Innovation at Every Age
While no two weeks at Camp Galileo are exactly alike, each one includes the same engaging elements. In addition to games, ceremonies, songs and other camp classics, rising K–5th graders participate in three enriching rotations every day, while 6th–8th graders dive into one immersive weeklong project.
From Innovator's Studio to Idea Lab to Outdoor Adventure, every rotation is tailored by age and designed to unlock the innovation skills campers need to thrive. Read on to learn more.
Innovator's Studio
Where they build creative confidence turning their ideas into individual, polished STEAM projects to take home every week (see project highlights below).
Amusement Park Party
Step right up to a playful park of your own design! Try your luck making a ball-in-a-maze game and steadying a teetering acrobat on a balance beam. Create a colorful, wearable concession box stocked with clay whirly pops, textured popcorn and painted cotton candy.
Animal Extravaganza
Celebrate your furry friends with cool creature creations. Learn about sturdy construction and patterning as you design a pull pet to roll with you and a rocking animal you can really ride on. Craft a cool case to hold collars, food bowls or any other pet accessories you can imagine!
Coral Reef Quest
Dive into the extraordinary Great Barrier Reef. Construct a vibrantly painted 3D reef and a mix of crafty creatures to go with it: a clay-sculpted nudibranch, a dumbo octopus with articulated arms and a festive cut-paper Christmas tree worm designed to pop out of its “coral” home.
Mission to the Moon
Blast off on an innovative adventure to infinity and beyond! Design a boldly decorated wearable jetpack and a handy handcart for collecting moon rocks. Investigate aerodynamics as you shoot for the moon with a high-flying rubber band rocket.
Rail Rides & Road Trips
All roads—and rails!—lead to fun with a week full of things that go. Construct your own rail-ready train complete with smooth axles and sturdy cargo holds. Design colorful cars and a play car wash complete with working scrubbers to drive them through.
Superhero Adventure
Get geared up to save the day as the superest superhero ever. Craft an identity-concealing mask, a bold logo and a utility belt with pockets for custom gadgets. Design rotating dials and hinged switches for a master control panel to mount in your own awesome hero vehicle.
Outer Space Odyssey
Discover the secrets of the final frontier! Make an aerodynamic, air-powered PLOP rocket and an array of watercolor moon targets to launch it at. Fashion foam shapes into an out-of-this-world alien puppet and pick up intriguing space specimens with your own spring-loaded grabber.
Toymaker's Workshop
Come out to play for a week of fun and games! Investigate circuitry as you wire up your own spectacular spin art machine. Make a cool swinging-creature toy powered by magnets. Construct a super-strong archery bow to pair with a playful set of arrows and custom targets.
Castles & Kingdoms
zEmbark on a legendary journey to a land of kings, queens and quests. Construct your own castle with strong walls, a working drawbridge and an array of royal buildings. Dream up a kingdom to reign, then create a colorfully decorated crown or festive headpiece to represent it.
Dinosaur Park
Go prehistoric with fiercely fun projects! Use foam etching and 3D construction to create a colorful dino mask with head crests or horns. Engineer a theropod claw that uses pulleys to grab and grip. Design a rolling dinosaur with a hinged jaw designed to devour.
Inventor's Garage
Transform your inventive ideas into fun, functional reality. Wire up a working vacuum (or blower!), complete with mounted motor and custom handle. Learn construction techniques to craft a super sturdy, uniquely personalized chair strong enough to sit in.
Tropical Rainforest Trek
Explore the wonders of the Amazon rainforest. Design a vibrant symmetrical print to transform into the flapping wings of a tropical bird. Master color and tint mixing to create a leafy scene, then engineer a linkage system to make a curious creature pop out of your forest’s foliage.
Treehouse Architects
Get your building skills in tip-top shape as you create the treehouse of your dreams. Use woodcraft and hot-glue skills to engineer an elevated abode complete with a working pulley system and cool custom features like ladders, lookout towers, flower boxes or flags.
Dazzling Light Designers
Design a luminous accent lamp to brighten any room. Master woodcraft and papier-mache techniques as you construct a 3D frame and layer it with tissue paper to create a colorful shade. Add fairy lights to illuminate it and a strong, stylish stand to support it.
Animal Bot Builders
Let your imagination run wild with a robotic cardboard animal you design yourself. Customize your creature with 3D facial features and a textured stamped exterior. Engineer a pneumatic system and attach an offset motor to add elements that make your bot move, articulate or vibrate.
Secret Safecrackers
Lock down your valuables with a safe of your own design. Learn the ins and outs of dial and air-powered lock mechanisms as you decide how to fortify your invention. Decorate—or camouflage!—your super-secure safe and add lights to make the treasure inside sparkle.
Mechanical Scene Makers
Master the art of machine making as you invent an original automaton. Build a cam, cam follower and cam shaft to power your device, then design a unique scene and colorful foam characters that come to life with the turn of a crank.
Pinball Whiz-Kids
Put your own twist on a classic arcade game. Learn about levers and fulcrums as you engineer flippers and a spring-powered launcher. Pick a custom theme, then create and decorate ramps, a backboard, bumpers, obstacles, lighting and more to make your game uniquely awesome!
Escape Room Experience
Break out of a Galileo-designed escape room, then use what you learn to design your own. Investigate a range of puzzle types and flows. Experiment with padlocks, hydraulics, simple circuitry, magnets and more as you build out custom features. Create a captivating theme, along with clues and interactive objects for your players to find. Invite your fellow designers to puzzle their way out of your uniquely mysterious room.
Custom Go-Karts
Get behind the wheel of your very own go-kart. Learn how to handle handsaws, drills, rasps and files. Work with hand and power tools to assemble your kart’s wheels, axles, steering column, hood and seat. Dream up an original design, crafting functional features like doors or foot brakes and adding personalized styling with acrylic paints. Debut your kart at an end-of-week show, then roll home in your one-of-a-kind ride.
Remote Controlled Bots
Kick it with your own remote-control robot. Invent an original character, then bring it to life with sculpted-foam features and custom attire. Switch gears as you work on your robot’s electronics, building a remote-control transmitter, wiring the motor and adding attachments to give your creation new athletic abilities. Put your bot to the test in a series of mini challenges, from ball games to obstacle courses.
The Projects Are Just the Beginning
Galileo projects are awesome. But while campers are making their arrows and alien puppets, they’re also doing something more—they’re learning how to innovate. Fueled by a process inspired by the Stanford d.school, Galileo helps campers learn essential innovation skills, like how to creatively solve problems, fearlessly try new things and persist in the face of challenges.
The products are cool. But the byproducts—the newfound confidence, vision and grit you’ll start seeing in your kids after only a short time—are what make Galileo so much more than your average summer camp.
What Families Say
Experience the Magic of a Galileo Summer
Join us this summer for innovation, friendship and fun!