STEM Programs Near Me

Camp Footsteps Explorers 2026 A Summer of Discovery, Creativity, and Fun! At Camp Footsteps Explorers 2026, children entering TK through third grade will embark on a summer filled with imagination, friendship, and adventure. Each themed week is thoughtfully designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, and encourage creativity through hands-on learning and play. From inventing and building during Maker’s Week to celebrating freedom and culture during Juneteenth: Freedom to Dream Week, every day brings new opportunities to explore, create, and grow. Campers will enjoy a wide variety of engaging activities, including art projects, outdoor games, field trips, science explorations, cooking projects, and meaningful community experiences that connect learning with fun. Our experienced and caring staff create a safe, nurturing environment where children are encouraged to try new things, develop friendships, and discover their unique strengths. Whether your child is a budding artist, an enthusiastic explorer, or a hands-on maker, Camp Footsteps Junior Explorers 2026 offers an unforgettable summer filled with laughter, learning, and lasting memories. Week 1 – Maker’s Week: How Things Work Field Trip : Bay Area Discovery Museum, Sausalito Get ready to imagine, create, and build! Maker’s Week is all about hands-on exploration where children become inventors, artists, builders, and problem-solvers. Campers will dive into fun projects using everyday materials—crafting unique art, designing simple structures, experimenting with science, and bringing their ideas to life. Through guided activities, teamwork, and plenty of creativity, children will practice critical thinking and collaboration while discovering the joy of making. Maker’s Week encourages curiosity, confidence, and creativity—all in a fun and supportive environment for our youngest innovators. Special Event (Friday, June 12, 2026): Footsteps Maker Fair Campers will set up booths to showcase inventions, recycled creations, and STEM challenges. Families are invited Friday afternoon to visit the “Maker Fair” and see children’s projects.

Dive into glowing ocean art! Campers will create shimmering undersea worlds that light up under black light. From jellyfish and coral to glowing sea creatures, this week is all about imagination, exploration, and a little ocean magic. Messy Art Lab Summer Camp Info 🌈 Art Show Each week ends with a special Art Show, where campers proudly share their amazing creations with family and friends! It’s a joyful celebration of their creativity and the wonderful work they’ve done all week. 🕘 Schedule Drop-off: begins at 9:00 AM Pick-up: 2:45–3:00 PM Aftercare: available 3:00–5:00 PM Aftercare Details: Aftercare can be purchased as a weekly package. We do not offer aftercare on Fridays. If you’d like to book individual aftercare days, please email Betty@messyartlab.com for availability. 🧺 What to Bring Please help your child come prepared for a fun (and messy!) creative day. 🚫 No nuts or nut products of any kind, please. -Two healthy snacks (morning & afternoon) -Lunch (no candy, gum, or sugary drinks) -A refillable water bottle -Comfortable, paint-friendly clothes -A jacket, sunhat, and layers for outdoor play -Sunscreen applied before camp -A full change of clothes (just in case!) 🧒 Camper Requirements To keep our camps safe, fun, and creative for everyone: -Campers must be 4 years and 6 months old by the first day of camp. (We’re not able to make exceptions to this policy.) -Campers should be able to follow safety instructions and engage in activities for about 30 minutes at a time. -Campers must be fully potty-trained and able to use the bathroom independently. -Please share any medical, behavioral, or developmental information (such as allergies, neurodiversity, or trauma) during registration. This helps us prepare thoughtfully and ensure a positive, supportive experience for every child. (All information is kept confidential.) 💰 Refunds & Cancellations We know plans can change! Please review our camp refund policy below: 100% refund for cancellations made within 24 hours of registration. All enrollments include a non-refundable 20% deposit. Cancellations made 30+ days before the camp start date: refund minus the 20% deposit. Cancellations made within 30 days of the camp start date: No refund unless we can fill your spot, in which case you’ll receive camp credit minus the 20% deposit. All cancellation requests must be sent in writing via email. Transfers to another camp week may be requested (based on availability). A 20% fee applies for transfers requested within 30 days of the original camp week.

