Does the thought of summer-long video games give you a headache? Do you find the notion of watching the antics of mutant turtles—ninja or otherwise—a little creepy? Does the prospect of relinquishing your child to 9 weeks of these frequently vapid pursuits fill you with dread?

Parents, despair no longer: enroll your boys and girls entering grades 1 through 6 in Camp Invention this summer and give them the opportunity to explore, create, invent, and have loads of active, imaginative fun! Important: your child does not need to be enrolled at TNCS to join—this is a community-wide opportunity. Nationally acclaimed Camp Invention is a week-long summer day program, the brainchild of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Presenting kids with real-world challenges that encourage them to solve problems and present their solutions through themed, scientific, engaging hands-on investigation, the program integrates four key components:

1. STEM enrichment: These four vital education areas—Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math—are explored via hands-on, creative problem-solving activities. Camp Invention inspires kids to be curious about their world and prepares them for a future of responsible, engaged participation within it.

2. Consistent and effective implementation: Programs are all-inclusive; Camp Invention provides curricula and step-by-step instructions for the TNCS instructors to follow as well as training and all program materials. This ensures that programs are carried out correctly and consistently, maximizing the benefits to participants.

3. Collaboration and other 21st-century skills: Working in teams, children are presented with real-world challenges that promote the direct application of critical thinking and communication skills demanded by colleges, careers, and citizenship in the 21st century.

4. Teacher and student development: Teachers gain direct, reproduceable experience in how to integrate STEM content in daily lessons and beyond. Kids benefit from the student-centered approach to learning; they are led by their own desire to solve the presented problem, to see it through.

Camp Invention is returning to TNCS for Summer 2013! Enroll for June 17–21!

The honor of hosting this exciting exploration is reserved for only about 1,200 schools nationwide, and TNCS has earned the distinction of being the only location in the downtown Baltimore area to host the camp this summer. Says TNCS Summer Camp Director Lisa Warren, “We got first dibs—it’s a great honor for us to be hosting it here for the second year!”

TNCS’s Camp Invention session will be held during the week of June 17–21, and camp runs for a full day, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. This year’s program theme is CREATE, which features four modules the kids cycle through each day: Problem Solving on Planet ZAK, SavingSludge City, I Can Invent: Launchitude, and Geo-Games (click the CREATE link above to read more about what skills and learning each module focuses on). Each one promises some really wacky fun, including re-engineering household items to create the ultimate Rubber Duck–Chucking Device, for example. What kid isn’t going to love that? Best of all, they’re using scientific principles in actual applications. These lessons will stick. Or fly, as the case may be. Even kids who have previously participated in Camp Invention will benefit from brand new adventures throughout the week.

Space is still available! To register your child for Camp Invention at TNCS, click here!

Enriching summertime activities make happy kids!

Other specialty summer camps open to the public are also available at TNCS, including Lego + Brain Games, Drama, Music, Mandarin Immersion, Painting, and Launch Pad Academic Bridge Camps, as well as camps for younger children. As we wrote in “Making Summer Count—Weekly Camps at TNCS,” using summertime to learn while having fun will enrich them academically throughout their school careers.

To register for any TNCS camp, click here.

Don’t let the important skills your child has practiced all year atrophy over summer—keep them happy and engaged at TNCS summer camp!