Love Bug Dance | Thursday, February 13
Love Bug Dance | Thursday, February 13
Tinkering Camp provides an immersive opportunity for budding engineers to find joy in challenges, knowledge in 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 ideas 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 with access to outdoor work space, indoor program rooms, and playtime in the Museum.
Camps run weekly Monday, June 2 – Friday, August 1, 2025
No Camp the week of June 30 – July 4.
Full-Day Camps | 9am–3pm
Half-Day Camps | 9–11:30am or 12:30–3pm
*Pricing is per child/per week.
Make your camp week(s) Easy Peasy by ordering Lunch and Snacks from Bean Sprouts Café: View Options Here
Get More Details: Click Here for Summer Tinkering Camp FAQs
Monday, June 2 – Friday, June 6, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, May 26
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: Catapults, Paper Airplane Launchers, Stomp Rockets
Register Now!
Monday, June 9 – Friday, June 13, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, June 2
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: Marble/Ball Run, Simple Machines – Levers and Pulleys, Cardboard Contraptions
Register Now!
Monday, June 16 – Friday, June 20, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, June 9
Tinkerers will design and test their own wheeled vehicles, tweaking and refining them to perfection! Then, soar into the skies as we dive into all things that fly—crafting the ultimate paper airplanes, cardboard boomerangs, gliders, and kites.
Projects: Let it Roll – Design and build cars (things with wheels) and a track for them to race on, Make it Fly – Paper airplanes and cardboard boomerangs and your very own DIY kite
Register Now!
Monday June 23 – Friday, June 27, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, June 16
Join us for a week of musical exploration! Discover a variety of instruments, experience the joy of playing together, and become a designer, engineer, and inventor as you create your own fantastical musical instruments.
Projects: DIY String Instruments, DIY Percussion Instruments, Design Your Own Sound Experiment
Register Now!
Monday July 7 – Friday, July 11, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 1
Let’s explore the wonderful world of soap bubbles! At Tinkering Camp we playfully experiment with the world around us.
Projects: DIY Bubble Wands, DIY Bubble Solution, Find new and innovative ways to play with bubbles
Register Now!
Monday July 14 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 7
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! During Clay Play, campers will have a chance to work with all different kinds of clay, slime, and playdough – exploring, making, and playing!
Register Now!
Monday July 21 – Friday, July 25, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 14
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! Campers will make the world a more colorful place as we experiment with all kinds of ways to paint!
Register Now!
Monday July 28 – Friday, August 1, 2025
Registration Deadline: Monday, July 14
Tinkerers will explore a variety of art techniques and mediums, letting their creativity shine and discovering the joy of making art together! Taking art off the page – campers will build three dimensional structures out of cardboard, wood, and natural materials. Taking art off the page – campers will build three dimensional structures out of cardboard, wood, and natural materials.
Register Now!
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.
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
Full-Day Tinkering Camp | 9 am–3 pm
For children ages 6–11 years
Member: $350/wk | Non-member: $385/wk
Half-Day Tinkering Camp | 9–11:30am or 12:30–3pm
For children ages 4–5 years
Member: $195/wk | Non-member: $225/wk
Pricing is per child/per week
Cancellation Policy:
Join us for one week or eight!
Questions?
Contact Dustin Thacker, Arts & Maker Specialist
[email protected]
Week 1: Launchpad
Monday, June 2 – Friday, June 6, 2025
Week 2: Crazy Contraptions
Monday, June 9 – Friday, June 13, 2025
Week 3: Let it Roll – Make it Fly
Monday, June 16 – Friday, June 20, 2025
Week 4: Music Makers
Monday, June 23 – Friday, June 27, 2025
Week 5: Science & Art of Bubbles
Monday, July 7 – Friday, July 11, 2025
Week 6: Art Explosion – Clay Play
Monday, July 14 – Friday, July 18, 2025
Week 7: Art Explosion – Big Paint
Monday, July 21 – Friday, July 25, 2025
Week 8: Art Explosion – 3D Sculpture
Monday, July 28 – Friday, August 1, 2025