Encourage curiosity and build self-confidence in your preschooler through art, science exploration, play and more. Teachers also read children's books that explore and nurture key social and emotional skills, engage in activities that require cooperation

🧱✨ Build, Create, and Imagine at GrowFit’s LEGO® + All-Sports Camp! Calling all young builders, creators, and problem-solvers! GrowFit’s LEGO® + All-Sports Camp gives kids in grades 1–3 the perfect full-day experience—mornings filled with hands-on LEGO® building challenges and afternoons packed with high-energy All-Sports fun. It’s the ultimate blend of creativity, engineering, and movement! ⭐ Why Choose GrowFit’s LEGO® + All-Sports Camp? 🧱 Hands-On Building & Challenges: Campers dive into themed builds every day—bridges, vehicles, towers, robots, and full LEGO® worlds. Each project boosts imagination and engineering skills. 🧩 STEM Learning Made Fun: Kids practice problem-solving, design thinking, and early engineering concepts while experimenting with structures, motion, and simple mechanisms. 🤝 Teamwork & Creative Collaboration: From group builds to friendly challenges, campers brainstorm, build, and celebrate each other’s creations. 📈 Full-Week Immersion: Projects progress throughout the week, giving campers time to refine skills and complete larger builds. Drop-ins not available for this specialty camp. Camp Details 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Full-Day Program) 🧱 Morning: LEGO® Camp (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM) 🏅 Afternoon: All-Sports Camp (12:00 PM – 4:00 PM) 📍 Location: The Plex Drop-off: 8:45–9:00 AM at the BACK of The Plex. Pick-up: 3:30–4:00 PM at the BACK of The Plex. Early pick-ups accepted at the same location. What to Bring: Comfortable clothing Water bottle Two snacks Lunch GrowFit has over a decade of experience running engaging, kid-centered camps. Our LEGO® + All-Sports Camp inspires creativity, problem-solving, and confidence—while giving kids the movement and fun they need each afternoon. Your child will come home excited to show you what they built, imagined, and discovered!

Prepare for a super exciting adventure deep inside your head – into your amazing brain and mind! We'll start by exploring all the different parts of your brain and what incredible jobs each one does. You'll discover just how special and unique your brain is – it's one-of-a-kind, just like you! Then, we'll uncover the secret superpower of sleep, learning why getting good rest helps your mind sparkle and shine its brightest.

A Week of Innovation, Creativity & Hands-On Tech Adventures Gear up for a high-tech journey! Tech Explorers is the ultimate summer camp for curious creators who love to build, experiment, and explore the future of technology. Throughout this exciting week, campers dive into circuits, virtual worlds, and real engineering tools—learning by doing and creating projects they can proudly show off. Perfect for beginners and budding engineers alike, this camp blends creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on discovery in a fun, supportive environment.

Prepare for a super exciting adventure deep inside your head – into your amazing brain and mind! We'll start by exploring all the different parts of your brain and what incredible jobs each one does. You'll discover just how special and unique your brain is – it's one-of-a-kind, just like you! Then, we'll uncover the secret superpower of sleep, learning why getting good rest helps your mind sparkle and shine its brightest.

Pinnacle's School Year break camps offer a fun & educational outlet for your budding scientists/naturalists (grades 1-6). Our camps allow kids to continue learning during the days off from school, while having fun, exploring, and designing projects with our dedicated teachers. With lots of time outdoors and hands-on experiments, your children will forget that they're learning. Our COVID protocols include masks, temperature checks, frequent hand washing, social distancing, and frequent sanitizing.

Calling all Number Ninjas-in-training! Are you ready to jump, count, and solve super-fun number challenges? This camp is where every day is a new "mission" to use our amazing math powers and become super-duper Number Ninjas! Each morning, a secret mission awaits! We'll zoom into exciting games like cracking number codes with silly pictures and finding hidden numbers in cool patterns. We'll learn to measure with our steps and hands, finding out how big or small things are. Get ready for fun puzzle challenges that make our brains strong! We'll follow "ninja maps" to find secret treasures and count our way through obstacle courses! All week long, we'll train our math muscles! We'll learn how to think cleverly (that's logic!), how to solve tricky problems, how to measure everything, and how to understand secret number messages. Put on your ninja headbands, team up with your friends, and use the power of STEM to conquer every number challenge!

Calling all super-sleuths and curious minds! Are you ready to crack codes, follow clues, and solve thrilling puzzles? This camp transforms every day into a new "mystery" where campers use their sharp math skills to become the ultimate Math Detectives! Campers will dive into exciting activities like deciphering secret codes using substitution ciphers and uncovering hidden messages in number patterns. Throughout the week, we'll sharpen key math powers: logic, problem-solving, measurement, basic cryptography, and spatial reasoning. Get ready to put on your thinking caps, collaborate with your fellow detectives, and use the power of STEM to solve every perplexing puzzle thrown your way!

