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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.
Do you see a pattern here? Campers search for designs in art, architecture, and nature as they explore a variety of traditional and modern printmaking techniques in and around the museums on the National Mall. They express their creativity while experimenting with color, lines, quirky patterns, and whimsical images on potato prints, monoprints, gyotaku (Japanese fish printing), collagraphs, and screen prints (on paper, T-shirts, and bags) to demonstrate that printmaking is indeed a versatile—and fun—art.
Astronauts, prepare to take off! Campers spend the week exploring outer space, training to be an astronaut, and learning amazing things about our solar system. They tour the National Air and Space Museum and Udvar-Hazy Center to explore the moon and the stars, planets, and the galaxies that fill our universe. The future explorers create crafts, experience simulations, conduct experiments, and take part in other exciting activities with an eye on space.
Through the eyes of artists, under the scientific microscope, and through the lens of culture, campers explore the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian museums, on the National Mall and within the U.S. Botanic Garden. Campers discover the Smithsonian’s Victory, Butterfly, and Rose gardens. Campers design a garden, create a terrarium, investigate wriggly critters, and plant and harvest vegetables. The week rounds out with a trip to discover a secret garden in the shadow of the Capitol.
Campers explore paleontology from the formation of Earth through the Ice Age. They visit the Deep Time exhibition at the Natural History Museum to discover how paleontologists work and the tools they use. They learn about the Earth’s history, ancient plants and animals, and how changes in climate and environments affected living creatures. They also create timelines, become fossil hunters, and dig for 3D-printed dinosaurs.
Mix it, melt it, make it wiggle! Campers join the Science Guys of Baltimore in this week-long food-based chemical adventure filled with experiments that use edible ingredients. Visits to the American History Museum’s FOOD exhibition and Smithsonian gardens containing edible plants inspire campers’ investigations across the periodic table and through the stages of matter. They explore the hidden secrets of the kitchen, create edible slime, make gummy worms, and concoct edible eruptions in preparation for a delicious Friday demonstration for family and friends. (No major allergens are included in this camp.)
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 twelve 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.
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.
The nation's passion for professional and amateur sports is part of our everyday life—whether in football, baseball, kickball, capture the flag, soccer, or many other competitive arenas. From a handball used by Abraham Lincoln to Chris Evert's tennis racket to a baseball signed by Jackie Robinson, campers find many fascinating sports-related stories in Smithsonian museums. They design baseball cards, their own team logo, and a sports-themed mini-museum. The week ends with an “out-of-the-park” presentation for family and friends.
Who doesn’t love monsters and things that go bump in the night? Campers explore all things spooky at the Smithsonian. Is the Smithsonian Castle haunted? Can you spot real monsters at the National Zoo? Can a field trip help us learn the secrets of mad scientists? Campers visit the museums, explore entomology, chemistry, electricity, and learn the history of some real "spooky science”. They throw a Friday “Mad Monster Party” to celebrate what they’ve learned.
