Step back in time as campers become junior paleontologists! Using the children’s museum as our classroom—and with a special visit visitor—kids will dig into the fascinating world of dinosaurs through hands-on science, creativity, and teamwork.

🧠 What Campers Will Explore

🪨🦴 What fossils are and how they form

🦖📛 Dinosaur names and how scientists identify them

👣🔍 Footprints and trackways (what prints can tell us!)

🌿🍖 Herbivores vs. carnivores—who ate what and why

🦴🦕 Dinosaur bones and skeletons

🔍🧠 How scientists study the past using clues and evidence

🦖 Dino Discovery Lab: Stomp, Chomp & Fossil Fun!

Week 1 | June 15–June 19

Daily Themes & Learning Adventures

🪨 Monday – Dig Day

What is a fossil?

• Excavation stations and “fossil digs”
• Discover how fossils form and why they’re important
• Compare real vs. replica fossils
• PreK–2nd: sensory digs, simple fossil matching
• 3rd–6th: fossil formation experiments & evidence discussions

🦴 Tuesday – Bone Builders

What can bones tell us?

• Explore dinosaur skeletons and body structures
• Build full and partial dinosaur skeletons
• Learn how paleontologists identify dinosaurs by bones
• PreK–2nd: large-scale bone puzzles & body movement games
• 3rd–6th: skeletal comparisons & function-based reasoning

👣 Wednesday – Track & Trace Day

Follow the footprints!

• Study dinosaur tracks and what they reveal
• Measure, compare, and create footprint casts
• Connect prints to size, speed, and diet
• PreK–2nd: footprint art & movement matching
• 3rd–6th: math-based track analysis & prediction challenges
  
  🌿🍖 Thursday – Dino Diets
  Herbivores vs. carnivores
  Explore teeth, jaws, and food chains
  Sort dinosaurs by diet
  Hands-on games modeling how dinos ate
  PreK–2nd: diet sorting games & role-play
  3rd–6th: adaptations, ecosystems & energy flow
  
  🏛️ Friday – Museum Scientist Day
  Meet the experts!
  Burke Museum visitor experience
  Learn how real scientists study dinosaurs today
  Practice being museum scientists and educators
  Share discoveries through presentations, art, or displays
  Celebrate the week with a Dino Discovery Showcase

At Farm to Table Lab, campers become young farmers, gardeners, and chefs, exploring where food comes from and how it gets from the soil to our plates. Using hands-on science, cooking, creativity, and teamwork—and with a special visit from a real working farmer and a local chef—children discover the full food journey: planting, growing, harvesting, cooking, serving, and eating.

This week blends life science, nutrition, math, and social-emotional learning, all inside the coolest classroom ever—the children’s museum and the real world beyond it.

🧠 What Campers Will Learn

🤝💛 The importance of sharing, gratitude, and community

🌱💧 How plants grow and what they need to survive

🚜➡️🍽️ The farm-to-table food cycle

🌎🥕 Where different foods come from

👩‍🍳🔪 Basic cooking and food preparation skills

Week 3 | June 29–July 3

At Climate Explorers Lab, campers become weather watchers, climate scientists, and Earth helpers! Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids investigate weather patterns, climate systems, and how human choices affect our planet. Through hands-on experiments, creative models (including edible ones!), and teamwork, campers explore big ideas in ways that feel exciting, empowering, and age-appropriate.

From building a weather station to testing melting icebergs, this week blends science, problem-solving, and social responsibility—all while having fun.

🧠 What Campers Will Learn

🚗💨♻️ What air pollution is and ways we can reduce our carbon footprint

🌡️📊 How weather is observed and measured

☁️🌧️ How clouds form and storms develop

🌪️⚡ The science behind tornadoes and extreme weather

🌍🍬 What greenhouse gases are and how they affect Earth

🧊🌊 How melting ice impacts oceans and ecosystems

Week 4 | July 6–July 10

Get ready to take flight! At Up, Up & Away Lab, campers explore everything that flies—from buzzing insects and soaring birds to helicopters, planes, rockets, and parachutes. Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids investigate the science of flight through hands-on STEAM challenges, live animal encounters, and creative design.

With special visits from a Bug Guy and West Sound Wildlife (bringing a real bird!), plus exciting paper-flying engineering activities, this week is packed with wonder, movement, and discovery.

🧠 What Campers Will Learn

🧪🔄🛠️ How scientists and engineers test, redesign, and improve flying creations

🐛🦋🦅 How insects, birds, and butterflies fly

🪽🪶📐 How wings, feathers, and body shapes help animals soar

⬆️🚀⚖️💨 The basics of lift, thrust, gravity, and air resistance

✈️🚁🚀🪂 How planes, helicopters, rockets, and parachutes work

Week 5 | July 13–July 17

At Forces in Motion Lab, campers become junior physicists, exploring the invisible forces that make the world move, glow, spin, splash, and sound. Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids investigate big physics ideas through hands-on experiments, building challenges, movement, and playful discovery.

