers will learn about form, structure, the elements of design and three-dimensional concepts as they construct their own 3D original products. Not only do campers immerse in art, but they learn about art careers and product design. Stretch your imagination and join us in this creative workshop environment!

• Develop your concept and sketch your design
• Explore sculptural forms with recycled or repurposed materials, clay, wire, metal etc.
• Imagine and define a product line for a company of your choice
• Learn basic skills and creative aspects of hand-building with clay
• Create with fibers and 3D soft construction
• Re-envision the use of found objects and create something new for future use
• Discover how design affects all products

EXTREME Art! – Gr. 4-8

Take art to a new level! Whether you are an accomplished young artist or someone who thinks they can’t do any art, we promise you are in for a hands-on 3D fun experience with wood burning, tie-dyeing, drawing, printmaking, weaving, sewing, and clay sculpting that is truly EXTREME! Use charcoal to draw on aqua-board creating unique mixed media designs. Learn to use a special pyrography (wood burning) tool to “draw” designs, patterns and texture into wood and dried gourds. The ancient Greeks called it “writing with fire”. After the design is burned in, shading and coloring can be added. Discover the art of printmaking, how to carve linoleum blocks into stamps, create a masterpiece using natural items, and a collagraph abstract print. Dye fibers using natural indigo and tie-die a t-shirt to the EXTREME! Design and sew your own creature and sculpt 3D projects with clay. Create faux vase using a heat embossing tool and weave your own tapestry with card or hand looms from simple to complex. So much to experience…too little time!

Couturiers: Sewing & Pattern Making- Gr. 4-8

Sewing is design thinking at its finest, artist and engineer!  No experience needed. Our young couturiers will learn to translate an idea to a design on paper, sew by hand and on a machine as they convert 2D ideas to 3D projects. As they draft patterns, construct with different fabrics, and learn sewing techniques, campers will increase their math, spatial cognition, and engineering skills. Using hand-sewing techniques and various sewing machine stitches, campers create custom projects throughout the week: beanie, tunic, costume, house shoes, Chef’s Apron, tote bag, oven mitt, zipper bag and more! Sewing machines, fabric, and all sewing tools are provided. Our young couturiers will take home their fashion creations and their sewing kit! Maximum of 10 students.

Manga Maker Comics – Gr. 4-8

Make your own high-quality Manga Comics using ComiPo manga software!  Campers can easily create their own unique stories and situations using the library of 3D character models! Explore narrative elements, like point of view, character expressions, and social justice themes such as environment, healthcare, human rights, gun safety or world hunger. Throughout the week, you will learn Manga drawing techniques and look at examples of Japanese Manga. Create comics full of action and suspense by building a story arc with a beginning, middle, and end. With over 100 unique body poses and facial expressions to choose from, along with many background images, items, sound effects, word balloons… you have everything needed to make a visually impressive and professional looking Manga Comic come to life.

Intro to Sketching – Gr. 5-8

Sketching is something you can do anywhere anytime with just a pad and pencil. Sketching is freehand drawing that focuses on capturing the essence rather than going into details and it takes patience to learn! Students will explore proportion, perspective, light and shadow as they sketch basic shapes in life drawing. Learning to draw the cube, the cylinder and the sphere are fundamental shapes artists need to know. Discover different mark making methods and how to use soft and hard graphite pencils and a blending stick. Each student will take home their sketch book with their showcase of sketches as well as their drawing pencils.

Digital Art w/Wacom Tablets Gr. 5-8

In this camp, campers learn to digitally draw on the computer using a Wacom tablet and to use the digital art tools that come with it. Discover how to structure a piece and use the tools provided by the program to draw and experiment with colors and blending techniques. This is an incredibly creative medium as there are fewer limits when compared to traditional art. This camp is geared towards young artists who are interested in exploring this art media, who want to start a digital art portfolio or who just want another creative outlet to express themselves! Understanding digital art tools and programs has become an increasingly important part of art, design, and creative industries.

All Things (Harry Potter) Magical – Gr. 6-8

The legend lives on and we will celebrate Harry’s birthday this week! Let your imagination run wild, from hippogriffs, dragons, house elves, basilisk, and owls, to sorting hats, dementors, potions, spells…and all things magical, come join us for the time of your life! Search for Horcruxes throughout the week, team up for our Harry Potter Trivia Game, and design a broom. Paint Hogwarts castle, sculpt Dobby or Kreacher house elf, draw mythical creatures, make a Marauder’s map, brew up Butter Beer, create your own wand and Death Eater’s mask, Patronus, chocolate frogs, and lots, lots more! Bring your favorite HP book(s) to camp to freshen up on spells, characters, and discuss analogies to the muggle world today. So much magic to do in only one week! REQUIREMENT: READ THE BOOKS!!

New! Culinary Arts & Food Science – in our NEW KITCHEN!

