Investigate STEM summer camp offerings

1/19/2023

Science, technology, engineering, and math will captivate participants in these USN Summer Camp offerings.

To register for the camps listed below and view the full camp catalog, visit the website here.

By Sierra Smith, Communications Specialist

Explore space, build robots, or design video games — with over 65 unique summer camps to choose from, these STEM-centered offerings are sure to be the highlight of every science and math enthusiast’s summer.

Minecraft Adventure

Grades 1-4

Registration fee: $425

Instructor: Camp Brick

Dates:

June 5-9 (all day)

June 12-16 (all day)

Creep calm and build Minecraft. This all-day camp will combine the building of Minecraft building block sets with the electronic gaming in Minecraft Education Edition on iPads. Your child will learn how to reach advanced player levels in both Survival and Creative worlds as well as build the latest in Minecraft LEGO sets. Campers may choose to bring their own iPad or laptop with the Minecraft Education Edition Free downloaded. (optional)

Bloxels Video Game Design

Grades 1-5

Registration fee: $200 plus $5 materials fee

Instructor: Former Lower School Technologist Mark Littlefield

Dates:

June 5-9 (a.m.)

June 12-16 (a.m.)

June 19-23 (a.m.)

Love playing video games? Would you love it even more if you could make your own? Learn how to build your own characters, enemies, and worlds with an awesome Bloxels EDU. Create waterfalls, lava pits and enemies that fly. You’ll have a blast working individually and in groups to create an ultimate video game. Students must bring their own iPad or tablet from home with Bloxels EDU before arriving at camp. Campers will need to bring a charger, a device with the Bloxels app already installed.

Full STEAM Ahead!

Grades 3-6

Registration fee: $175 plus $10 materials fee

Instructor: Sixth Grade Math Teacher Ida Fields

Dates:

June 5-9 (a.m.)

June 12-16 (a.m.)

June 19-23 (a.m.)

Put your pencils and worksheets away. This is not your typical weeklong STEAM experience. Say goodbye to classrooms, and let's move math and science outside. Engineering activities and science games teach students that math applies to many real-world topics. Students will solve puzzles, observe mathematical patterns in nature, and form teams to do group science and engineering projects with a focus on problem solving while bringing together a powerful combination of topics and techniques. The varied and interactive games and activities give students a window into STEAM careers. Let’s go Full Steam Ahead! Campers will need to bring a snack, water bottle, and a great attitude.

On Your Mark … Get Set … Build!

Grades 1-4

Registration fee: $225

Instructor: Camp Brick

Dates:

June 5-9 (a.m.)

June 19-23 (a.m.)

This camp is designed for the child who is already building LEGO sets with instructions independently. Campers will choose to build from hundreds of themed sets such as Star Wars, CITY, Ninjago, CHIMA, Atlantis, Agents, and more. Campers will be seated by age group and will be encouraged to build independently as well as in small groups on larger projects such as the Death Star and the Taj Mahal. The Camp Brick staff will assist your child if needed and offer helpful building tips as your child builds and displays their creations. A few times during the week, campers may enjoy some social games and contests for prizes.

Fun With Robotics

Grades 1-4

Registration fee: $425

Instructor: Camp Brick

Dates:

June 12-16 (all day)

Get ready to explore the exciting world of robotics. During this camp your child will be introduced to programming and building of several models with building blocks in the WeDo Family, LEGO BOOST, LEGO Spike Prime, and MINDSTORMS family of programs that move and make sound. This class combines education with fun and excitement. Basic knowledge of gears, motors, and pulleys will be introduced. Campers will be separated by grade level and be able to advance through many levels of programming.

Mad Scientists

Grades 2-4

Registration fee: $380 plus $25 materials fee

Instructor: Fifth Grade English Teacher Lauren Gage

Dates:

June 12-16 (all day)

Do you like to get down and dirty with science? During this camp you will transform into a mad scientist and be challenged with a variety of awesome science experiments and hands-on activities. You will also have full access to our invention space to create whatever your heart desires. Finally, you can look forward to enjoying more traditional camp activities including arts and crafts, outdoor fun, games, swimming, and free choice time. Campers will need to bring a swimsuit, towel, goggles, sunscreen, water bottle, and snack.

Little Explorers, Big Builders

Grades: K

Registration fee: $225

Instructor: Camp Brick

Dates:

June 12-16 (a.m.)

Rising kindergartners will explore STEAM concepts and beginners coding through creative play as we use a wide variety of building materials to complete daily building challenges. LEGO bricks, playdough, gears, pulleys and more will be used to promote creativity and imagination. Introduction to coding with iPads will also be introduced.

Sensory Science

Grades: 1-2

Registration fee: $175 plus $25 materials fee

Instructor: Lower School Learning Specialist Caitlin Tisch

Dates:

June 12-16 (a.m. & p.m.)

Experience chemistry and physics in action as you play and explore with your senses. Mix, create, and play with rubbery goop, rice and ice, colorful spaghetti, homemade kinetic sand, and fluffy cloud dough. You’ll also make sensory bottles and bins to enjoy at home. Delight in all the fun, benefits, and hands-on gooeyness of sensory and tactile play — it’s okay to get messy in Sensory Science! This is a great avenue for helping to meet your child’s sensory needs, while also boosting self-regulation. Please dress for a mess.

