Parenting fail? No worries, science summer camps still have some openings

Summer camp season begins. (Photo: DiCoplio)

School has ended, or will end soon, for many children this week. Like me, you probably forgot to sign up your little Einstein or little Newton for a summer camp. If you are a science geek like me, you are worried that your little geeky offspring's brain will turn to mush over the summer.  Now what?

Thanks to a bit of a recession, you are likely to find a few summer camps with a science theme still accepting registrations. To find a good science camp, you would probably have to spend a few hours cruising through a bunch of websites and making some calls until you found one that suited you,  your child and your budget. Well, I’ve tried to do little bit of the click-work for you.

The camps listed are day camps located in Maryland, though some offer a few overnight excursions. Prices range from pretty reasonable to a little high. I have tried to provide a variety of options for different ages, interests and price levels. But since summer has almost officially begun, your choices are slim. Here are some best bets for science-themed summer camps that still may have a place for your child.

Maryland Science Center Camps: Mostly for the primary school set, the Maryland Science Center offers week-long full and half-day camps with themes such as “Invent It,” “Gadgets and Gizmos” and “Kitchen Chemistry.” If you work or live near downtown Baltimore, this might be a good choice.

Maryland Zoo Camp: This Baltimore city camp is the one I would have wanted to sign up for as a kid—all day with the animals at the Maryland Zoo. From upper primary grades through middle school, this camp gives the younger crowd a chance to know what it is like to be a zookeeper, while the older kids learn about wildlife conservation. I could not tell if there were still openings, but I bet there are a few.

University of Maryland, Department of Entomology Summer Camp: Bugs, insects, creepy crawlies, whatever you want to call them, here’s an all-day, weeklong camp for the budding entomologist. Held on the UM campus in College Park, Md. and lead by entomologist Dr. Earlene Armstrong, the goal is to get kids to appreciate our six-legged friends for all the good they do for the planet.

Jug Bay Summer Science Camp: Located at the beautiful Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary in Lothian, Md. (Anne Arundel County), this camp aims to introduce concepts of wetlands conservation, ecology and scientific inquiry. Children entering 5th through 12th grade may attend. Day camps and a couple of overnighters for older kids are scheduled.

McDonogh School Water Camp: Along with the normal slate of sports and visual arts camps, McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md. offers a variety of water themed day camps. The Chesapeake Bay Eco-Challenge looked especially intriguing and gives children a chance to discover and study the Chesapeake Bay eco-system. The camps are one week-long and include activities like kayaking, seining and snorkeling. One week of this summer long series is already sold out.

Irvine Nature Center Camps: All sorts of camps for all sorts of ages, makes the Irvine Nature Center in Owings Mills, Md. a good place to park your young nature enthusiast. Camps start with “Buds” for kids as young as 2 and 3 years old with a parent (of course), and continue through “Eco-Art studio” for teens. Kids go on hikes and learn about conservation. There’s even a camp called “Living Off the Earth” that concludes with an overnight campout.

UM’s Women in Engineering (WIE) camps: There are two engineering camps at the University of Maryland College Park that report to still have openings. The one-week long SPICE Camp is especially for minority girls entering the 9th and 10 grades and is co-sponsored by the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering. SPICE stands for Students with Potential and Interest Considering Engineering. Participants are introduced to a variety of engineering disciplines and learn about the requirements for applying to an engineering program in college.  Both boys and girls may register for the WIE Lead Academies, which are one day camps focused on a single engineering topic, such a fire protection engineering, bioengineering, or civil engineering, among others.

Morgan State University Summer Programs: Summer camp activities include such diverse offerings as Chinese/English Bilingual Science, Engineering and Mathematics Summer Camp and the Camp Font-Tastic Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Rho Xi Omega Chapter Math and Science Computer Akademy. Camp information at Morgan was a little hard to find on the university’s website, but it is all compiled in this brochure.

ID Tech Summer Camps: This is a computer-oriented summer camp that will hold several sessions at Towson University. Camps on game design and web design are still showing openings, while a few others state that they are almost full. If you have a budding game developer on your hands, this might be worth checking out. Camps are available for children age 7 to17.

Mad Science: This looks like basic science fun for the younger set. Mad Science camps are offered all around Baltimore County and city area at different times through organizations such as the Y of Central Maryalnd.  It may take a little hunting to find one near you, but if  camps called “Chemistry Collision” or “Ooey, Gooey, Yummy” sound appealing, you might want to investigate further.

Obviously, there are a lot of other summer camps out there and most of them devote a day or two to science, technology, engineering or math topics. A spaghetti bridge or an egg drop count as engineering and physics experiements, respectively.  A good website to start that lists all kinds of camps for all kinds of kids is My Summer Camps. In truth, I never once attended a summer camp of any sort as a child. I spent many summers mucking around in the woods behind my house with my dogs, a shovel, some sticks, a few box turtles, and my imagination. Although I think spending my summers this way never did me any harm and certainly gave me an appreciation for soil science and box turtles, I now support the idea that a little structured learning over the summer ought to be encouraged. Besides, the woods are not as safe these days as they were back when I was a kid.

If you know about other science-themed summer camps, please list a phone number or URL (please, no http://) in the comments box below.