Si View Metropolitan Park District

Summer Camps – Special Interest

Special interest camps are a fantastic way to introduce children to new activities and meet new friends. Si View offers a variety of special interest camps from science to arts facilitated by experienced instructors. Please refer to camp descriptions for program times and locations as some are hosted at offsite facilities. Early registration is recommended as space is limited. Full payment is required at the time of registration.

Robotics Camp – Ages 6-12

Instructor: Robot U

Build from plans or design your own. Campers spend a full five days building or creating incredible working, sensing, moving ROBOTS! All elementary ages welcome. They will have their choice of sets to work with, from simple to complex, LEGO WeDO for the young ones and MINDSTORMS for the ones that need maximum capabilities. Build from over 100 plans or create your own. We have instructors to help.

STEM Camp – Ages 6-12

Instructor: Robot U

Each day is a new adventure with our rotating STEM Camp. You’ll enjoy Sphero, a robotic prismatic ball of wonder, programming your own video game from scratch with SCRATCH! MIT’s own graphical programming program. LEGO Power Functions! Build incredible contraptions that you can remote control. Minecraft...play on a private local server with other campers. Instructor choice Friday.

Adventures in STEM – Ages 5-8

Let your imagination run wild with tens of thousands of LEGO parts! Build engineer-designed projects and use special pieces to create your own unique designs! Projects are rotated seasonally to ensure that both new and returning students can explore the endless creative possibilities of the LEGO building system.

Pokemon Master Engineering – Ages 7-12

LEGO Master, I choose you!! In the race to be crowned the Ultimate Pokemon Champion, we need your help! Learn to build your favorite Pokemon, level up by teaching them special moves, evolve them into more powerful versions, and come face to face with the current champion in an epic battle for the title. Learn from our Play-Well Pokemon Masters so you can make it to the top!

Minecraft Engineering – Ages 5-8

Venture into the world of Minecraft in our unique LEGO experience. Get ready to build your base, craft your tools, use your Minecart to harvest raw resources, and battle to stop the Ender Dragon from ending the world. Come explore the endless possibilities of LEGO with a trained Play-Well instructor.

Bash'em Bots – Ages 7-12

Design your custom LEGO bot to take on any challenge. Mix and match chassis designs using wheels, treads, or walking legs. Combine these with tools like drills, hammers, and battering rams as you refine your masterpiece by sparring with friends and overcoming obstacles. Apply real-world engineering and physics concepts to help you bash and crash your way to victory.

Robotics: Intro – Ages 8-12

Instructor: Coding with Kids

Learn to code with your very own robot! Students will learn the basics of programming a robot and learn how to use code along with hardware to open up so many more possibilities with technology. Through a block-based, visual programming platform, coders will learn introductory concepts, such as code structure, variables, and loops. They will apply these concepts, along with problem-solving and creative thinking, to program their robot to complete mission challenges, such as avoiding obstacles, light sensing and following a path.

Coding with Kids: Little Coders – Ages 5-7

Our Little Coders camp is an opportunity for young children to develop their computational thinking skills, build their first programs, and have fun with new friends! The curriculum is designed specifically for early readers and takes into account cognitive abilities as well as the attention span typical for ages 5-7. We use age-appropriate online tools, including Lightbot, Kodable, and Scratch to introduce basic coding skills. After the camp, students will be able to share their projects with family and friends and continue programming at home with their Coding with Kids Scratch account.

Coding with Kids: Robotics – Ages 5-7

Looking for a hands-on STEM course your Little Coder will love? In this course, students will have a blast while learning about robots and how they work. Through visual programming, students will learn computational thinking and basic programming concepts such as: pseudo-coding, code structure, variables, and loops. Students will participate in fun and engaging activities to practice problem-solving and creative thinking. They will complete interactive projects and code their robots to perform tasks like turning the robot's lights on and off, playing music, moving, and detecting sound.

Scratch: Game Development – Ages 8-12

Instructor: Coding with Kids

Create your own games and embark on a coding adventure! This course introduces students to coding using Scratch, a fun drag-and-drop coding environment. They will learn coding fundamentals like Variables, Loops, and Conditionals while unleashing their creativity by designing characters, creating scenes, and adding sounds. Students will apply these concepts to build exciting games, stories, and animation projects, including Pet and Ball, Shark and Fish, and Snowman Maze. Let's code the fun way together!

Action Stop Motion Flix – Ages 7-12

Use stop motion tricks to create fires, explosions, and even floods, as your characters can battle it our or work together to save the day in this action packed stop motion class. You’ll work in small groups to storyboard, create the action, film, and voice-over these exciting movies. Flix emailed within a month after camp ends.

Animation Flix – Ages 7-12

In this fast paced class, you'll create up to four new stop motion movies using a different medium each day! Animate cares, film with screeen, and new for 2024 you create a 2D Mario movie, and more! Flix emailed within a month after camp ends.

Art Camps – Ages 6-12

In these creative arts camps, students will learn about art concepts and terminology and apply the elements and principles of art while exploring a variety of art media – including acrylic and watercolor paints, oil and chalk pastels, regular colored and watercolor pencils, clay, and textiles. Designed for new and returning students of different ages and abilities, young artists will learn techniques and gain new skills to create unique and expressive works of art each day. There might even be some fun homework! No previous experience necessary. Class fee includes all child-friendly materials, and your child will receive an art kit to keep. Creating art can be messy; please have your artist dress appropriately!