CREATING CHARACTERS Come create at our afternoon camp with hands on art and a whole lot of fun! At this camp your child will create an animal sculpture in they style of the popular video game and movie, Minecraft. Sculptures will be made using polymer clay which is baked and cooled and then painted. Your child will come home with a unique work of art. At this camp your child will get to learn about art, get their creative juices flowing, and have fun creating artwork of their own. Spaces are limited. Save your child's spot by registering today!

Unleash Your Child's Creativity This Summer! Calling all young creators for an unforgettable summer filled with imagination, self-expression, and fun! Creator's Camp inspires campers to connect with their creativity while developing their skills in storytelling, art, music, and hands-on projects. Guided by award-winning Lando educators, campers will explore painting, drawing, and arts and crafts—engaging their hands, heads, and hearts while building lasting friendships. Weekly Schedule Each week combines traditional camp activities with specialized Lando classes. Campers attend two Lando sessions on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (each class offered twice weekly), with Wednesdays reserved for exciting field trips. Field Trips: - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Campers will experience Four Award-Winning Lando Classes: Summer LEGO® Robotics Lab – Build a new robot daily using LEGO® bricks, motors, and sensors. Tackle the Kickoff Challenge, then upgrade during Engineering Sprints. Explore gears, pulleys, and measurable goals like distance and lift. Storyboarding and Comic Sketching – Create a finished storyboard each class. Learn drawing techniques and storytelling, then bring ideas to life during Studio Time with collaborative jams and peer feedback. Clay Sculpting and Scene Building – Sculpt connected scenes across the week. Practice techniques in daily warm-ups, then pinch, coil, and build your world—from beach stalls to sea monsters—for the Showcase Parade. Mini-Game Coding Studio – Code arcade games using Lando's Scratch-based iPad app. Build and remix multi-level mini-games, then test each other's creations in Playtest Lab while learning loops, events, and variables. Families receive weekly emails with photos, skills summaries, and ideas to continue exploring at home. Enroll today and watch your child's confidence and creativity soar!

Are you ready to use your creative superpowers and build amazing things? Our Discovery Builders will use their hands, brains, and lots of fun materials to bring their biggest, wildest ideas to life! Every day is a new building adventure! Campers will pretend to be real builders and engineers, thinking about how things go together. We'll use simple counting and measuring (like using our hands and feet!) to help us plan our creations. Don't worry, we'll make it super fun and easy!

Encourage curiosity and build self-confidence in your preschooler through art, science exploration, play and more. Teachers also read children's books that explore and nurture key social and emotional skills, engage in activities that require cooperation.

In Game Art Studio, campers explore the world of pixel art and animation using Aseprite, a professional tool used to create graphics for 2D video games. Students learn how to design characters, environments, icons, and animated sprites while building strong foundations in color, shading, and animation timing. Throughout the week, campers create original game-ready artwork such as character walk cycles, enemies, backgrounds, and user interface elements. They also learn how pixel art is used in real games and how their creations can be exported for use in 2D games, Scratch or Flowlab projects, Godot or Unity games, Minecraft-style mods, and animated GIFs. This camp is ideal for creative kids who love games and want to bring their ideas to life. No prior art or coding experience is required. Recommended for ages 10 - 15.

Join us for 3 special days of cooking, playing, crafting, and tasting! Kid-chefs will get to craft their own breakfast, lunch, and sweet snack throughout the day, spend time outdoors, create fun food-inspired art, and much more! General Schedule: 9:00-9:30 am - Arrivals & Activity Centers I 9:30-10:00 am - Circle Time, Story + Stretching 10:00-11:30 am - Cooking Activity 1 + Brunch 11:30-12:45 pm - STEM Activity + Cooking Activity II 12:45-1:15 pm - Lunch + Quiet Time 1:30-2:30 pm - Outdoor Play and/or Art Projects 2:30-2:45 pm - Snack 2:45 - 3:00 pm - Sharing Circle and Pick-Up Max of 26 students in this camp.

Don't worry about a sitter! Give yourself a parents' night off and send your child to our Kids' Night Out! Pizza party dinner will be included, as well as multiple arts and crafts, and a big, instructor-led project! $40 for the first child and $35 for additional siblings. Each child will go home with a full bag of art that they create.

