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Camp Galileo
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Beyond the face paint, colorful tutus and chicken cheers, Galileo instructors help campers unlock the innovation skills they’ll need to thrive—creative problem solving, brave risk-taking and persistence in the face of challenges. Each outrageously fun activity is a carefully crafted opportunity for your camper to grow their innovator’s mindset, becoming more visionary, courageous, collaborative, determined and reflective. Our activities also encourage campers to practice the Galileo Innovator’s Process, the series of steps below that are inspired by the teachings at Stanford’s d.school and help campers turn their ideas into reality.
Here’s how your Nebula practiced the process and mindset to create a strong drawbridge for their castle and how you can keep encouraging them to innovate all year long.
| Identify the Goal | Challenge: How might we build a drawbridge that can support a wheelbarrow carrying 20 sticks? |
| Generate Ideas | They discussed ways to reinforce a paper drawbridge using paint stirrers, tape and craft sticks. |
| Design | They planned their first design. |
| Create Test Evaluate Redesign |
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| Share | Everyone shared their strong drawbridge designs to celebrate and get ideas for the future. |
In this project, your camper also practiced being DETERMINED by working hard to make the drawbridge as strong as possible and not giving up until they reached their goal.
Researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education put our programs to the test in multi-year study. They found that Galileo kids tend to:
CREATE: The next time your family wants to create something (a garden, a birthday party, a school project…), adopt a bias toward action by jumping in, even if you don’t have it all figured out. Sometimes it can feel daunting to put those first proverbial marks on the page, but once you start working, you’ll be amazed at what you can create.
3 ways you can support the ongoing practice of DETERMINATION:
Here’s how your Star practiced the process and mindset to create a catapult and a grappling hook and how you can keep encouraging them to innovate all year long.
| Identify the Goal | Challenge: How might we create a catapult that can launch a grappling hook to pull down a castle wall? |
| GENERATE IDEAS | They discussed ways to adjust a catapult to launch objects with different trajectories. |
| DESIGN | They planned their first design. |
| CREATE TEST EVALUATE REDESIGN |
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| SHARE | Everyone shared their catapults and grappling hooks to celebrate and get ideas for the future. |
In this project, your camper also practiced being DETERMINED by working hard to make the best possible catapult and grappling hook.
Researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education put our programs to the test in multi-year study. They found that Galileo kids tend to:
DESIGN: The next time you make something as a family (a Halloween costume, a new room layout, etc. ) find a way to quickly explore your best ideas before you get started—a quick sketch, model, role play, etc. Whatever it is, it won’t be perfect…but it will jump-start the creative process, accelerate learning about what will and won’t work and inspire more ideas.
3 ways you can support the ongoing practice of DETERMINATION:
What’s something you’ve done that took determination? What made it challenging? How did you feel when you accomplished it?
Why is it important to be determined when you’re creating or trying new things?
Take a break or (ask for help!) to re-energize before jumping back in.
Celebrate incremental wins on the way to your final goal.
Here’s how your Supernova practiced the process and mindset to create grasping arms for their theropod and how you can keep encouraging them to innovate all year long.
| IDENTIFY THE GOAL | Challenge: How might we create at least two buckets to find one that can fire at least 15 feet? |
| GENERATE IDEAS | They discussed ways to cut and shape cardboard to achieve different bucket designs with different geometries. |
| DESIGN | They planned their first design. |
| CREATE TEST EVALUATE REDESIGN |
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| SHARE | Everyone shared their most effective bucket, to celebrate and get ideas for the future. They noticed that if the throwing arm rested at an angle of 45° or less, a bucket with steeper sides was more effective, and that if the throwing arm rested at a wider angle, a shallow-sided bucket threw farther. |
In this project, your camper also practiced being COLLABORATIVE by seeking inspiration and sharing hand design ideas with other campers building the same type of dinosaur.
Researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education put our programs to the test in multi-year study. They found that Galileo kids tend to:
EVALUATE & REDESIGN: The next time you complete something you do regularly (cook dinner, go on a hike, have a playdate, etc.) think of two stars—things that went well—and one wish—an opportunity for improvement. The “2 Stars and a Wish” strategy is a great way to evaluate something you created and make a plan to do things even better the next time.
3 ways you can support the ongoing practice of COLLABORATION:
Here’s how your Meteor practiced the process and mindset to create a fun and exciting game that uses the water blaster and how you can keep encouraging them to innovate all year long.
| IDENTIFY THE GOAL | Here’s how your Meteor practiced the process and mindset to create a fun and exciting game that uses the water blaster and how you can keep encouraging them to innovate all year long. |
| GENERATE IDEAS | They brainstormed game elements including goals, levels, constraints and themes. |
| DESIGN | They planned their first design. |
| CREATE TEST EVALUATE REDESIGN |
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| SHARE | Everyone played each other’s games in a round robin format. |
They celebrated their games and water blaster designs and got inspired for the future iterations.
Researchers from the Stanford Graduate School of Education put our programs to the test in multi-year study. They found that Galileo kids tend to:
IDENTIFY THE GOAL: The next time you set goals as a family, create a vision board. Cut out, draw or print images that help you get specific about your goal, what it will take to achieve it and the end state. By envisioning your goal in detail it will become less abstract, more achievable and increase your chances of turning your vision into reality.
3 ways you can support the ongoing practice of COLLABORATIVE:
What is something you’ve worked on collaboratively? What was it like working with others? How did you help the team? How did others help?
Why is it helpful to collaborate with others when creating new things?
Stay in constant communication, so everyone’s ideas can help shape the outcome.
Stay open and flexible—collaboration changes ideas, and that can be a good thing.