Expert teachers, small groups (10 or less), hands-on, and in person! 
Keep learning and interacting with teachers and peers.

We are offering two, in-person summer sessions. Each session consists of our award-winning STEM camps. Each week is a different theme or focus. Each day consists of a fun, well-rounded day of activities including:​

• A focused STEM area to explore weekly.
• Daily outdoor time in the form of nature hikes on nearby walking trails.
• Daily enrichment in literature (a huge camp hit when it debuted in 2021!) 
  • ​Note: Literature may involve drawing, charades, engaging discussions, and games. It will certainly involve lots of fun!

Camp times (Monday - Friday)

• Regular camp day is from 8:30 am - 3:30 pm 
• Before Care available from 8 - 8:30 am for Morning Explorers ($40 per week)
• After care available from 3:30 - 6:00 pm ($140 per week)​

Method and Location: In person at 12340 Pinecrest Road, #100, Reston, Virginia 20191

Dates

• Session 1: June 20 - July 8 (3 weeks). *no camp on Monday, 7/4 - FULL
• Break: July 11 - 15 (No camps)
• Session 2: July 18 - August 13 (4 weeks) - FULL​

Cost: 

• $1500 for Session 1 (3 weeks)
• $2000 for Session 2 (4 weeks)

Maximum Group Size: There is one group with a maximum of 10 students to allow for appropriate distancing and maximum hands-on fun.

Sample Schedule
​Each day consists of two science or engineering labs, a book club, a STEM or computing lab, and outdoor "green" time. Outdoor time will consist of hikes along local nature trails.

Session 1 - FULL

Session 2 - FULL

Register for Extended Care

Descriptions

 = Session 1 Description (3 weeks; June 20 - July 8)

• Engineering Foam Dart Blasters 
• Undersea Robotic Gilders: SeaGlide
• Biology: Insect World

Ignite your summer with a 3-week, fun-filled, hands-on science and engineering experience in the labs of Ideaventions. Starting with week 1, Engineering Foam Dart Blasters (yes, you read that right!)- design, build, and modify your own foam-dart or foam-ball shooter. Explore concepts in design, material science, physics, electronics, and 3D printing. Build your skills with tools in our workshop as you build and customize a foam dart blaster. End the week with a battle by putting on your safety goggles and testing your creations in a series of foam dart battles or on a challenging target range. In week 2’s Undersea Robotic Gliders: SeaGlide, get your hands wet as we build undersea gliders that moves by continually changing its buoyancy. Learn how to build and program an undersea robot from scratch and test it in a pool or lake. In our workshop, you gain skills in electronics (soldering, circuits), microcontrollers, sensors, hydrodynamics, and pumps. What modifications will you make? Will you mimic a sea creature, experiment with its motion, or add sensors for data collection? In Week 3’s Biology: Insect World spend time outdoors and in the lab learning the field of entomology (study of insects). Indoors, you are designing and conducting your very own habitats, while expanding your knowledge of insects, especially the amazing world of ants (myrmecology) and pill bugs (which are actually terrestrial crustaceans!). We will learn how to search for queen ants, build insect enclosures for studying these amazing creatures, and conduct observations of their fascinating insect world. 

Additionally, we will have a daily book club. The books we will read are: Brian’s Winter, The Magic Finger, Secret Garden.

Session 2 Description (4 weeks; July 18 - August 13) - FULL

• Modeling and Design: Computer-Aided Design with Fusion 360 (3D Printing, CNC)
• Battle Bots: Combat Robotics
• Naturalist & Survival Skills
• Chemical Contraptions

Join us for a fun, lab-based adventure in science and engineering. In the first week, Modeling and Design: Computer-Aided Design with Fusion 360 get hands-on with software that can take your ideas and turn them into designs and ultimately objects. In the workshop, learn how to use the Fusion 360 software and how to manufacture your design with 3D printing and CNC technology. Explore how to move from simple shapes to more complex designs and tips for saving time and improving your designs. In week 2’s Battle Bots: Combat Robotics, your life won't be the same once you've built and battled robots! Learn how to build a combat robot from scratch, then battle it in our custom arena. In our workshop, you will build Ant Weight Class (1 lb) robots to battle. Come up with your strategy, design it, and then build it. Will you design a bot with a weapon, or will you choose to make a more defensive-minded "wedge" bot? In our third week, Naturalist & Survival Skills, learn about the natural world and techniques for wilderness survival.  Through outdoor hikes and labs, grow your naturalist skills such as identifying local plants and animals, as well as survival skills such as engineering a survival shelter and making cordage from bark or plant fibers. We will explore nearby forests and streams while appreciating and learning about the natural world around us. In week 4, Chemical Contraptions, working in small teams, build a deviously and comically complex contraption - a Rube Goldberg machine - composed of a series of simple devices that are set up in a chain reaction with one device activating the next device in a sequence.  The trick is that our devices will incorporate chemical reactions and physics phenomenon as part of their design.  Examples of chemical components that may trigger chain reactions might include metal dissolving as part of a reduction reaction or a balloon expanding due to gas being produced in a chemical reaction. Alongside science, use your engineering skills to design and build the components of your Rube Goldberg machine.

For our book club session, we will read: The Whipping Boy, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Miracles on Maple Hill, and Love that Dog

FAQs ​
Can’t I just sign up for 1-week?  No, unfortunately, to reduce risk, we are holding extended sessions so the same students come each week, teachers and students undergo a pre-camp health screen, and we avoid introducing new students each week. We want to be able to offer in-person programs and we feel this could help minimize risk to students and teachers.

What happens if my child gets sick and can't attend for 2 weeks? If your child gets sick and is not able to attend camp for an extended period of time (more than 1 week), please provide a doctor's note, and we will refund the prorated amount based on the time attended.

​What happens if my child needs to be quarantined for 2 weeks? If your child needs to quarantine and is not able to attend camp for an extended period of time (more than 1 week), please provide a doctor's note, and we will refund the prorated amount based on the time attended/missed. Due to the very hands-on nature of the program, we won't be able to have a concurrent virtual access to camp.

Withdrawals and Refunds:
If you need to withdraw from a course, please send an email to info@ideaventions.com requesting the withdrawal. We will not process withdrawals from voicemails. Refunds minus the $100 non-refundable fee  can be processed prior to June 1.  After June 1, refunds minus the $100 non-refundable fee can be processed if we are able to fill the spot in the course. We appreciate your understanding, as this is a small program, and we make commitments to our faculty for their summer. ​​