Over the course of one week (or four!), Tinkering Camp provides an immersive opportunity to build with real tools to solve real problems. Budding engineers will find joy in the challenges, knowledge in the failures, and the confidence and ability to keep trying.
Tinkering promotes creative problem solving, flexible thinking, a failure-positive mindset, and to top it off. . . it is incredibly fun! Working with other like-minded children and adult collaborators, Campers will have a chance to bring their imaginations to life.
Each week’s challenge offers multiple entry points for the youngest to most advanced problem solvers – making sure Tinkerers stay curious and dedicated to the project as it unfolds throughout the week. The process is more important than the end result; imagination and ingenuity will guide the outcome each week.
Location: The majority of Tinkering Camp will be held outdoors at DuPage Children’s Museum. We will have access to outdoor work space as well as playtime in the Museum.
Group Breakdown: 8 to 10 children per group*
*Campers will remain with the same group of children and camp staff for the entire week.
Adult:Child Ratio: 1:6
Week 1: Monday, July 11 – Thursday, July 14, 2022 | SOLD OUT
Week 2: Monday, July 18 – Thursday, July 21 2022 | SOLD OUT
Week 3: Monday, July 25 – Thursday, July 28, 2022 | SOLD OUT
Week 4: Monday, August 1 – Thursday, August 4, 2022 | SOLD OUT
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
Summer Tinkering Camp | 9 am – Noon
Member: $125/wk | Non-member: $160/wk
Pricing is per child/per week
Receive $10 Off per Camp: Register multiple children or register for multiple camps and receive $10 off per camp. Use code: TINKER10 at checkout to receive discount.
Get More Details: Click Here for Summer Tinkering Camp FAQs
Please Note: Campers and staff will be required to follow all Covid mitigation policies in place at the time of camp.
Monday, July 11 – Thursday, July 14, 2022
Registration Deadline: Tuesday, July 5
Tinkerers will create moving, spinning, flying creations that propel their prototyping powers to the outer limits!
Launch means many things: get going, start, begin, embark on, initiate, originate, create, pioneer, mastermind, commence… Tinkerers will build unbelievable gadgets and gizmos that will reach new heights of creativity.
Projects:
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
Monday, July 18 – Thursday, July 21, 2022
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 11
Have you ever heard of a Rube Goldberg machine? (Google it!) What better way to learn about cause and effect while exploring the necessary interconnectedness of all the pieces and parts that make machines work. Tinkerers assemble! (And also disassemble!)
Projects:
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
Monday, July 25 – Thursday, July 28, 2022
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 18
This week Tinkerers will create their own wheeled vehicles to test on a track of our very own creation! Then take flight; explore all things that fly and make the world’s greatest paper airplanes, cardboard boomerangs, gliders and kites!
Projects:
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
Monday August 1 – Thursday, August 4, 2022
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 25
Join us for a week of exploring music! We will not only have the chance to explore a wide variety of musical instruments and experience the joy of playing music together, but also have the opportunity to be a designer, engineer, scientist and inventor while creating fantastical musical instruments of our own creation!
Projects:
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
Attending all four weeks of Tinkering Camp will provide the ultimate opportunity for young engineers, designers, and inventors to expand their creative problem-solving skill set. Children will build self-confidence through a platform of innovative collaboration with peers and perseverance through challenges.
When children arrive at Tinkering Camp, they are met with real tools, real materials, and adult collaborators who are ready to help them grow, learn, and build. The curriculum is born out of children’s perceptions of what those materials can become. Each week, an overarching challenge helps to propel the Campers in the same direction. After a morning of tool training, the project is revealed and oftentimes building and testing will begin right away. Other times, Tinkerers will need to dwell in the design phase, exploring concepts and ideas on paper before diving into the work.
Tinkering is the playful precursor to the more serious activity of engineering. Tinkering starts with very simple questions like: “What can I do with this?” or “How does this work?” and often leads to making something. When children tinker, they are learning about the properties of materials, the capabilities of tools, and the way to identify unique solutions to problems.
Each camp session will begin with some safety tips. Keeping children safe while using a variety of materials and building involves letting them take and manage risks. Working on and completing projects is very empowering to young children and promotes a sense of independence.
Daily Milestones
EACH WEEK
MONDAY: Tool Training, Project Challenge Reveal, Planning
TUESDAY: Work Day
WEDNESDAY: Walking Field Trip (See FAQ for details)
THURSDAY: Project Finalization, Presentation, Reflection
EACH DAY (Sample Schedule)
9:00 am: Campers Arrive
9:15 am: Project Introduction, Safety Training
9:45 am: Design, Build, Prototype
10:30 am: Snack Break
10:45 am: Design, Build, Prototype
11:30 am: Finish up, Clean up, Play, Pick up
Summer Tinkering Camp | 9 am – Noon
Member: $125/wk | Non-member: $160/wk
Pricing is per child/per week
Receive $10 Off per Camp: Register multiple children or register for multiple camps and receive $10 off per camp. Use code: TINKER10 at checkout to receive discount.
Cancellation Policy:
Join us for one week or four!
Questions?
Contact Dustin Thacker, Arts & Maker Specialist
dthacker@dupagechildrensmuseum.org
Week 1: Launchpad
Monday, July 11 – Thursday, July 14, 2022
Week 2: Crazy Contraptions
Monday, July 18 – Thursday, July 21, 2021
Week 3: Let it Roll – Make it Fly
Monday, July 25 – Thursday, July 28, 2021
Week 4: Music Makers
Monday, August 1 – Thursday, August 4, 2022
Join the Waitlist – we’ll notify you if a spot opens up.