LAH Architecture

Grades: K-2

Registration fee: $230

Instructor: Emma Bradford of Little Art House

Dates:

June 12-16 (a.m.)

Do you have a little builder? This is the perfect camp for them. We'll be looking at architecture and architects as well as designing and building our own dreamy constructs, rooms, and so much more.

Rubik's Cube Camp

Grades: 5-8
Registration fee: $175 plus $15 materials fee

Instructor: Middle School Educational Technologist Kari Luecke

Dates:

June 12-16 (a.m.)

June 26-30 (a.m.)
Get cubing! Students will be introduced to the world of Rubik’s. From learning to solve cubes using algorithms to tackling the speed cubes, students will have the opportunity to use a variety of cubes and set goals for solving times. Students might also find themselves participating in a group mosaic using the cubes. No previous experience necessary.

VEX IQ Robotics Open Design

Grades: 5-8
Registration fee: $225 plus $10 materials fee

Instructor: Middle School Educational Technologist Kari Luecke

Dates:

June 12-16 (p.m.)

June 26-30 (p.m.)

Enter the world of competitive level robotics. Students will follow the design process as they progress through this fast-paced crash course on everything VEX IQ. Teams will work together to build and drive a robot to meet certain game objectives, as they are introduced to entry-level programming skills. No previous experience necessary.

Build To Launch

Grades: 2-5

Registration fee: $425

Instructor: Camp Brick

Dates:

June 26-30 (all day)

Blast off for a week of out of this world fun and space exploration using LEGO bricks. Build To Launch is an exploration of the technology, STEAM concepts, and careers behind the Artemis I mission to the moon. Campers will get a chance to design and build their own space vehicles, plan their mission to the moon, and complete daily challenges based on several different types of careers associated with space exploration

Once Upon A Time: A Fairy Tale STEM Camp

Grades: 2-3

Registration fee: $200 plus $25 materials fee

Instructor: Second Grade Teacher Betsy Hoffman ’83

Dates:

June 26-30 (a.m.)

Read it, draw it, build it, and solve it. Your engineer will be inspired by fairy tales and their characters. Campers will spend each day focusing on a tale and solving a problem. Individual challenges and team challenges with choices of materials will keep everyone busy all week. STEM challenges help children develop creativity, higher level thinking skills, and problem-solving skills while integrating science, technology, engineering, and math. Children use these challenges to plan, design, engineer, and invent something using simple supplies.

Storybook STEM

Grades: 1-2

Registration fee: $180 plus $20 materials fee

Instructor: Lower School Learning Specialist Caitlin Tisch

Dates: $180 plus $20 materials fee

June 26-30 (a.m. & p.m.)

In Storybook STEM, we will have challenges related to our favorite books that address science, technology, art, engineering, and math. Get creative and engineer solutions such as a better way for Rapunzel to escape her tower, a parachute for Jack and the Beanstalk, a redesign of baby bear’s bed for Goldilocks, or new houses for the Three Little Pigs. Campers will read “Egg Drop” and have their own egg drop experiment and so much more. Experiment and work together to imagine solutions to our stories. If at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again!

Summer Math Extravaganza

Grades: 3-4

Registration fee: $150

Instructor: Lower School Math Specialist Iloire Nye

Dates:

June 26-30 (a.m.)

July 10-14 (a.m.)

Time to delve into the joy, fun, and playfulness of mathematics! Join Lower School Math Specialist Iloire Nye as you puzzle, play games, solve problems, and find math in the most surprising places. Campers will need to bring sunscreen, a water bottle, and a snack.

Fill In The Blank!

Grades: 3-4

Registration fee: $200 plus $25 materials fee

Instructor: Second Grade Teacher Betsy Hoffman ’83

Dates:

June 26-30 (p.m.)

Is your child curious? A problem solver? An inventor? It will start with a guiding question. Making a food truck, designing the ideal summer camp, building a tiny house, solving a community problem … the sky’s the limit. Your inventor will pose a question and work to answer it. Your child will spend the week asking, imagining, planning, and creating. All campers will receive a bagful of mystery items and challenge cards to complete a design challenge with a team in the first part of the day and then work on their individual project for the rest of the day. This week will be chock full of interacting, critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaborating.

Space Rangers

Grades: 1-2

Registration fee: $175 plus $25 materials fee

Instructor: Lower School Learning Specialist Caitlin Tisch

Dates:

July 10-14 (a.m. & p.m.)

Blast off on an intergalactic adventure! Get up close with outer space as you create constellations, moon craters, and balloon rockets. Explore NASAs website and watch live videos from space. Make your own Mars helicopter and much more! You’ll even sample some astronaut ice cream.

Register for the aforementioned camps and view the full catalog here. USN strives to provide families with the most dynamic and varied summer programming options for students K-12.

Each camp session lasts for one week. We offer half-day camps and a few full-day programs. Morning sessions run from 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Afternoon sessions are held from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Supervised lunch is from 11:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m. for campers staying for both morning and afternoon sessions. Families can send a lunch or purchase from USN’s Sperling Cafeteria. In addition, aftercare is from 4 to 5 p.m. for $50/week.

USN Summer Camps will be closed Monday, July 19 for Juneteenth and Tuesday, July 4 for Independence Day. Four-day camps are offered those weeks.

Registration is open now to the USN community and general public. Email Summer Camps Director Jason Shuster with questions or for more information.

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