Tech & Design Exploration

Tech & Design Path

For kids entering grades 2-5

This is our most popular program and the ideal starting place for kids who want to explore a wide range of fun technology. For the first three days, campers will explore Video Game Design, Digital Animation, Stop-Motion Animation, 3D Art & Printing, 3D Architecture, and Coding/Programming Fundamentals in Scratch and Python, and will then choose to dig deeper or continue to experiment. Campers will create several small projects, such as a digitally-animated movie, a playable video game, or a 3D print of an original creature — all of which they can take home. They will also build the foundations for success with technology: the inspiration, confidence, and enthusiasm to continue learning and creating. This program has more than enough content to keep campers excited and learning for up to six weeks; many campers sign up for two or more sessions and are able to take advantage of our multi-session discounts.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse are recommended.

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Minecraft Exploration

Minecraft Path

For kids entering grades 2-5

One of our most popular programs! It isn’t just for video gamers – it’s for explorers, designers, and builders, too! Campers will explore the basics of art, architecture, animation, and the patented Redstone circuitry on Minecraft’s Education Edition platform. They will build their own Minecraft world, collaborate on a friend’s world, design animated characters with command blocks, and take home digital files so that they can keep exploring their world after camp has ended. They’ll also gain an understanding of how one of the most popular platforms in the world works.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual uses Minecraft: Java Edition.

Coding Exploration

Coding Path

For kids entering grades 2-5

One of our most popular camps, this is the ideal starting place for kids who want to code, but don’t quite know where to start. Campers will begin by learning Scratch, a drag-and-drop system, where they will learn key coding concepts and build a small video game or cool animation. After day three, campers will apply these same coding concepts in Python, a professional, yet easy-to-learn scripting language. For 2nd and 3rd graders who want to dig deeper, we recommend signing up for two sessions. For 4th and 5th graders, this camp is an ideal on-ramp to Python 101. Come find and develop your passion for coding!

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Stop-Motion Animation Movie Production

Tech & Design Path

For kids entering grades 5-8

For kids with a passion for making videos or movies, this program teaches the techniques and principles of stop-motion animation and digital editing. Campers will produce a short animated movie, imagining their movie’s plot, planning the plot using a storyboard, designing characters, writing and recording dialogue, building backdrops, adding music and sound effects, and using HUE animation to bring it all together. This program supplies kids with production experience and tech skills to be independent creators. Their finished movie can be uploaded to YouTube!

Prerequisites: Love of telling stories!

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Digital Animation

Tech & Design Path

For kids entering grades 2-4

This program is ideal for kids who are excited by animation and have an emerging curiosity about how digitally-created characters are produced and animated. They’ll explore the principles of digital animation and basic movie editing through planning, designing, animating, and ordering — supplying them with a foundation for exploring storytelling and visualization. Campers will complete their own, digitally-animated scenes using the easy-to-navigate program Stykz. They’ll design unique characters and storyboards, and map out their plot/action, adding background music and sound effects. Their finished movie can be uploaded to YouTube.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

FLL Academy

Robotics Path

For kids entering grades 3-5

Calling all those fascinated by robots who want to gain valuable skills to compete in the FIRST LEGO League. Campers will explore how robots are built and programmed, collaborate within a team, and explore advanced robotics concepts essential for FLL competition such as controls, loops, line follower, and gyro turns. Campers will build an operational robot from the LEGO kit, learn to code using a simple drag-and-drop interface, and command their robots to carry out tasks and movements. Student’s code, and videos of their robot in action are theirs to keep.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse; prior experience with LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual uses the Virtual Robotics Toolkit.

Junior FLL Academy

Robotics Path

For kids entering grades 1-3

This program is perfect for early elementary kids who are interested in robots and want to get ready for the Junior FIRST LEGO League. Campers will build an operational robot from the WeDo 2.0 LEGO kit, and program it using the WeDo2.0 app. They’ll engage in an array of cool science challenges, and get primed for Junior FIRST LEGO League (FLL).

Videos of each camper’s robots in action are theirs to take home, as is the foundational knowledge of how robotics work!