Turn imagination into a Minecraft world of your own. If your child loves Minecraft, this camp shows them how to go beyond playing the game and start creating inside it. In Junior Minecraft, campers learn the foundations of Minecraft modding (short for "modifying") using an age-appropriate, block-based coding system that’s intuitive, visual, and fun. Students explore how Minecraft works behind the scenes as they customize characters, modify gear, and make meaningful changes to their worlds...all in a supportive, beginner-friendly environment. Campers work inside curated Minecraft worlds designed specifically for learning. Through guided challenges and creative projects, they’re introduced to the core ideas of “modding” while building confidence, problem-solving skills, and a sense of ownership over what they create. What students will do: Learn the basics of block-based coding Customize Minecraft worlds, characters, and items Explore how games are built and modified Follow structured challenges with room for creativity Build confidence using technology as a creator, not just a player This camp is ideal for younger Minecraft fans who are curious, creative, and ready to take their first steps into coding and game design—no prior experience required. Important note: This camp requires a Minecraft Java Edition account, available at: https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/store/minecraft-java-edition If your student enjoys Junior Minecraft, they may also love: Junior Game Designers (Scratch Programming) LEGO Robotics Roblox Game Design Junior Minecraft is often the first step in a longer STEM journey...and one of our most popular ways for kids to discover that learning can be just as fun as gaming.

An exciting introduction to the science of flight and propulsion. Rocket Academy introduces campers to the fundamentals of rocketry through hands-on design, building, and real rocket launches. Students explore how rockets work, then put those ideas into action as they design and launch a variety of rocket types using different propulsion systems. Throughout the week, campers learn how forces like thrust, momentum, and energy work together to lift rockets off the ground. These concepts are introduced in an age-appropriate, engaging way, allowing students to connect real science to what they see in the sky during launch activities. This camp emphasizes experimentation and discovery. Campers test designs, compare results, and refine their thinking as they explore what makes rockets fly higher, straighter, and farther. What students will do: Design, build, and launch multiple model rockets Explore how rockets operate and why they fly Learn the basic principles of propulsion, including thrust and momentum Compare different propulsion types and launch outcomes Build confidence through hands-on engineering and experimentation Model rocketry has long been a source of inspiration for scientists and engineers, and Rocket Academy gives campers an early opportunity to experience that spark firsthand. This camp is a great fit for students who enjoy building, testing ideas, and seeing science come to life—and pairs naturally with BattleBots, LEGO Robotics, and 3D Printing & CAD.

Messy experiments. Big discoveries. Endless curiosity. If your child loves asking “what happens if…?”, Weird & Wacky Science Lab is where curiosity takes center stage. In this hands-on science camp, campers roll up their sleeves and dive into the fun, surprising, and sometimes messy side of science. Through exciting experiments and outdoor exploration, students investigate the basics of chemistry, physics, biology, and environmental science—all in a way that’s engaging, playful, and age-appropriate. Campers will pop, squish, ooze, build, and explore as they conduct experiments using everyday materials and items found in nature. From examining pond water under microscopes to creating eye-catching chemical reactions, this camp turns big scientific ideas into unforgettable experiences. What students will do: Create hands-on experiments like neon slime, solar ovens, and sound-making instruments Explore chemistry and physics through safe, guided reactions Investigate biology by examining bugs, pond water, and natural materials Learn about photosynthesis and energy through outdoor experiments Build confidence asking questions, testing ideas, and making discoveries This camp is held both indoors and outdoors, encouraging movement, exploration, and curiosity. Getting messy isn’t just allowed—it’s part of the learning. Weird & Wacky Science Lab is a favorite for younger campers and a perfect introduction to STEM thinking. Students who enjoy this camp often love moving on to LEGO Robotics, Junior Game Designers, or other hands-on engineering camps.

A fun first step into coding, creativity, and game design. In Junior Game Designers, campers are introduced to the exciting world of coding and game creation in a way that’s visual, playful, and easy to understand - perfect for beginners. Using Scratch, the award-winning platform developed by MIT, students learn how to bring characters to life, design interactive games, and tell stories through block-based coding. By snapping together visual code blocks, campers quickly see how their ideas turn into real, playable creations. This camp focuses on creative problem-solving and logical thinking, helping students understand how games are built while encouraging imagination and experimentation in a supportive, low-pressure environment. What students will do: Learn the basics of coding and game logic using Scratch Animate characters and design simple games Create interactive stories and challenges Practice sequencing, problem-solving, and debugging Build confidence as creators - not just players No prior coding experience is required - just basic keyboarding skills and a creative mindset. This camp is an excellent stepping-stone into our Junior Minecraft programs, as well as LEGO Robotics and other game design and coding camps as students grow. Ages: 7–10 Junior Game Designers is often where kids discover that learning to code feels a lot like playing—and where a long-term love of STEM begins.