Camp Invention
What is Camp Invention?
- Who: Curious kids entering grades K-6.
- What: A confidence-boosting STEM summer camp where kids build creative inventions and lasting friendships. Led by qualified local educators, our camps offer new and exciting hands-on experiences every year.
- Where: Over 1,000 camp programs run nationwide in schools, community centers and other local facilities.
- When: Our camps’ dates and hours, including start and end times, vary by location. Some locations offer Extended Day programs to fit families' busy schedules – check your specific site for details. If your local camps don’t offer dates and times that work for you, we also can send an at-home camp experience directly to your doorstep.
- How Much: Pricing for this weeklong STEM summer camp, complete with take-home materials and limitless inspiration, starts at $275. See your local camp for exact pricing.
- Why: To help your child grow their confidence, build problem-solving skills, reduce summer learning loss, improve academic achievement, discover innovative role models and more!
Here’s what an action-packed day looks like with Camp Invention
A.M. Base Camp
Drop off your camper with qualified local educators and Camp Invention Leadership Interns, and they’ll start each day with games that encourage teamwork and spark creativity.
Morning Experiences
Campers take on two creative experiences and enjoy the healthy snacks they’ve brought to help keep their minds moving.
Games & Lunch
Half of the campers head outside — or to the gym — to play action-packed games while the other campers eat the lunch they’ve packed. Then they switch!
Afternoon Experiences
Time for two more experiences that will introduce your child to world-changing inventors, keep them active, and encourage their curiosity and creative thinking.
P.M. Base Camp
The day wraps up as campers wind down with problem-solving games. When you sign out your camper, they’ll tell you just how much fun they had at Camp Invention!
Beyond Camp
The learning doesn’t end when camp is over! While Camp Invention builds long-term skills and traits like creative problem solving, collaboration and confidence, it is also proven to contribute to better school attendance, a higher GPA and improved test scores.
This year’s exciting new program inspires curiosity and helps kids build essential STEM skills through collaboration with friends and one-of-a-kind creative problem-solving experiences. Campers explore hands-on challenges and open-ended adventures designed to encourage new discoveries and bring big ideas to life!
Campers step into the mesmerizing world of optical illusions, where things aren’t always as they seem! They discover how special effects work in art, movies, theater and animation, and they invent moving props with inspiration from real-life inventors behind special effects technology. Tapping into their curiosity, they build their own spinning animation device and become illusion experts, ready to design entertainment experiences of the future.
Campers unleash the power of creativity as they construct their own functional claw machine, exploring physics concepts in easy-to-reach ways. Finding inspiration from claws in nature, they build, test and adapt their clawsome machine, then fill it with novel prizes. Along the way, they pick up entrepreneurship skills and uncover how to hook investors on their awesome new arcade experience!
Campers unlock their imagination as they head to Antarctica to explore penguin habitats in snowy landscapes. With the help of a Snow-ver – a rover equipped with a robotic research penguin – they glide across icy surfaces to enter penguin colonies undetected. To deliver planet-saving eco-messages, they design launchers to propel their own magnetic, wearable plush penguin across the South Pole and beyond!
Campers hit the road for the ultimate trip! They assemble a custom control panel complete with a transmitter and receiver, reference a travel map and explore the use of artificial intelligence in everyday items, such as the GPS. While inventing their way out of bumps in the road, they build confidence, overcome obstacles, and find joy in both the journey and the destination.
Our Parents Say It Best
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“Camp Invention helped my daughter explore in a safe and nurturing environment. It fostered her creativity and build her self confidence!”
Alison F.Easton, PA
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“My grandchild gained knowledge, confidence, friends, a sense of cooperative learning, an openness to others ideas, and an opportunity each to have so much fun while learning!”
Alexa N.Anderson SC
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“My kiddo is typically hesitant to go to camp. But every morning of camp, he was up early with a smile and excited to go. He can’t wait to do it again!”
Amanda H.Richardson, TX
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“My 6 year old struggles with focus in school and tends to forget that learning is fun. We have signed him up for Camp Invention the last 2 years and have seen his excitement for education grow, simply by doing hands-on activities and being fully engaged.”
Courtney S.Lewisburg, PA
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“My son had zero complaints. That's very unusual for him. He loves all the hands-on creative play.”
Beverly L.Akron, OH
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“My son recently attended Camp Invention, and it was an absolutely phenomenal experience for him. The camp’s focus on creativity, problem solving and innovation truly sparked his curiosity and imagination.”
Tara T.Wayne, NJ
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“I had three kids in the program for the first time this year. On the first day they were all pretty skeptical if they would like it. After the second day they loved it. By the end of the program my oldest ... said his new hobby is inventing things!”
Amie J.Ingleside, IL
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“I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect with this camp as it was our first time, but it exceeded our expectations. My son had the best time and was so excited to show off his inventions. It spiked his creativity and he made some friends in the process.”
Jenna M.Lowell, IN
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“This is the first time my son participated in anything like this before. I was concerned that he might not like it due to the long ... day, but he loved it. He said that he was never bored, that he enjoyed making the projects and he made friends.”
Jennifer M.Canton, OH
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“Our son came home every day from camp with an exciting story about what they had worked on that day. He mentioned new names of friends he met at camp and new skills he had learned while at camp.”
Ashley P.New Palestine, IN
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“My child would not stop talking about the activities and making new friends. She looked forward to camp each day and said she didn’t want it to end!”
Ashley S.Paulding, OH
The following sponsors help make our education programs possible:
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
Overdeck Family Foundation
Army Education Outreach Program (AEOP)
Nordson
U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) STEM, Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC)
General Motors
Burton D. Morgan Foundation
United Way of Summit & Medina
Grainger
Camp Invention Parent Donations
John Deere
Shurtape
H.B. Fuller Company Foundation
Community Foundation Lorain County
APS Foundation
Marie Lamfrom Charitable Foundation
ABB
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
The Anschutz Foundation
Walton Family Foundation