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Arduino Robotics Engineering

Robotics Path

For kids entering grades 5-8

Calling middle schoolers experienced in robotics! Come build your own autonomous robotic smart car. Using basic circuitry and frame components, construct your robot’s base, attach an Arduino microcontroller, integrate sensors, and bring it to life with your code. Enable your robot to avoid obstacles, follow a line, and follow IR remote control instruction. Take a big step towards college-level STEM knowledge in hands-on mechanics, critical thinking, programming, and engineering for use in exploring future tech pathways.

Prerequisites: Some prior experience with block-based coding and LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 or similar kits

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual uses TinkerCad Circuits.

Robotics & Electronics

Robotics Path

For kids entering grades 5-8

Robotics and Electronics collide in this course designed for experienced robotics campers. We will begin with the foundation of robotics—building contraptions with motors and sensors—then write code in MINDSTORMS EV3 to make gadgets work. Next, we will program an interactive, microcontroller — Circuit Playground Express(CPX) — using Microsoft Makecode, to detect motion, temperature, light and sound, and blink neopixel LEDs. Come level up your hardware and coding skills!

Prerequisites: Some prior experience with robotics is recommended

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual uses the Virtual Robotics Toolkit.

Advanced Minecraft

Minecraft Path

For kids entering grades 2-5

Looking for the next level of Minecraft challenge? Come create amazing builds to share with your friends. Using Redstone circuitry and commands, campers will create complicated mechanisms like a mini-game, roller coaster or Rube Goldberg-like machine. They will also design on paper a short “adventure map” with puzzles and challenges, and then build it in Creative mode. While having a blast, they’ll be learning real engineering concepts including design, circuitry and mechanisms.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse; prior Minecraft experience and love of Minecraft!

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Advanced Minecraft Accelerated

Minecraft Path

For kids entering grades 6-8

Bring your Minecraft builds to the next level using Redstone, commands, modding tracks, and MCreator software! Campers will show off their new skills by building complicated mechanisms and Rube Goldberg machines with long chains of reactions. And they’ll design and build a substantial “adventure map” with puzzles and challenges using custom-made blocks from MCreator. While having a blast, campers will be learning real engineering concepts including design, circuitry and mechanisms.

Prerequisites: Prior Minecraft experience and love of Minecraft!

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Minecraft Modding with MCreator

Minecraft Path

For kids entering grades 5-8

Come take a deep dive into Minecraft modding! Always a big favorite, using MCreator software, campers will alter (“mod”) existing characters and designs, and build new, highly customized armor, tools, and building blocks. Then, they’ll step up to create more complicated modded objects such as volcanoes, waterfalls, new dimensions, or even a game version of themselves! They will examine how their new designs — saved in their own Minecraft world — influenced gameplay. This camp is perfect for anyone who loves Minecraft and wants to have even more control over what they can build.

Prerequisites: Prior Minecraft experience and love of Minecraft!

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Coding Expedition

Coding Path

For kids entering grades 6-8

This is the ideal starting place for kids with little to no coding experience. Campers will learn key coding concepts while exploring three different coding languages. We start with Scatch, a simple drag-and-drop program that can still stretch to build complex programs. Days two and three, we apply the concepts learned in Scratch to Python, the most accessible professional scripting language. And, we finish with Java, another popular professional language. Along the way, campers will build one or two small video games and a few short scripts. This camp has enough material to keep kids engaged for two or three weeks, and makes an ideal on-ramp to Python 101 or Java. Come find and develop your passion for coding!

Prerequisites: None

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Coding with Python 201

Coding Path

For kids entering grades 4-8

Want to design and code video games? This is the place! Campers begin by modifying existing platformer video games, then step up to building a 2D video game from scratch. Using PyGame, Python’s library of computer graphics and sound effects, campers will learn code structure by tinkering with alternate physics and game designs, integrate new features into their worlds, use advanced data structures, explore and leverage PyGame libraries, and produce a playable advanced project to take home. Turn your passion for video games into hard core coding capabilities!

Prerequisites: Python 101 or equivalent experience

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Coding with Java

Coding Path

For kids entering grades 4-8

Java is one of the most popular professional coding languages and a great one to know if you want to build apps or video games. Campers will learn Java in the Greenfoot integrated development environment platform and, by week’s end, produce a 2D simulation or interactive playable video game to take home! Along the way, they’ll learn Java’s syntax, object-oriented programming and code structure, and how to take advantage of Greenfoot’s built-in sprite library. They will discover how programming concepts they’ve learned in Scatch and/or Python are also expressed in Java. Come gain skills, passion and confidence to accelerate your computer programming education and career!

