Exploratorium Summer Camp

Thank you for a great summer camp experience! This blog entry is meant to give you a sense of what summer camp was like this year. Below, you’ll find photographs of the campers, examples of camper projects, and descriptions of our activities and philosophy.

Choice, Creativity, and Multi-Modality
The freedom to choose how to engage, and for how long, is one of the key principles of the Exploratorium.

In summer camp, our campers have the ultimate level of choice during their free time with the Exploratorium exhibits every morning.

Working together and building with the shapes at the geometry playground.

Group Experience
In addition to the independence campers are given around their learning, they also practice being a part of a group. Summer camp is a great time to practice skills such as staying together, talking and listening in turn, and sharing.

Campers line up and get ready to head back into the classroom.

Campers listen to a story about snails.

Time Outdoors
Each day, campers spent part of the day outside, either near the lagoon or at the beach. During this time, campers had the chance to run around, play, and observe wildlife such as brown pelicans, mallard ducks, and herons.

Playing in the sand at the beach.

Enjoying their snack at the lagoon.

Sitting down and enjoying the sun, snack, and each others company.

Some of the campers like to look at the many birds and turtles at the lagoon with binoculars.

Activity Time
During activity times, the classroom was set up with activity stations centering around a theme for each day. The campers were allowed to move from one station to another at their own pace, choosing to engage with a variety of hands-on materials for exploration, experimentation, and art-making. For example, on light and shadows day, there were activity stations set up at which campers could draw their own shadows, make shadow puppets and enact stories, and experiment with light sources, mirrors, and colored shadows.

RAINBOWS

We looked at and experimented with making rainbows using light, prisms, CDs, diffraction gratings and flashlights. Campers also had the option to draw and paint rainbows.

WIND

Campers used a variety of materials to build things and then test out them in the wind tubes.

Camper watches as her object floats up and out of the wind tube.

STOMP ROCKETS

We made stomp rockets out of paper, playing cards and tape and then launched them outside. We filled an empty 2-liter bottle attached to a hose with air, placed our rocket on the end of the hose and then the campers stomped hard on the bottle, sending the rockets high into the air!

FLOWERS

Campers dissected flowers, labeled the parts and made flower collages with the petals.

SHADOWS

Playing around with shadow and light at ‘light island’.

PARACHUTES

We made variety of parachutes and tested them by dropping them off of the 2nd floor of the museum.

SHAPES

Exploring symmetry with mirrors.

Experimenting with shapes in a kaleidoscope.

Working on a painting about shapes.

GARDEN SNAILS

Observing her snail closely and draws a picture of it.

MARBLE MACHINES

Building a series of ramps for his marble and then testing it out.

Building a cool maze out of cardboard tubes, boxes and tape.

At this table the campers drew their own imaginary mazes.

Campers showing off their maze drawings.

FIVE SENSES

Campers try to find the matching smells, some smells they discovered were cinnamon, coffee, lemon, mint and garlic!!

Discovering the amazing sounds a metal hanger can make when you listen to the vibrations through a piece of string.