Camp Programs
Keep kids excited about STEM all summer long!
Science Explorers provides many summer STEM camp programs options for elementary-aged students featuring award-winning hands-on projects. Students have lots of fun completing activities and take-home experiments. Our lessons are standards-aligned with research-based practices designed for student achievement.
Host a Camp at Your Location
Science Explorers partners with multiple organizations throughout the summer to bring hands-on science enrichment to your local community. We offer junior camps and camp topics for ages 4 to 6 and elementary camps for and camp topics for ages 7 to 11. Our STEM camp programs for elementary students run Monday through Friday, with full-day and half-day options and several topics to choose from. We provide the camp materials and can handle registrations and staffing (in certain areas).
Learning Objectives for Our Summer Camps
Our STEM summer camps help students foster a lifelong love of science through learning objectives such as:
- Cultivating a natural curiosity: Our camps provide a safe and stimulating environment that welcomes and encourages children to be curious. We have children complete activities that prompt questions and inspire them to explore and understand the world.
- Hands-on exploration: We encourage children to learn by doing. Instead of passively listening to lectures, campers will actively participate in experiments, projects and challenges to make learning more memorable and deepen their understanding of scientific concepts.
- Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills: STEM is more than memorizing facts. It is about developing the ability to think critically and solve problems creatively. We will present campers with real-world challenges requiring them to analyze information, test solutions and draw conclusions.
- Fostering collaboration and teamwork: We design all camp activities to be collaborative to encourage campers to work together, share ideas and learn from each other. Many of our activities foster teamwork and communication skills and help students enhance their ability to appreciate diverse perspectives.
- Building confidence and resilience: Science doesn’t always go as planned! With our camps, campers learn to embrace failure as a chance to grow while developing resilience and a growth mindset to grow their confidence.
- Promoting lifelong interest in STEM: The ultimate goal of our camps is to spark a lifelong interest in STEM. We make learning fun and engaging to encourage campers to pursue STEM-related studies and careers.
Alignment With Elementary STEM Curriculum
Our commitment to quality STEM education is evident in our programs, which align with established curriculum standards. Some ways Science Explorers summer camps connect with elementary STEM standards include:
- Adherence to national standards: We design our programs to align with national standards like the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These standards provide a framework for STEM education, emphasizing a three-dimensional learning approach.
- Integration of science and engineering practices: Our camps actively incorporate science and engineering practices such as asking questions, defining models and analyzing data to give kids a solid foundation in science they can use throughout the school year and in real-life situations.
- Emphasis on crosscutting concepts: While our camps may focus on different scientific disciplines, they all integrate crosscutting concepts that provide a framework for understanding and connecting knowledge around different areas of science. Some concepts our camps cover include patterns, cause and effect and system models.
- Real world relevance: We connect STEM concepts to real-world problems and applications so students see the relevance of the lessons and how they can apply them to their communities and beyond.
- Support for 21st-century skills: Our camps help children develop highly valued 21st-century skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration.
What We Cover in Our STEM Camps
Our STEM camps cover the following topics:
- Physical sciences: Kids will explore concepts like properties of matter and energy.
- Life sciences: Some of the many concepts our camps cover include organisms, evolution and ecosystems.
- Earth and space sciences: Kids will investigate and explore concepts like the solar system.
- Engineering, technology and applications of science: We will introduce kids to concepts like engineering design and technology solutions to help them learn more about the impact of technology on society.
Programming That Aligns With Your Grants
Working with Science Explorers removes the barrier of finding programming that aligns with your financial goals. We can customize your summer camp to meet your grant requirements and offer synchronous and asynchronous options.
DIY Summer Camps
If you need flexibility, our DIY Summer Camp is the solution. You can choose from over 30 of our favorite lessons to add STEM literacy to your current camp curriculum.
The DIY Program includes stand-alone, individually packaged materials needed for each lesson, instructor-led video lessons, digital instructions, a family communication page and staff training if needed.
Our Philosophy: If it’s not fun, we’re not doing it!
Whether it’s an after-school club or a summer STEM program for elementary students, Science Explorers can make science cool and exciting through our interactive, hands-on format.
Our Philosophy: If it’s not fun, we’re not doing it!
Whether it’s an after-school club or summer STEM camp, Science Explorers can make science cool and exciting through our interactive, hands-on format.