From ramps and magnets to light, sound, air, and water, this week turns complex physics concepts into exciting, age-appropriate experiences—where curiosity leads and learning feels like play.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

🧪🔄 How scientists test ideas, observe results, and redesign

🏃‍♂️📐 How objects move and what affects motion

🧲⚡ How magnets and electricity work

🔥🌡️ How heat moves and changes materials

🌊💨 How water and air flow and create force

🔦🔊 How light travels and sound is produced

Week 6 | July 20–July 24

Get ready to mix, fizz, stretch, and explode (safely)! At Mad Science Mix Lab, campers become junior chemists, exploring how materials change, react, and behave in surprising ways. Inspired by Mark Rober–style experiments and hands-on discovery, kids dive into colorful, tactile chemistry through slime, oobleck, elephant toothpaste, crystals, and more.

Using the children’s museum as our classroom, this week blends curiosity, creativity, and collaboration—turning big chemistry ideas into unforgettable fun.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

🐡🧪 How animals like puffer fish use chemistry for protection

💥🧪 How substances change during chemical reactions

🧊💧🫠 The difference between solids, liquids, and non-Newtonian fluids

🧬🔄 How mixing ingredients creates new properties

💎⏳ How crystals form over time

🧑‍🔬👀🛡️ How scientists test, observe, and safely explore reactions

Week 7 | July 27–July 31

Dive into discovery at Water Works Lab, where campers explore the incredible science of water through hands-on experiments, engineering challenges, and playful investigation. Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids test, pour, drip, float, splash, and problem-solve as they uncover how water moves, changes, and sustains life.

From building a giant water wall to making rainbow rain and desalination models, this week blends physics, chemistry, earth science, and engineering—all while encouraging teamwork, curiosity, and creativity.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

• 🌊🔄 How water flows and changes shape
  
• ⚖️💧 Why objects sink or float
  
• 📦⬇️ How density and pressure affect movement
  
• 🚰♻️ How water can be cleaned and reused
  
• ☁️🌧️🌊 How water moves through the water cycle
  
• 🧪🛠️ How scientists and engineers test ideas and redesign solutions

Welcome to Little City, Big Ideas Lab, where campers step into the roles that keep a community running! Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids explore entrepreneurship, jobs, and teamwork by becoming bankers, cashiers, librarians, artists, teachers, chefs, actors, ferry workers, and more.

With special presentations from local workers, campers connect real-world careers to hands-on play, creativity, and problem-solving—learning how ideas turn into services, businesses, and community impact.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

• 💡🏪 How businesses and services work together in a community
• 💰📊 Basic money concepts like earning, spending, and saving
• 🧑‍🍳🎭📚 What different jobs do and why they matter
• 🗣️🤝 How to communicate, cooperate, and help others
• 🎨🛠️ How creativity and problem-solving create new ideas
• 🌱⭐ What it means to be responsible, confident, and take initiative

Week 9 | August 10–August 14

Prepare for launch! At Mission: Space Explorers, campers become astronauts, engineers, and space scientists as they explore the wonders of outer space. Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids investigate planets, rockets, and moon phases through hands-on STEAM challenges, creative projects, movement, and teamwork.

This week blends science, imagination, and collaboration—helping campers reach for the stars while building confidence and curiosity.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

🤝⭐ How teamwork and problem-solving help missions succeed

🪐🌍 What planets are and how they move in our solar system

🚀🛠️ How rockets launch and travel through space

🌙🔄 Why the moon changes shape (moon phases)

🔭👀 How scientists study space using tools and models

📐🧪 How engineers design, test, and improve rockets

Week 10 | August 17–August 21

Get ready to build big! At Build It! Engineering Lab, campers become engineers, designers, and problem-solvers, using creativity and teamwork to turn ideas into structures that move, hold, roll, twist, and challenge the imagination. Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids explore engineering through hands-on construction, testing, and redesign.

From LEGO® and Blue Blocks to obstacle courses, forts, marble runs, bridges, roller coasters, and mazes, this week celebrates perseverance, collaboration, and the joy of figuring things out.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

• 🧱🏗️ How structures are built and what makes them strong
• 🧠🔧 How engineers design, test, and improve ideas
• 🌉⚖️ How balance, weight, and stability affect structures
• 🎢📐 How motion, slopes, and curves change movement
• 🧩🌀 How mazes and obstacles are planned and solved
• 🤝⭐ How teamwork, communication, and persistence lead to succes

Week 11 | August 24–August 28

Welcome to Paws, Claws & Careers Lab, where campers explore the world of animals and the people who care for them! Using the children’s museum as our classroom, kids step into the roles of veterinarians, groomers, trainers, and animal caregivers, learning how humans and animals work together.

With exciting animal visits and presentations from real animal professionals, campers gain hands-on experience, build empathy, and discover what it means to care for living creatures responsibly.

🧠 What Children Will Learn

🧑‍⚕️⭐ How animal-related careers help communities

🐶🩺 How veterinarians help keep animals healthy

✂️🐕 What groomers do and why animal care matters

🎾🐕‍🦺 How trainers teach animals using patience and trust

🐾🏠 How to safely and respectfully interact with animals

💛🤝 How empathy, responsibility, and kindness support animal well-being