$5 Friday Nights | 5–8pm thru October
$5 Friday Nights | 5–8pm thru October
Over the course of one week (or six!), 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: Tinkering Camp is held at DuPage Children’s Museum. We have access to outdoor work space as well as indoor program rooms and playtime in the Museum.
Group Breakdown: 8 to 12 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, June 19 – Friday, June 23, 2023
Week 2: Monday, June 26 – Friday, June 30, 2023
Week 3: Monday, July 10 – Friday, July 14 2023
Week 4: Monday, July 17 – Friday, July 21, 2023
Week 5: Monday, July 24 – Friday, July 28, 2023
Week 6: Monday, July 31 – Friday, August 4, 2023
Full-Day Tinkering Camp | 9 am – 3 pm
Member: $350/wk | Non-member: $385/wk
Half-Day Tinkering Camp | 9 – 11:30 am or 12:30 – 3 pm
Member: $195/wk | Non-member: $225/wk
Pricing is per child/per week
Receive 10% Off: Register multiple children or register for multiple camps and receive a 10% Discount. Use code TINKER10 at checkout to receive discount.
Get More Details: Click Here for Summer Tinkering Camp FAQs
Monday, June 19 – Friday, June 23, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, June 12
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:
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Monday, June 26 – Friday, June 30, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, June 19
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:
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Monday, July 10 – Friday, July 14, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 3
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:
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Monday July 17 – Friday, July 21, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 10
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:
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Monday July 24 – Friday, July 28, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 17
Let’s explore the wonderful world of soap bubbles! At Tinkering Camp we playfully experiment with the world around us.
Projects:
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Monday July 31 – Friday, August 4, 2023
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 24
Tinkering is all about playful experimentation! Exploring all different kinds of art techniques and mediums, tinkerers will have the chance to let their creativity shine through and find the joy in making art together!
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Attending all six 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: Project Work & Explore Museum Makerspaces
WEDNESDAY: Project Work & Walking Field Trip (See FAQ)
THURSDAY: Project Work & Explore Museum Makerspaces
FRIDAY: 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: Play Time!
11:30 am: Lunch
12:30 pm: Design, Build, Prototype
1:30 pm: Free Build, Art Project, Snack
2:30 pm: Clean Up, Reflect, Plan for Tomorrow
Full-Day Tinkering Camp | 9 am – 3 pm
Member: $350/wk | Non-member: $385/wk
Half-Day Tinkering Camp | 9 – 11:30 am or 12:30 – 3 pm
Member: $195/wk | Non-member: $225/wk
Pricing is per child/per week
Receive 10% Off: Register multiple children or register for multiple camps and receive a 10% discount. Use code TINKER10 at checkout to receive discount.
Cancellation Policy:
Join us for one week or six!
Questions?
Contact Dustin Thacker, Arts & Maker Specialist
dthacker@dupagechildrensmuseum.org
Week 1: Launchpad
Monday, June 19 – Friday, June 23, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Week 2: Crazy Contraptions
Monday, June 26 – Friday, June 29, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Week 3: Let it Roll – Make it Fly
Monday, July 10 – Friday, July 14, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Week 4: Music Makers
Monday, July 17 – Friday, July 21, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Week 5: Science & Art of Bubbles
Monday, July 24 – Friday, July 28, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
Week 6: Art Explosion
Monday, July 31 – Friday, August 4, 2023
SOLD OUT: Join the Waitlist
