How do rivers carve huge canyons?  What can form crystals the size of houses?  How was Kansas once at the equator?  Understanding the forces that shape the planet gives you a new appreciation of the landscapes around you and helps explain how it has changed and continues to change.

In this two-day camp, you will understand the major forces that shape the planet and, sometimes, can lead to catastrophic mass extinctions of entire groups of organisms.  Also, you can make your own egg shell geodes to take home.

For elementary school ages

$100 Non-Members
$80 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

November25th - 26th (Monday & Tuesday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Around 80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, a shallow seaway cut through the middle of North America.  Instead of dinosaurs, which were land animals, this seaway was home to huge sea creatures.  From large fish like Xiphactinus audax to one of the largest mosasaurs that ever lived, Tylosaurus proriger, there were a lot of massive, toothy predators roaming our oceans.

In this camp, you will learn about the famous (and not-so-famous) animals that once patrolled North America’s waters from around 380 million years ago all the way up to about 34 million years ago. 

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

December 6th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Earlier in the year, we learned about the big objects - ranging from planets all the way up to galaxies.  Galaxies, of course, can be incredibly massive and contains hundreds of billions of stars.  Their scales are difficult for humans minds to comprehend.

What about the smaller objects?  Did you know there are small pieces of material raiding down on Earth constantly?  Most of these things are very small, even the size of pebbles.  Of course, there are also the large asteroids and comets that can, potentially, leave huge impacts when they hit planets.  In this camp, we will learn about these small space objects.

For elementary school ages

$100 Non-Members
$80 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

January 2nd - 3rd (Thursday & Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

You’ve probably learned about the colors that make up a rainbow, but do you know how those colors appear in the first place?  To answer this question, we’ll replicate one of the most famous scientific experiments in history, performed by perhaps the most famous scientist in history.  

Of course, knowing the science of how color works means you can be creative and come up with all kinds of uses for color.  You can make your own color pigments from rocks, separate colors from candy, understand why some color combinations look better to our eyes than others, even learn why different colors can put you in different moods, and so much more! 

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

January 20th (Monday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

We learned about some huge objects out there in space - some of which span tens of thousands of light years across!  What about the world of the small?  Are tiny things a big deal?  Well, tiny things we commonly call “germs” have had a huge impact on humans since at least the veg innings of our civilization.

In this first-ever microbiology camp, we will learn about tiny organisms called microbes.  It turns out that these things are everywhere on our planet - there are microbes living in deep sea vents at the bottom of the ocean, and there are microbes living in our eyebrows.  Most of them, by the way, don't harm us.  In this camp, we will learn about these tiny organisms.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

January 31st (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

What’s your favorite sci-fi movie?  Did you ever wonder if the gadgets and advanced technologies you see in the movies could exist one day, or even already exist?  Well, it turns out some of these technologies featured in movies actually went on to become real...or at least somewhat real.  

While we haven’t invented time travel (yet?), there are some cool sci-fi technologies we can explore and experiment with in this camp.  Learn how to control magnetic fields, hover objects above ground, and make a certain glowing sword.  Even the things and ideas that have so far not come to pass - think telepathy, teleporting humans, bending space and time and traveling through a wormhole, bringing back

For elementary school ages

$100 Non-Members
$80 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

February 13th - 14th (Thursday & Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

If you’ve come to any nature-related camps before, you know that a walk around our wetlands usually involves seeing insects.  They are very common animals - in fact, one quarter of all described species.on the planet is a beetle!  But what about the other invertebrates?  Spiders, mites, isopods (“rollie pollies”) and other invertebrates deserve attention too.

In this camp, we will learn about the “non-insects”.  Many of these little animals are also predators of insects, which helps keep their populations from getting too large and overwhelming their environment.  This makes them important for biocontrol, which we will do an activity for.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

February 17th (Monday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Think about the activities you do in a day, or even just in the morning when you get ready for school.  What senses do you use?  If you made a list of all the things you encounter even before arriving at school, how late ng do you think it would be?  Our senses are incredibly important to us, and it’s easy to forget how much we rely on them to navigate our day.

