They’ve got stingrays and alligators and sharks and wading birds and that’s just on one floor of the Frost Museum of Science. Stands to reason this place would be like heaven for kids, with interesting stuff everywhere they look. So it’s a perfect place to have a summer day camp.
“You could have fun and learn at the same time,” said Ana Ospina, a third-grader who has the good fortune of being enrolled in the Frost Science Camp.
It is the summer day camp you wish you had when you were a kid. They’ve got about a hundred first-through-eighth graders exploring everything at the state-of-the-art museum.
“And the idea is to really foster that curiosity for science, that love for exploration, experimentation, and really working on all science fields and really be able to foster the next generation of scientists,” said Daniella Orihuela, the camp’s director.
They immerse the campers in a different topic every week. Engineering, space exploration, computer science, even the history of science by learning about Leonardo da Vinci.
“A very famous man who used to invent stuff, “ explained Matias Santoyo, a third-grader who possesses an obvious gift for getting to the point.
This is aquatic animals week. We watched the kids touching starfish and sea urchins and sting rays. It’s called experiential learning, which sticks with them much longer compared to merely reading about the animals in a text book, or watching a video about them.
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“So definitely,” Orihuela said. “We had that moment, for example, when campers were touching the stingrays or the starfish, those are moments that you really can’t take away that they’ll be able to hold on to for a long time.”
So whether they’re gazing at the sharks and rays and fish through the oculus lens of the aquarium (a spectacular sight you just have to see for yourself) or doing chemistry experiments or computer coding, learning doesn’t have to come to screeching halt in the summer.
There are still five weeks left in the Frost Science Camp, and they still have room for more campers. Call the museum or click here to register.