Bakers Delight! Gr. 4-8

The best smell is bread, the best savor is salt, the best ingredients are fresh! Bake wonderful goodies from scratch using fresh ingredients! From traditional dinner rolls to protein packed savory cottage cheese dill bread, whole wheat cinnamon rolls, and sweet potato biscuits, learn the simplicity of making fresh bread. Add to that quiche muffins, fruit scones, and turnovers. Then discover how to create basic white and yellow cake and flaky pie crusts. Is there more, you say? Oh yes, we finish the week off with some specialties like, Naan, Monkey Bread, and Peach Fruit Cobbler! Throughout the week, campers discover the art of baking and learn kitchen safety and clean-up skills. Your child will go home with their recipes planning to be the next great baking chef!
Team learn cooking safety, organization techniques, and clean-up skills.

Foodie Camp- Gr. 4-8

Are you a food lover, someone who is interested in food adventures, making dishes from scratch and using organic ingredients from local farms? Then prepare for the unusual, Foodie Camp is the perfect experience for any kid who loves to eat, wants to try different foods, and discover essential cooking techniques! Our “foodie” recipes teach aspiring young chefs to follow a recipe, cook, bake, sauté, stir-fry, make baguettes, soufflés, crepes, and decadent desserts, create a classic French roux for many uses, and discover vegetables they did not know they liked! For extra fun, campers will learn the art of pickling and preserving, what to do with lots of lemons, the intricacies of how “chocolate” is made, and how to “churn” butter. Using local organic ingredients, we will make healthy entrees, vegetable & salad dishes, and lower sugar desserts from scratch. Throughout the week, campers will sip freshly made ginger root tea as they discover the art of cooking, learn kitchen safety and clean-up skills. Campers take home their recipe cards. On the last day of camp, parents come to eat goodies prepared just for them!

Engineering, Robotics & Programming

New! Robot & Machine Builder Gr. 4-8

Campers will:

1. Discover engineering, science of robots and design technology though building and taking home robots and various machines:

• Robotic Arm Edge (identical in nature to the robots being used in industry today).  
• Meta Transforming 4 model Robot
• Cybercrawler robot

2. Discover circuitry as you use Makey Makey to complete electrical circuits with household items.
3. Construct and assemble other DIY projects and machines

Learn engineering skills such as crafting, tinkering, assembly, building, design, circuitry, and electronics that allow you to go on to build more sophisticated robots and machines!

Architectural Engineering- Gr. 5-8

Don your hard hats and get hands-on creativity flowing as you learn the complexities of designing structures from buildings to bridges. Investigate how ancient architectural breakthroughs led to the fundamental design elements of today. From walls and arches to post-and-lintel building techniques, use hands-on manipulatives to inspect and duplicate design elements from around the globe. Replicate some of history’s most famous designs (from castles to the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Parthenon), then uncover how different societies made the stylistic, artful, and structural aspects of construction and architecture. With new buildings today reaching higher into the sky, architects and engineers are constantly working through questions of structure and style. Develop an understanding of the real-world applications of architecture and gain an appreciation for everyday structures!

VEX Robotics Club Gr. 4-8

Girls & boys welcome to the NEXT level of robotics! VEX uses snap-based rods, planks, beams, game controller, multi-port brain, optical sensors, touch LEDs, and a Smart motor. Construct a motorized Catapult, a Drift car, Sumo bot, video game controllers, pinball wizard, robot basketball, or create your own robotic design. Engage in game-based engineering while working in teams to build and code a competition robot that will drive autonomously, play soccer, navigate through mazes, pick up objects, solve tasks and deal with obstacles. Using our VEX IQ Educational Robotics System, learn the fundamentals of robotics and engineering. VEX allows for creative freedom and encourages teamwork, leadership, passion, and problem-solving among students. YOU can be a coder, a coach, a designer, and a creative thinker. Learn, Build, Compete!

JavaScript Programming – Grades 4-8

Learn to program in JavaScript with a focus on creativity and confidence, a next level up from SCRATCH! Utilizing a video coding platform and web programming language designed for tweens & teens, students create videos, games, graphics, animation, filters, and their own “meme”. As they create, students see a thumbnail of the project and code behind it side-by-side. As they make changes to the code, they can see the effect in the thumbnail. A very exciting and fun way to learn to program! Students gain problem solving skills and learn about the core programming concepts of sequence, functions, variables, and objects.

Game Design

New! Game Maker with StemForged Gr. 4-8

This fun and challenging game design camp teaches skills in programming, digital literacy, animation, and 3D modeling. Using project-based curriculum and user-friendly custom game design software, BlocksmithXR, students are involved in creative game design projects for multiple levels of experience. The software is a 3D creation tool that’s changing the way students discover video games, cultivating critical thinking and problem-solving, and propelling students to excel in game design while deepening their understanding.

