Day 1
Design, build, and investigate
Introduce CAD and 3D printing, build a working paper circuit, and test how weight placement changes paper-airplane flight.
A camp you can make your own
Help students discover what they can build.
This free guide shares the activities, materials, preparation, and lessons learned from a three-day STEM camp for elementary students. Use what fits your space and resources, then adapt the rest.
Built from experience
More than a list of project ideas
Each guide explains what to gather, what to prepare before students arrive, how to teach the activity, and what we would recommend to another organizer.
The goal is not to recreate our camp exactly. Start with the school, equipment, volunteers, time, and budget available to you, then build a camp that works for your community.
The three-day plan
Hands-on activities with a clear path forward
Follow the full sequence or choose individual lessons to create a shorter camp or workshop.
Day 2
Create with motion and code
Combine physical making with beginner-friendly Scratch projects that give students room to experiment and personalize their work.
Day 3
Engineer, test, and launch
Finish with team engineering challenges, another creative coding activity, and a bottle-rocket launch students will remember.
What families told us
Students left excited to keep creating.
10 of 10rated their child's experience 5 out of 5
10 of 10said their child would attend another STEM program
Anonymous parent survey, June and July 2026.
“My child was sad the camp ended. She really enjoyed all aspects of the camp and can't wait to do another!”
Anonymous parent
“My son could not wait to go home and explore more of what he had learned at camp.”
Anonymous parent
“The instructors were calm and encouraging. I liked Tinkercad and Scratch!”
Anonymous student, shared by a parent
About us
We wanted engineering to feel possible.
Our original team met younger students who believed engineering was too difficult or expensive for them. We also saw a gap between early elementary STEM activities and advanced programs such as FTC and FRC. We created a free, hands-on camp where students could design, build, program, test, and troubleshoot real projects before deciding that engineering was not for them.
Read our full story