Prerequisites: Scratch experience or Coding Exploration is required. Python 101 or equivalent is recommended

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Girls STEM Exploration

Girls STEM Path

For girls entering grades 2-5

Girls get to explore technology in a STEM environment all their own! You will explore a wide range of fun technology, find out what options are out there, and begin to identify your areas of greatest passion. Together, we will explore Video Game Design, Digital Animation, Stop Motion Animation, 3D Modeling & Printing, 3D Architecture, and Coding/Programming Fundamentals in Scratch and Python. Often in collaboration with your fellow campers, you will create several small projects, such as a digitally-animated movie, a playable video game, or a 3D print of an original creature to take home. This program has more than enough content to keep campers excited and learning for many weeks and we offer discounts for campers signing up for multiple sessions. Join us and build the foundations for success with technology: the inspiration, confidence, and enthusiasm to do even more!

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Girls STEM Expedition

Girls STEM Path

For girls entering grades 6-8

Come join us in a girls-only environment, where you and your fellow campers will explore a broad range of tech, with fun and challenging project options in Video Game Design, Digital Animation, Stop Motion Animation, 3D Modeling & Printing, 3D Architecture, and Coding/Programming Fundamentals in Scratch, Python, and Java. This program is ideal for girls with an interest in tech who want to find their passion as part of a supportive and fun camp team. Together, we will all build the foundations for success with technology, along with the inspiration, confidence, and enthusiasm to seek out future pathways!

Prerequisites: None

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

2D Video Game Design Fundamentals with Flowlab

Video Game Design Path

For kids entering grades 2-5

Does your child love video games? In this camp, we will channel that passion by having them learn to build their own! Together with like-minded campers, they will build simple video games step-by-step, experimenting with specific tasks and movements, and sharing gameplay with their peers, while learning important STEM concepts of design, problem-solving, and trial/error. They will learn to use the accessible game design program Flowlab — no coding required — a platform used by many professional game designers to prototype new builds. All games will be stored online, so campers can gain access after camp ends, and, if their game is approved, upload it to Google Play or the Apple Store!

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

Video Game Development 101-102 (2 weeks)

Video Game Design Path

For kids entering grades 5-8

Calling all middle schoolers looking to expand on their game-making skills and ready to begin the process of coding video games! Kids will experiment with animated sprites and multiple stage construction, and plan, design, and code their own playable 2D video game utilizing the logic-based interface of Flowlab. This unique and focused deep dive into video game development runs for TWO weeks. Campers will produce their own fully-realized video game which they can continue to build at home and, if their game is approved, upload to Google Play or the Apple Store! Come make new friends, have fun, and build the foundations for success in collaboration and technology.

Prerequisites: Basic keyboard skills and ability to use a mouse; some prior video game design experience is recommended

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm

3D Game Development w/ Unity & C#  (2 Weeks)

Video Game Design Path

For kids entering grades 7-12

Virtual Reality and 3D games are the next exciting tech frontier, with many popular games built in the Unity engine! Become a 3D gaming pioneer in this TWO week program for grades 7-12. Students will explore best practices with 3D design, code a game in C#, and build 3D environments using the Unity Engine that can be later showcased in virtual reality. Campers will take home a copy of their VR game and a hands-on, foundational education in a rapidly-expanding industry loaded with potential career pathways.

Prerequisites: Prior text-based coding experience with Python, Java, or C#

Available: LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual is focused on the Unity portion.

Minecraft Expedition

Minecraft Path

For kids entering grades 6-8

Minecraft isn’t just for video gamers – it’s for explorers, designers, and builders, too! Campers will explore the basics of art, architecture, animation, and the patented Redstone circuitry on Minecraft’s Education Edition platform. They will build their own Minecraft world, collaborate on a friend’s world, build logic gates and redstone contraptions, design animated pixel art using advanced commands, and take home digital files so that they can keep exploring their world after camp has ended. They’ll learn several key STEM concepts and gain an understanding of how one of the most popular platforms in the world works.

Prerequisites: None

Available: On Campus Full-Day 9am-4pm; LIVE Virtual Full-Day 9am-4pm; Half-Day 9am-12pm or 1-4pm. LIVE Virtual uses Minecraft: Java Edition