Camp Invention Participants to Investigate Bouncy Ball Science and Explore Innovative Animal Survival Traits
Local children will construct life-sized clubhouses, investigate polymer science to understand balls technology, and explore innovative survival traits of the planet’s W!LDest animals at Camp Invention’s SPARK program this summer.
Created for children entering grades one through six, the Camp Invention program is an exciting, weeklong adventure in creativity that immerses its participants in engaging, hands-on activities in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), as well as history and the arts. “We are focused on STEM subjects that will help the United States address a critical shortage of scientists and engineers in the global workforce of the 21st century,” explains Michael J. Oister, Chief Operating Officer for Invent Now, Inc. “Our programs nurture creative thinking in children, providing them with open-ended opportunities to explore ideas, make mistakes, and reinvent solutions.”
Program participants are divided into age-appropriate groups that are each assigned an enthusiastic counselor to oversee and help engage them in the week’s activities. Qualified, local educators facilitate the curricula, ensuring that a staff-to-child ratio of 1:8 is always maintained.
Each day of the program week, children rotate through five integrated modules that employ creative thinking to solve real-world challenges. Children learn vital 21st century life skills such as problem solving and teamwork through imaginative play.
In this summer’s SPARK program, children will construct life-sized clubhouses made of PVC piping in which to crack puzzling codes and solve a mystery in The Curious Cypher Club™ module, investigate polymer science and create their own bouncy balls to take home in the Bounce! An Atomic Journey™ module, and explore innovative survival traits of the planet’s W!LDest animals in the W!LD: Wondrous and Living Designs™ module. By popular demand, all Camp Invention programs include a module in which children participate in high-energy games that challenge their minds and bodies, as well as a renowned invention module, in which children upcycle pieces and parts of discarded household appliances and other donated materials to create new machines.
Since its inception in 1990, nonprofit Invent Now programming has grown to include nearly 1,500 school partnerships in 49 states. In 2010, more than 70,000 children participated nationwide. The Camp Invention program was created in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which continues to support Invent Now’s noble mission to inspire creativity and inventive thinking in children of all ages.
The Camp Invention program has been featured in Child, Principal, and Better Homes and Gardens magazines, as well as dozens of other educational journals and general publications. The program has also been the focus of National Public Radio’s Science Friday and studied by Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. In a recent survey, 90 percent of parents said that the Camp Invention program helped their children to enjoy science.
Every program participant receives a coveted Camp Invention T-shirt that features clever, new artwork each year. Discounts are available. To register a child for the program or to learn more about Invent Now programming, visit www.campinvention.org or call 800.968.4332.
