All upcoming programs

Parents must bring campers to the assigned Before-Camp room in the Ripley Center to sign in daily. At 9 a.m., campers will be brought up to Drop-off and then to their camps.

Campers explore the world of abstract art. Using various techniques campers explore colors, shapes, and textures in unique ways. Visits to the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery introduce campers to artists such Kandinsky, Pollack Gillam, and Alma Thomas. Throughout the week, campers create their own works of art inspired by random museum objects using various mediums for a colorful end of the week exhibit.

The future is in our hands! Through museum visits, campers gain a better understanding of our climate and our earth. Throughout the week, they consider ways to reduce consumption, conserve energy, reduce pollution, and inspire civic action as they conduct labs, design campaigns, and develop sustainable solutions.

A journey to explore the hidden treasures at the Smithsonian beckons young campers. After creating personal travel journals to record their sightings and adventures, they embark on a safari to a different museum each day to discover the vast collections of the Smithsonian. They use their findings in art and science to create mobiles, puppets, giant turtles, and clay fossils.

What’s growing in our garden—and what creepy crawlies live there? Campers explore the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian museums and view exhibits at the Natural History Museum and U.S. Botanic Garden. They investigate how plants grow; learn the secret power of worms; and recognize the diverse ecosystems surrounding plants, including pollinators. The young naturalists keep a field guide throughout the week to record their observations, cultivate their own seeds, and learn how to propagate succulents.

Imagine Washington, D.C., 110 million years ago as a swampy landscape filled with dinosaurs. Campers get the chance to investigate it as junior paleontologists, exploring prehistoric eras and the varieties and unique traits of the dinosaurs that roamed our backyards long, long ago. Through museum visits, campers immerse themselves in creatures form the past and learn what it means to be a real paleontologist by doing some fossil digging themselves.

From the wheel to electricity—or the cutting-board bird feeder to the Dogbrella—there are countless amazing inventions, many of which have changed the world. Campers explore Smithsonian museums to discover the works of artists, inventors, and scientists who have created the many things we use every day and make our lives easier. Trips to the American History Museum’s Picturing Women Inventors exhibition and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s National Inventors Hall of Fame inspire campers as they create and market their own inventions. The week concludes with an Invention Expo.

The magical Camp Half-Blood comes to the Smithsonian! Campers undertake quests on the National Mall to illuminate the connections among Mount Olympus, local architecture, and the museum collections. History, mythology, and science of the ancient Greeks are brought to life in the exploration of astronomy, botany, and zoology. Whether Team Greek or Team Roman, campers create a themed display featuring the 12 Olympians. Through riddles from the Oracle or roadblocks from Medusa, campers close out the week victorious with a game of capture the flag, Smithsonian style.

Young aspiring engineers and problem solvers take a hands-on journey into the world of technology and design. Campers tackle real-world challenges, build impressive structures, and unleash their imaginations through engineering projects. From constructing bridges and launching rockets to programming robots, with the Science Guys of Baltimore as their guides, campers nurture a passion for innovation and teamwork. Visits to the Natural History Museum, Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, and local monuments inspire the next generation of inventors and builders.

Tired of playing those same, boring video games? Learn to design your own in this high-tech camp. Studying characters and video games in the Smithsonian’s collections and drawing inspiration from museum objects, campers use a video-game engine to create characters, game levels, and animation, and learn the ins and outs of game design and development.