How Is Camp Invention 2025 Designed for Differentiation?

Inspired by National Inventors Hall of Fame^® Inductees and developed by our dedicated education team, the all-new 2025 Camp Invention^® program, Discover, supports differentiated learning among primary and intermediate students so families can send both a kindergartener and sixth-grade student to the same camp. As children assemble, design and collaborate to complete various STEM challenges, each experience can be adapted to facilitate age-appropriate challenges that empower creative problem solving for K-6 students.

In four versatile experiences, Camp Invention makes instruction differentiation easy, catering to children’s diverse learning styles and talents to ensure inclusive and transformative engagement with hands-on STEM. The camp curriculum provides educators with differentiated guided questions, fostering effective discussions in each module as campers develop an I Can Invent^® Mindset. Read more to learn how Camp Invention’s newest program honors more than one pathway to discovery.

Claw Arcade^™

Campers gain hands-on experience with functional design by exploring the biology of claws and drawing inspiration from nature to engineer their very own arcade claw machine from cardboard. As children create marketing materials and design a trademark-worthy logo, they learn important entrepreneurship concepts to hook investors.

• Primary participants receive integrated tips as additional support.
   
• Additional space is given to primary participants when assembling their claw machine.
   
• Intermediate participants are challenged to invent a grabber that reaches across a greater distance.
   
• Intermediate participants partake in advanced Take Apart reassembly.

Penguin Launch^™

Children embark on an eco-expedition in Antarctica and become penguin experts. Along the way, they discover connections between the technology and training used to explore both Antarctica and outer space. While encountering ice floes, microplastics in the water or stranded penguins in need, students investigate magnetic forces, explore the inner mechanics of a Snow-ver (a rover equipped with a robotic research penguin) and study penguin flippers to design a DIY launcher that will propel their penguin on a planet-saving mission.

• Primary participants receive age-targeted explanations for the results of their water samples.
   
• Program facilitators loosen screws for primary participants to help build confidence in tool use.
   
• Intermediate participants explore the full Antarctic terrain with their Snow-ver while visiting each emperor penguin colony.
   
• Intermediate participants dock their penguin to the satellite so that it is held on by the magnets in its feet.

Illusion Workshop^™

As students step into the mesmerizing world of optical illusions, they discover the science behind special effects. Campers find inspiration from theme park technology and innovative role models like National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductee Lanny Smoot to make their own moving pneumatic props, use illusion techniques and build a Spin-o-scope^™ to demonstrate the illusion of motion.

• Select challenges are modeled for primary participants prior to the onset of the activity.
   
• Primary participants receive prepped materials to assemble their Spin-o-scope.
   
• Intermediate participants investigate afterimage illusions and take a deeper dive into the science behind them.
   
• Intermediate participants create an advanced version of the “Pepper’s Ghost” activity.

In Control^™

Campers assemble their very own custom control panel with a transmitter and receiver — complete with decoding Morse code clues! As they experiment with magnetic north using a compass, campers discover the science behind GPS systems and take control of their innovative journey by applying problem-solving skills to complete a rescue mission in a pine forest, detour to fix a flat tire and build stormproof shelters.

• Primary participants receive additional support while decoding Morse code clues.
   
• Primary participants receive further explanations for new vocabulary words.
   
• Intermediate participants practice reading ordinal directions in addition to cardinal directions.
   
• Intermediate participants create their own Morse code clue.

Bring a Summer of Discovery to Your District

The all-new Camp Invention 2025 program, Discover, is filled with exciting, hands-on STEM experiences designed to bring student ideas to life and meet each student where they are. Bring the all-new Camp Invention 2025 program to your district this summer – contact us today.