Summer rolls in and summer vacation comes right along with it. But while this may mean a break from school, it shouldn’t mean that your kid has to take a vacation from learning, growing and socializing on a whole.
Summer camps are a wonderful way to encourage kids to make friends, work on important life skills and create memories that can last a lifetime. But what do you do at summer camp in the first place?
Camp Galileo is here to deliver an unforgettable summer packed to the brim with creative projects, outdoor adventures and learning activities all in one fun package. From dino excavation to stained glass painting and more, there’s an array of fantastic experiences ahead.
Let’s take a look at the wonderful things your kid can expect at our one-of-a-kind camp.
A World of Creative Exploration
At Camp Galileo, we offer a range of activities for different age groups. This way, you can be sure your child is getting a summer full of unique experiences tailored to them.
No matter what age group your kid falls into, they’ll get to engage in ceremonies, fun skits, singing and camp games. On top of that, campers can enjoy three engaging destinations every day.
Innovator’s Studio
We use STEAM activities to help your child engage in all of the most entertaining and engaging aspects of learning. Every week, they’ll create individual, polished projects that they can take home with them.
Idea Lab
Collaboration is key here. Kids will group up in teams, face fun challenges and work their way through interesting experiments together with their fellow campers, all while learning the importance of making mistakes along the way.
Outdoor Adventure
Outdoor games have always been a huge part of the classic summer camp experience, and it’s no different at Camp Galileo. Kids will get the chance to play exciting outdoor games and work in teams to build cooperation and communication skills. Activities can range from crafting lanyards and face painting to more traditional games like tag.
Each age group will have their own activities in the Innovator’s Studio, Idea Lab and Outdoor Adventure. To give you an idea of what you can expect from the Innovator’s Studio rotation, these are some sample projects:
- Nebulas (K-1st Grade) – Our youngest group may work together on their own superhero masks and ship control panel and finish off with a jump rope challenge.
- Stars (2nd-3rd Grade) – Kids in this bracket may build model theme park rides, have a royal celebration and excavate dinosaurs.
- Supernovas (4th-5th Grade) – Kids in this bracket could create their own carnival games, learn how to paint stained glass and engineer mechanical dinosaurs.
- Meteors (6th-8th Grade) Outdoor Adventure – At this level, kids work on their projects as day and may create remote controlled robots, learn woodworking skills and work on their storytelling chops.
Regardless of your child’s age, they’ll be able to find easy-to-understand, entertaining and engaging activities here that will keep them motivated to learn and play.
Outdoor Adventures and Building a connection to nature and the planet at a young age is critical. Here are just a few reasons why:
- Improvement of physical health – Kids should be getting at least an hour of exercise every day and running around outside with their friends is the perfect way to do it. This gets the heart rate up and provides healthy exposure to the sun.
- Executive function development – These skills include creative thinking, planning, troubleshooting, prioritizing and negotiating. They’re only developed with time and practice, and the best way for this to happen is for your child to spend time with other kids.
Socialization – kids have time to play and enjoy the outdoors during the best time of the year.
Sports, Games and Team Building
Of course, no summer camp is complete without the games. Our outdoor games include classics like relay races and tag, each one fulfilling a few important purposes.
- Socialization – Having time to engage with other kids of their age group is the best way for your child to learn how to navigate all the ins and outs of talking to others, working out disagreements, making friends and figuring out how to treat other people.
- Problem-solving – Hurdles will crop up in every person’s life, no matter how much we want to protect our kids from having to deal with them. If they have an arsenal of problem-solving skills at their disposal, they’ll be able to get through any issue with grit and determination.
- Cooperation – Teamwork, collaboration, and cooperation are all skills that revolve around the same core principles. And these skills are needed at every stage of development (and well into adulthood). Summer camp is the perfect opportunity to learn cooperation at a young age through exciting games and sports.
Naturally, we have all the whimsical fun associated with traditional summer camps. Campers can enjoy singalongs and the comedy of a pie to the face, all while building life skills that they’ll carry with them far beyond one summer.
Learning With A Twist: Educational Activities
No one wants to spend an entire summer feeling like they’re back in school. The events, projects and adventures at Camp Galileo are designed to encourage learning without the dry atmosphere of summer school.
So what do you do at summer camp to spark that creative spark, while simultaneously providing stimulating activities that will keep your child thinking and innovating?
Our STEAM programs strike that perfect balance, combining entertainment with learning. Want to take a look at just a few of our popular activities? We have:
- 3D dinosaur exhibits that kids get to build from scratch
- Engineering activities with a focus on robotics
- Building castles and catapults
Kids get to dive into the nitty-gritty of the science, math and engineering principles behind everything from dinosaurs to robots. Then, they’ll get to flex their newfound knowledge by using it in fantastic projects with a tangible result that they get to take home with them.
It’s a great way of marking progress and keeping a physical reminder of what they were able to accomplish in their time at Camp Galileo. This can be just the confidence boost that they need to rise to future challenges, knowing they’ve already accomplished impressive feats before.
What Are STEAM Activities?
STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. It’s a newer addition to STEM, supporting the arts as a crucial part of education.
At Camp Galileo, our STEAM activities focus on encouraging kids to develop critical thinking skills and use creative puzzle-solving to work through problems.
Diversity In Camp
Camp Galileo prides itself in creating a truly outstanding experience where every camper can feel at home and comfortable. Our community is vibrant and diverse, and we take active steps to ensure it stays welcoming to everyone.
Just a few of the ways that we’re actively working on diversity and inclusion are:
- Creating tenants that illustrate what it means to be a diverse and inclusive camp
- Training all staffers in these tenants so they have the tools necessary to bring them to life
- Diversifying outreach practices and setting equity goals to support campers in need of financial assistance
- Having a comprehensive education plan for the Headquarters team on topics ranging from active inclusion to unconscious bias
We also aim to increase accessibility, designing programs that take all staffers and campers into consideration. Though it’s not always possible to meet every unique need of each camper, we promise transparency in discussing matters of accessibility with any parent who’s curious.
Camp Galileo’s Unique Summer Camp Experience
If you’re looking for a way to keep your child fulfilled even during the long months of summer, let them experience the magic of a bonafide camp experience.
Kids can unleash their creativity while building model circus acts. They can stretch their legs and get to know the great outdoors and practice critical thinking skills and puzzle-solving through interactive, immersive games. They’ll build bonds, develop crucial skills, grow, learn and play—all while enjoying the traditional delights of a classic summer camp.
At Camp Galileo, our acclaimed program combines creativity, STEAM exploration, collaboration and play to inspire kids to make the world a better place. We cultivate kids’ confidence, resilience and ability to think outside the box and roll it into a traditional summer camp that’s unforgettably fun.
Explore our locations across California, Chicagoland, Seattle, and Colorado! Located in the San Francisco Bay Area? Be sure to check out our San Jose and Los Gatos summer camps or find the location nearest you with our Camp Finder.
If that sounds like a perfect summer to you, enroll your child at Camp Galileo today.
Explore our locations across California, Chicagoland, Seattle, and Colorado! Located in the California Bay Area? Be sure to check out our Berkeley summer camp or our Lafayettte summer camp. We have Camp Galileo locations across many communities. Explore our Camp Finder to find the locations nearest you.
Sources:
Harvard Health Publishing. 6 reasons children need to play outside. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/6-reasons-children-need-to-play-outside-2018052213880
The National Inventors Hall of Fame. The STEM vs. STEAM Debate. https://www.invent.org/blog/trends-stem/stem-steam-defined