Spore Digital Game + Alien Crafts – Gr. 4-8

Discover the wonders of SPORE, a real-time life simulation, digital science game, where you as the player create and nurture your own alien species. From microscopic to macrocosmic life, mold your species through five stages of life: Cell Stage, Creature Stage, Tribal Stage, Civilization Stage, and Space Stage. The fate of your creatures lies in your hands as your actions in each stage will affect the conditions of the next. A secret to the game: Happiness matters! Cooperative actions will form strong allyships while fighting triggers conflict. Learn how cultures develop by interacting with foreign civilizations while developing your own. How will you navigate YOUR galactic adventure?

Projects to add to the fun: Create some favorite aliens to take home. Let your imagination run wild as you venture into other worlds. Draw and paint the Phylorm Villain, design a Zentangle Spaceship, make a Che-F droid, and launch a Cosmic Rocket. So much fantasy to enjoy!

RPG VXAce Game Maker – Gr. 4-8

This never ending game, RPG Maker VXAce, shows campers how to create their very own epic role-playing game in the classic 2D game style like Zelda, Pokemon, Final Fanasy, and Dragon Quest! Create your fantasy adventure with playable zones and maps, develop characters with interactions and dialogue to fill your world, create allies and implement enemy encounters…all to achieve your ultimate quest! RPG Maker focuses on developing a story and creative worlds instead of mechanics and game physics, so that campers jump into creating their adventure immediately. Campers learn what RPG is, the history of RPG, all the basics, the character, and all aspects of the game. Make your role-playing games come to life! Once you have finished your world you can export your game to a portable EXE file that can be played on any Windows system. You can share it with your friends, your family, or even the Internet. Flash Drive is included.

Ultimate Minecraft Modding – Gr. 4-8

Required: Experienced with Minecraft and interested in PROGRAMMING.  This MODDING camp can be taken repeatedly! Kids NEVER reach the end as campers are challenged to write more complex code and build more mods.

Did you know that Minecraft was built using Javacode? If you aspire to be the greatest Minecraft warrior of all time, this camp is for you.  While building a variety of mods (games within the game) using a code editor that supports both drag-and-drop and text-based programming in a single environment, you learn valuable real-world programming skills. The code editor allows campers to learn at their own pace while participating in a group and teaches fundamental concepts like algorithms, data types, variables, and loops. Explore your creativity through real computing and have a blast sharing mods with your friends!
NO Minecraft or Modding account is needed for THIS CAMP as we have licenses ready for in-class use.With our licenses, campers can work in groups and interact with each other in their game.

ROBLOX Modding & Game Design – Gr. 4-8

Become a coding Ninja! Learn to make your own Roblox games first using drag and drop programming and then learn to write real Lua code with its kid-friendly conventions to program more advanced games and 3D worlds. Code, test, and publish your own Roblox games. From building your own Obby to launching a tycoon game, we will teach you the skills you need to build games inside the Roblox platform. NO ROBLOX Modding accounts are needed for THIS CAMP as we have licenses ready for in class use. 

Science

New! Genetics & Bio-Medical Engineering- Gr. 5-8

LOVE SCIENCE? Then join us for hands-on-learning experience in biology, medicine, physiology, and engineering while solving a variety of medical cases: 

• If two parents have blue eyes, how does their baby have brown eyes? Discover genetics and learn concepts of heredity and basics of human inheritance! Using BrickLab Genetics construct strands of DNA and watch as intricate coding of genes and the impact of DNA mutations come to life!
• Discover how a prosthetic or artificial limb works. Design a model leg for an elephant, beak for an eagle and a prosthetic device for a fish.
• Learn how helmets keep our brains from turning to mashed Jell-O! Engineer a helmet design for a crash-test dummy and discover how it works to protect the brain when skating, biking, or boarding!  

This camp teaches an inquiry-based design process and guides students through problem solving as they work through open-ended problems creatively!

Engineering Food! Gr. 5-8

Campers will design and engineer a solar oven, ice cream, and vertical farm; create Gummy candy out of seaweed, test types of honey; and learn about composting for better food and soil. Using an inquiry-based design process, campers work through open-ended problems creatively.

• Discover how ice cream gets to be so creamy and delicious and process engineers create and improve recipes to control the color, texture, flavor, and shelf life of a product.
• Discover how ice cream gets to be so creamy and delicious and process engineers create and improve recipes to control the color, texture, flavor, and shelf life of a product.
• Use natural flavors and colors from Beet juice powder and beta-carotene, to make and mold Gummies from seaweed powder!
• Build a model vertical farm as a potential solution to food scarcity and imagine what the future could bring.
• Test out composting indoors or outdoors and make side-by-side comparisons between different materials. Composting strengthens the soil, reduces waste, and promotes healthy plant growth.
• Try out 4 different types of real honey and where it comes from. Food doesn’t grow in supermarkets!