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It’s sack-lunch season. Field days and field trips fill the schedule signaling the end of the school year and the awesome approach of summer. Summer--where kids and parents sleep in and frolic in stress-free, fun-filled days. Truth is, that dream lasts about a week or two, then parents are scrambling for structure and stimulation to occupy the herd.
Enter summer camp. The treasure that teaches and tires your children; the place where memories, friendships, and sweaty-heads are made. Most summer camps require registration before the end of May, so if you haven’t already signed up, check out a few of these. Louisville has a vast variety of summer camp offerings that are guaranteed to stimulate the summer brain. This is part I of a two-part series organized into camps aimed at either the left (math, science, language, logic-based) or the right brain (art, music, creativity, and feeling-based). See below for camps nurturing the left-side brainers (aka people I do not completely understand and probably make more money than me).
Camps for the Left Brainiacs:
Camp Invention [3]--
Location: Brandeis Elementary
Age Group: Children entering grades 1-6
Description: A hands-on, inventing and problem-solving camp run by local educators. Participants will work through five modules: Hatched (building a virtual world for avatars), Power’d (assemble a robotic creature), SMArt: Science, Math, and Art (discover patterns and math in soap bubbles, honeycombs, and lightening bolts), Game On: Power Play (use problem solving-skills in creating new games), I Can Invent: Edison’s Workshop (use tools and old appliances to create new gadgets).
Cost: $215
Dates: June 20-24, 9:00-3:30
School’s Out Science Center Camps [4]--
Location: Louisville Science Center
Age Group: Pre-K--8th grade
Description: Pre-K and early grades explore anything from the science in Seuss to dinosaurs, middle-grades explore pirate science, LEGO adventures, oceans, and many more, while the oldest sort dapples in marine biology. Pre-K and K kiddos are offered half-day camps (8-12:00), older children have full-day sessions (8-5:00).
Cost: $175/week members, $200/week non-members (full day), $90/week members, $105/week non-members, $275-300/week (6th-8th grade camps)
Dates: June 6-August 12 depending on session
Junior Achievement Biz Town [5]--
Location: 1401 West Muhammad Ali
Age Group: 9-12 year-olds
Description: Kids experience what it’s like to work or run a business (marvel idea). Combines classroom-style teaching with hands-on activities centered around entrepreneurship, business expenses, customer service, team work, and something I know nothing about, making money. Start them young...
Cost: $185/week
Dates: June 20-24, 27-July 1, July 11-15, 9-4:00
Falls of the Ohio Summer Day Camp [6]--
Location: Falls of the Ohio State Park
Age Group: A variety of camps from 1st graders through 16 year-olds
Description: The Young Explorers Day Camp for grades 1-3 and grades 4-6 will explore the habitats and exhibits at the Falls of Ohio State Park. Teen Archaeologist Day Camp for ages 11-15 will discover cultures by examining artifacts. The Young Paleontologist Camp for ages 10-16 will learn about paleontology and study fossils.
Cost: $80-$100
Dates: Throughout June and July depending on session
Los Monitos Foreign Language Summer Camp [7]--
Location: Crescent Hill and Prospect
Age Group: 5-12 year-olds
Description: Learn foreign language through themes of games, sports, nature, animals, cooking, art, music, and theater.
Cost: $250
Dates: June and July depending on session
photo: examiner.com