Elementary School Science Camps (Ages 6-10)

Students explore fossils, rocks and minerals, and wildlife with independent and guided activities that arrive in the mail before camp begins! Each day, students will have online explorations and sharing time with instructor Skye Walker. Camp-kit boxes will include art, craft and experiment supplies, nature specimens (rocks, fossils, etc), and other learning items as selected by the instructional team to be used throughout the week. This is in addition to online resources being used in each camp, including our custom virtual worlds in GatherTown.

Please keep in mind that we will have students from across time zones, so we are having to be flexible with daily start and end times to not force any student(s) to wake up overly early, or stay up too late. We will be working these out from session to session with families. 

Camp Kits:

Each virtual camp participant will receive a box of materials that go with planned activities and projects in the camp! These materials are the student's to keep. These items include things like books, magnifying lenses, samples specimens, models, art/craft supplies, and other unique resources relevant to each respective camp topic. Kits are sent in the mail in advance of camp starting. Participants outside the US will be charged an additional fee to cover the increased cost of shipping. We will contact international participants about this on a case by case basis. 

Virtual Exploration Environments:

Here a group of our camp alumni along with our Director do a walkthrough of one of our virtual learning and exploration environments. This area is part of a simulated volcanic island comparable to the Galapagos.

Unless otherwise announced, synchronous activities in the virtual camps will all take place within GatherTown. Here is a link to our GatherTown virtual worlds user guide.

GatherTown currently requires a laptop or desktop computer running FireFox or Google Chrome browsers to use. Please make sure you have access to these computer resources before registering. 

Approximate Daily Schedule:

Morning 

• Live presentation or discussion with instructional staff in GatherTown to review previous day, go over new content for that day, and preview the next day or two. These live portions will typically only be 15-20 minutes at a time (though student questions and conversation will likely extend this timeframe), as we value engagement-based content exploration and student inquiry.
• Introduce projects/activities.
• Individual or group project work time. We will have a classroom set up in GatherTown for students to talk with each other and the staff during these portions, including getting clarifications. We want the students to be able to socialize with each other as well as ask the staff questions in real-time. 

Afternoon (2x) 

Guest speakers are scheduled according to their availability, and therefore may be scheduled during the morning or afternoon portions of the day. 

This schedule is a general approximation. Instructors may make slight adjustments depending on how students are engaging with the program. Once a camp is full or we pass the April registration deadline, we will generate and provide more specific daily schedules for each camp. 

*Students may not enroll in overlapping camps.*

Questions? Contact us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu, or at 785-639-5249

Students will explore the resources of the Sternberg Museum of Natural history. This includes any traveling exhibits on site at the time. Students will also have field lessons and activities on the Sternberg Museum nature trails. 

COVID19 Policies for In-Person Elementary Camps:

• All staff are fully vaccinated for COVID19. 
• Masking will not be required (though still fully allowed) during camp.
• As with any other concerning medical issue, elementary day-campers that show any symptoms associated with COVID19 during camp will have parents contacted. Students may return to camp following production of a negative COVID19 clinical test. 

The final 2024 application deadline is April 8th. We will not review an applicant’s packet for admission until it is 100% complete.

1st-2nd grade camps: Student applicants must be ages 5 to 7 years old as of June 2024.

3rd-5th grade camps: Student applicants must be ages 8 to 10 years old as of June 2024.

Complete online application.

• To do this, you will need to set up an account with CampDoc. You can do this by clicking the “Apply Today” link at the top of this page. Once this is done, you’ll be able to log back in to your account as you complete the application process.
• If you already have an account with CampDoc, simply log in. Your personal information should all be saved from your last application.
• The waiver can be found in the online application.
• The financial aid application can be found in the online application.

Click here to learn more about our scholarship program.

Sternberg Science Camps are based at the FHSU Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Kansas. We are a non-profit organization pursuing equitable access to exceptional earth and life science education programs for kids and teens. All of our program fees go to program execution, paying our staff, and funding our scholarship program. We use small groups to boost community development and increase per-student attention from staff. Our instructors are experts in their fields, with experience and training in education as well as research, field work, and other scientific career paths. Our alumni can be found across the country, pursuing careers in academic research, resource management, science education, industry, and the arts. Many of them even come back to work for us as counselors and teaching assistants.

Curious to learn more? Read on! You can also check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, all @SternbergCamps!  

You can contact us directly at SternbergCamps@fhsu.edu, or at 785-639-5249. 

A 10% deposit is paid at the time of registration. Students who are accepted into the camp must then have the remainder of the registration fee paid by the May 1st, 2023 payment deadline.

For questions about the Sternberg Science Camps programs, contact us at SternbergCamps@fhsu.edu or 785-639-5249.