June 3 – 7; 12:30pm – 4:30pm
For kids in grades 6-8.
Looking for summer enrichment activities? Enroll your child in the Making Things Fly camp at Des Moines’ own Area 515 Maker Space.
As it says in the title, this camp is all about making things! At the heart of the scientific method is testing by experiment, and that is this camp’s focus. For example, we’ll start learning about forces and friction by using a nearly-friction-free environment, a hovercraft! How can you move around when you have no friction to push against? What do you use to generate a force to push you? Children will learn answers to these questions by experiment!
During the typical afternoon your child we be given a series of projects to build and a variety of materials and tools to create those projects. They will then be set free to work under adult supervision. Some projects will have specific instructions, like AMA Cub airplane, others will be more open-ended, like the windmill. Each project is focused on a certain aspect of flight, and at the end we will examine what we made to see what worked well and what didn’t.
For some projects there may be challenges to see whose creation goes the furthest or stays in the air longest, but the focus of the camp is on cooperation.
Kids will build all kinds of flying things in order to learn how they get off the ground. In the process they will learn about scientific big ideas like forces, density, and buoyancy. Some of the projects kids will be working on include:
- rubber band and tissue paper airplane
- tissue paper hot air balloon
- match rockets
- windmill
- stomp rockets
- inflatable fort
- and more!
Please note: Under adult supervision your child will be working with tools like exacto knives, hot glue and super glue.
Inside their inflatable fort, the class of Making Things Fly camp, December 2018
Flossie enjoys a nearly-friction-free environment on the hovercraft. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
Declan enjoys making the match rockets. Making Things Fly camp, December 2018
Will carefully aims his White Whings paper plane as Ewan looks on. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
Ewan launches one of his creations as Will looks on. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
A few of the creations from the Making Things Fly camp, December 2018
Dave gives an impromptu talk about the aerodynamics of frisbees. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
Brad helps guide students build the AMA Cub balsa and tissue paper plane. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
Students hard at work on their windmill project. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018
Even parents join in some hovercraft fun after class. Making Things Fly camp, December, 2018