Imagination Station Summer Camps begin June 10 at Children’s Museum

Children enjoy Wizarding World summer camp at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge in 2018. (Submitted photo)

The Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge invites children to explore a rainforest, become CSI investigators, combine art with poetry, make sweets in the kitchen, launch model rockets, and ride the rails, among other adventures, during Imagination Station Summer Camps.

Summer camps, from June 10-July 26, are for children from age 3 through rising fifth-graders. The Children’s Museum’s enriching environment provides the backdrop as an experienced staff helps campers learn and grow through play in fun and safe surroundings. Each camp is created with age-appropriate activities aligned with the child’s developmental stage.

The fee for Monday-Friday half-day camps is $115 for members and $135 for non-members. A discount is available if two siblings register for camp during the same week or if a child registers for two half-day camps in the same week. A limited number of scholarships for camp are available, thanks to a grant from the Oak Ridge Breakfast Rotary Club. Download the scholarship application from the museum’s website.

Register and pay for camps online at http://bit.ly/cmorsummer19 or by mail or in person at 461 West Outer Drive, Oak Ridge, TN 37830. Camp fees are fully refundable up until 14 days before the start date.

Camps the week of June 10-14 are:

• Giggle Science, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. For a STEAM-filled week, kids will explore magnetic force with ice magnets, create shaving cream rain clouds and art, grow a sprout house, and more.
• Mud Pies, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will learn basic ceramic hand-building techniques, making animal pinch pots, slab letter holders, puzzle-top boxes, and a bird bath.
• Fairy Tale STEAM, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will explore the world of fairy tales as they build a bed for Goldilocks, turn the ugly duckling into a swan, help Little Red Riding Hood escape the Big Bad Wolf, and bake up their own Gingerbread Man.
• Kids in Action Garden Club, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Young gardeners will prepare and plant a garden bed, as they enjoy ecological nature activities and gardening.
• CSI Bodies: The Living World, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Young detectives will extract DNA, create an edible DNA strand, dissect a pig heart, cast footprints, study fingerprinting and hair analysis, and solve the Great CMOR Mystery.

Camps the week of June 17-21 are:

• Who wants to be a Superhero? 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. Youngsters will practice superhero skills like jumping, aiming, and balancing through games and fun activities.
• Superheroes in Action, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will design super-logos and masks to create a superhero secret identity, exploring superpowers through science experiments, skill-building obstacle courses, and art projects.
• Rainforest Explorers, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will enter the Museum’s Rainforest to go on an animal trek, create rainforest-inspired art, examine artifacts and listen to stories.
• Ready, Set, Throw! 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will learn the basics of the potter’s wheel, making bowls, cups, and vases, and exploring different decoration techniques.
• Choose Your Side, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will have a superhero adventure, designing a shield like Captain America’s, saving Tony and making a new Arc Reactor, and practicing with Wonder Woman’s Lasso of Truth.

Camps the week of June 24-28 are:

• Out of this World, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. Campers will blast off to fun as they make alien play dough, paint planet art, create constellation viewers, design name rockets, and sort stars.
• The Force, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will train with lightsabers, blast Storm Troopers, construct an X-wing fighter, create Death Star art, defeat the Dark Side.
• Anything Can Be, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will explore the art and poetry of Shel Silverstein’s books “The Giving Tree” and “Where the Sidewalk Ends,” through art, museum exhibits, science experiments, and cooking.
• All Fired Up, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will learn primitive clay techniques as they dig clay behind the museum, sift and clean it, and create hand-built pieces.
• Jedi Training, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will become Jedi Knights and hone light saber skills as they follow clues to destroy the Death Star, blast Stormtroopers, and rescue Han.

Camps the week of July 8-12 are:

• Traveling the Tracks, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. Campers will work on fine motor and engineering skills as they travel the tracks, while painting with trains, eating train-themed snacks, creating a locomotive from found objects.
• Musical Clay, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will create ceramics that make music: whistles, a textured washboard from clay, windchime charms, and more.
• All Aboard, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. As campers become conductors or train engineers, they will construct a train track, build a train from found objects, and paint with trains.
• Riding the Rails, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. In this STEAM camp, kids will set up model train layouts with buildings, t-track, and natural settings while exploring train history.
• Blast Off, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will design, build, and fly their own model rocket in this introduction to rocketry. They will learn about the math and physics of flight as they create paper airplanes, stomp rockets, marshmallow shooters, and other flying objects.

Camps the week of July 15-19 are:

• Dinosaur Dig, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. Preschoolers will have a hard hat and shovel-for a dinosaur hunt, learning about dinosaurs and fossils through stories, puppets, art, and science.
• Clay Bling, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will create beads, pendants, and ornaments that can be used to make jewelry and decorations for the home.
• Swamp Stomping Good Time, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Kids will explore the world of the dinosaur, creating replica fossils and discovering dino traits still here today.
• Tour of Italy, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will make homemade ravioli, pizza, chicken parmesan, meatballs, gelato, Italian creme cake, and cannoli.
• Dinosaur Discovery, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will explore fossils, create their own volcanoes, and solve prehistoric mysteries as they take on the role of a paleontologist.

Camps the week of July 22-26 are:

• Storybook Chef, 9 a.m.-noon, for ages 3-4. Campers will dive into the books of beloved author Laura Numeroff, starting with “If You Give a Cat a Cupcake,” and ending with “If You Give a Pig a Party,” using crafts, games, gardening, and cooking to explore the books.
• World of Sweets, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will make snickerdoodles, Boston cream cupcakes, buttermilk donuts, mini apple pies, Belgian waffles, and crème brûlée.
• Scientific Studio, 1-4 p.m., for rising kindergarten students through second-graders. Campers will create art using science, making refraction drawings, exploring gravity during a paint pour, making art with fingerprints,
• Fantasy Clay, 9 a.m.-noon, for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will learn sculpture-making skills to create wizards, dragons, goblins, and other fantasy creatures in this camp.
• Diners & Drive-Ins, 1-4 p.m., for rising third-grade students through fifth-graders. Campers will cook chicken and dumplings, biscuits and sausage gravy, cheeseburgers and onion rings, southern fried chicken, strawberry shortcake, banana pudding, and more.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

This press release and photos were submitted by Kay Brookshire.

Young campers make music with drums and pans in Mess-terpieces summer camp at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge in 2018. (Submitted photo)

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