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To celebrate the culmination of summer 2026 to experience a week of ‘best of' , favorites, projects and experiences that we just can’t get enough of! A “Mixed Tape” of summer materials, experiments, do overs, and surprises that are worthy of an end of summer camp week of all out fun! 

All around us nature's patterns and puzzles work together and fill in spaces with color, shapes, angles, and movement. How do math and physics work behind the scenes to make the world work and progress-  naturally and in man made ways.  This week campers will observe and decipher the phenomena that help make sense of the world around us. Build a drawing machine and  write codes for  patterns your friends can replicate. Whirl spirograph designs that take on optical illusions with depth and perception. Balance, movement, size, and shape will be your playground  this week when you use materials and tools to investigate, create, and build while experimenting and testing the rules or physics!

During the 19th & early 20th centuries, trolley parks were created by trolley companies to connect city dwellers with nearby recreation and picnic areas to offer some refuge in hot weather. Lighthouse Point was one of these trolley parks along the shoreline of New Haven. The Lighthouse Point Carousel was one of the main attractions for visitors to the park. It was built around 1911-1916 and contains hand-carved horses and chariots. It is one of fewer than 100 classic, hand-carved carousels still operating today. We will spend the week exploring the features of this carousel and then designing our own model carousel. Not only will our model be beautiful to look at, but it will have moving parts made possible through electrical circuitry. 

Music is a universal language of culture, history, and  tradition. Travel the globe with us while building  instruments that have instilled joy and fervor into everyday life for centuries. Build and learn to play an Australian Didgeridoo, a Peruvian Flute, and more. Get a stamp on the passport you will have for the week when you visit a different part of the world each day! You don’t need to have musical knowledge or rhythm, together we will learn to play and maybe even dance through the week!

Dive into a week all about sharks! Ancient and agile, these 400 million year old creatures possess sharp eyes, a sixth sense, and endless  teeth that regrow in the thousands. These are only a few of the exciting shark traits  we will explore and build around. Their pivotal role as an apex predator helping the ocean’s ecosystem sustain itself is often forgotten when humans feel the threatening nature of sharks. Learn about shark safety, importance, and their vast species,  and of course their mesmerizing marine super powers!

Stories of fierce dragons, mischievous spiders, mythical beasts, and flying fairies will be the foundation of our week. We will travel the world through stories and explore myths and legends through the centuries. After sharing the folktales aloud we will bring the stories to life by making structures for fairies, webs for spiders, and building dragons that move! We’ll use a diverse range of materials to build and enliven the stories they represent. Join us as we discover cultures around the world through timeless lore.

From 1900 to 1950, more people in the United States traveled by rail than any other means of transportation available. The railroad helped usher in the industrial revolution, pushing innovation and technology forward by connecting people and places. A.C. Gilbert traveled to New Haven by rail in order to attend Yale University. On one of his trips to New York City from New Haven, he was inspired by the iron and steel construction he viewed from the train. Soon after, he began to design his famous Erector toys. Like Gilbert, we will start with a train and a track. Then we will add bridges, stations, cities, towns, and stops along the way. 
 

What is your impression of light, color, atmosphere, and shapes? Become an Impressionist painter by observing the landscape and world around you along the Mill River and its vicinity. Capture movement and light by emulating the techniques of Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, Pierre-August Renoir, Edgar Degas, and their cohorts. Master their techniques while studying their style of observing the world. Travel outdoors, “en plein air,” where you will be guided to sketch, paint, and observe your environment in a renewed way — seeing beyond the obvious.

Build your own portable easel, palette, and paint box to store your paints, brushes, pencils, and other materials. Build Monet’s boat and paint it in your version of his style. The portfolio you make will be filled with your interpretations of the world around you.

Please note: This 4 Day Camp, there is no camp on Friday.
 

Welcome to summer camp 2026! Delve into invention, creation, experimentation, and design through the lens of Leonardo Da Vinci. So much of what we do is inspired by Da Vinci, so paying close attention to our world and the works of da Vinci will be an exciting way to kick off the summer! Join us on a journey across land, sea, and sky, and peer into the cosmos for an opportunity to ask questions and seek answers.

A week of the wonderful world of Leonardo da Vinci!