The Fox Chapel Area School District is pleased to announce that its STEAM summer camps for rising first- through eighth-graders throughout the district will return this summer. Our STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) camps feature a series of interdisciplinary lessons that will focus on topics such as coding, robotics, drones, engineering design, digital fabrication, ecology, geology, and nature. Sessions will include hands-on experiments, stimulating investigations, project-based learning, and thoughtful exploration facilitated by certified educators, as well as community partners from the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania.
This year's themes are as follows:
Grades 1 & 2
Messy Maker Artists & Chemistry in the Kitchen
Creativity with the volume turned up! Become immersed in the awesomeness of art. Let’s get messy like Jackson Pollock painting with fly swatters. Bright like Andy Warhol while screen printing. Majestic like Claude Monet and the water lilies. Come experience a completely unique and fun art experience!
Get ready to become a kitchen scientist! In this fun and hands-on session, campers will explore the magic of chemistry using everyday items found in the kitchen. No special equipment needed, just curiosity and a love for discovery. Campers will make delicious treats, like gummy bears, rock candy, Tootsie Rolls, ice cream, and more!
Surviving the Sands: A Desert Escape & Literacy Pioneers
Imagine you go on a walk with your dog and somehow you end up lost in the desert! In this hands-on STEAM camp, young adventurers will explore the wonders of the desert while tackling thrilling survival challenges, from building shade structures to finding water and food. Can you survive in one of Earth’s most extreme environments?
Campers will get to start each day with a new story. They will get to bring that literacy to life with hands-on activities. How tall can they make Jacks Beanstalk? Is it really possible to put humpty dumpty back together? Help Goldilocks build a sturdy basket for her apples. Come on an adventure with us as we problem solve to help our favorite characters.
Grades 2-4
Bug-Tacular
Get ready to explore the tiny but mighty world of insects in this hands-on adventure designed for young nature lovers. Campers will get to discover the fascinating lives of bugs through outdoor exploration, creative crafts, and interactive games. Each day, campers will dive into exciting themes like insect identification, metamorphosis, habitats, and the crucial roles bugs play in nature. Through curiosity-driven discovery, this camp nurtures creativity and inspires future environmental stewards—one six-legged friend at a time!
Eco Explorers
STEAM Campers will join Miss Gabi from the Audubon Society of Western PA for an exciting week learning about various species and their habitats. Let’s discover the creatures that live all around us — how do they survive, how do we identify them, how can we help them? And then let’s head outside to find them! Adventures and learning experiences will be centered around connections among creatures and the natural world. Students will also have the opportunity to spend one day of camp exploring on site at Beechwood Farms!
Munchkin Med School
Students will delve into a hands-on exploration of the medical field and human organ systems. They will experience what it is like to be a doctor with their very own white coat! Investigation of the human body will include hands-on experiments such as building their own working stethoscope, creating a functioning lung model, designing their own skeleton, and building a robotic hand.
Grades 3-5
Creative Constructors
Who doesn’t love science and engineering? This session will allow campers to explore the world of Rube Goldberg and other fun science activities where they can play while learning! Each day, campers will engage in an engineering and science activity for motivation and inspiration and then explore ways to adapt and improve their designs. By the end of the week, campers will have a plethora of engineering designs to take home with them.
Galaxy Explorers
Is going to outer space a bucket list item? Well here is the chance to spend a week as an astronaut in training and learn all about space! From stars, planets, and rockets, to learning how astronauts eat, sleep, and brush their teeth, by the end of the week, campers will earn their official astronaut certificate, becoming an expert on all things space!
Design, Make & Create Using Stop Motion
In this exciting session, campers will unleash their creativity when they dabble with the fun world of stop-motion animation. Campers will have a chance to write their own stories, design unique characters and props, and bring them to life with their very own stop motion short to share at a STEAM Camp viewing party!
Rockets, Rovers, & Drones, Oh My!
Blast off with us as we explore the future of space. Campers will have the opportunity to design, build, and launch their own rockets and rovers. They will take the helm of indoor drones to maneuver through their designed obstacle courses. Get ready to transform curiosity and enthusiasm into real-world engineering skills!
Grades 6-8
Let’s Get Fired Up!
Campers will engage in hands-on projects that test the mechanics of sealed containers, footing stability, spout efficiency, and heat retention as they hone their craft of Ceramic Mechanics. Through these projects, campers will investigate how structure, balance, and material properties impact functionality and design, fire creations in the kiln, and showcase an artistic style through the finished products.
Robot Revolution
Campers will engage in a project-based learning experience that incorporates engineering design and coding using Spheros, Dashes and more! Get ready to collaborate to determine project themes, refresh coding concepts & skills, and design a robot habitat.
The camps will be held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 16-20 at Fairview Elementary School. Parents/guardians are responsible for transporting their child/children to and from their summer camp(s) each day.
Registration will occur via Eventbrite starting on Thursday, March 27, at 10 a.m. Camps will be limited to 16 participants each. The cost is $299 per camper. Register here.
We hope that your child will join us for one of these engaging and exciting summer learning opportunities!