In this camp, we will learn about the five senses.  You’ve heard of them before, but we will conduct experiments that let us explore how they actually work.  As a bonus, we will also learn how our sense of sight can trick us by checking out brain illusions.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

February 28th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Think about all of the machines you use on any given day.  How do you think you would do without them?  Our automated/electronic machines are pretty new, but there are a lot more objects that don’t require batteries or electricity that humans have relied on for hundreds of thousands of years.

In this camp, you will learn about different types of machines that humans have used and how they work - dating all the way back to the first hand tools made from rocks. 

For elementary school ages

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)

If registering for this SciFun camp as part of SciFun Camp - Engineering: Rube Goldberg Machines (March 17-21), do not register for this camp separately. Please indicate your registration for this camp on the ScFun Camp - Engineering Rube Goldberg Machines registration form. SciFun Camp on Friday, March 14th OR Monday, March 24th is included with registration for SciFun Camp - Engineering: Rube Goldberg Machines.
March 14th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Do you like to know how machines work?  Even our most intricate modern machines boil down to a handful of basic simple devices, such as the lever and pulley.  You encounter these simple machines in your daily lives, such as when you open a car door (lever) to hop in and go for a ride.

On the first day of this multi-day camp, we will learn about all of the simple machines and how to construct them.  From then on, you will use this knowledge to construct a Rube Goldberg Machine.  These contraptions use multiple simple machines chained together to accomplish a task, and you will work as a team to create a machine to perform a special task!

For elementary school ages

$250 Non-Members
$200 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)

March 17th (Monday) - March 21st (Friday) with OPTIONAL BONUS Days March 14th (Friday) OR March 20th (Monday) (must indicate optional day on the camp registration form)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

What powers objects to move?  We rely on a lot of devices that use energy in some form.  Energy is everywhere around us, and humans have figured out how to utilize energy in its different forms to power our societies.  In this camp, we will learn what energy is and how it can transfer from one form to another. 

For elementary school ages

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)

If registering for this SciFun camp as part of SciFun Camp - Engineering: Rube Goldberg Machines (March 17-21), do not register for this camp separately. Please indicate your registration for this camp on the ScFun Camp - Engineering Rube Goldberg Machines registration form.
SciFun Camp on Friday, March 14th OR Monday, March 24th is included with registration for SciFun Camp - Engineering: Rube Goldberg Machines.
March 24th (Monday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Do you know our state reptile?  State amphibian?  What makes reptiles and amphibians different from other groups of animals, and what makes the two different from each other?  In this camp, we will try and spot some reptiles out in our wetlands as well as learn about the reptiles and amphibians from our Discovery Room.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

April 11th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

The weather is warming up, and plants and animals everywhere have emerged from their winter slumber.  You may know that April 22nd is called Earth Day.  It is a day to celebrate nature and learn how to protect the planet’s habitats.  It is our one home, and we all need to look after it.

In honor of Earth Day, you will learn how to care for natural habitats and why they are important.  We will tour our wetlands and investigate different habitats and the plant/animal interactions that are important for their health.  We will watch for unique wetland wildlife, such as the Red-wing blackbird.  In the afternoon, weather permitting, we will spend even more time outside and have the chance to get a little dirty and work on our butterfly garden!

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

April 25th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Have you ever thought about making things with some objects you find while walking in nature?  Plant parts like stems, leaf blades, even seed pods can be used for some interesting creations.  In this camp, we will walk around and look for natural objects we can use to make whatever decorative creations you like, and you will have examples to help inspire you.  Also, we will learn how to weave use cattail reeds and blackberry canes (stems).  As always, you can take these items home!

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

May 2nd (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org or wendy@visitthemap.org with any questions.