Game Development Camps and STEMQuest - Summer Camps - McDonogh School

Game Development Camps and STEMQuest

LEGO® & K'NEX: Build it and Wreck it (Ages 5–8)

  • Ages: For children ages 5 to 8 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: June 22 to June 26 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Don't miss out on the most exciting camp program of the summer! Is there anything more fun than building structures out of LEGO®s and K'NEX, only to watch them all crumble down before your eyes? Have you ever wanted to create a tower and then use a robot to pull it down? Well, now is your chance!

All week long, campers and our professional instructors will build incredible castles and then test how much weight they can hold before crumbling down. Using LEGO® and K'NEX, campers will work together in small teams to build bridges, roads, swings, and even snowmobiles! Each day, participants will be presented with new and exciting build challenges and missions to overcome and tear down.

So, join us for a great week of camp as we all put on our hard hats and thinking caps!

LEGO® & K'NEX: Gru's Robotic Minion Mania (Ages 5–8)

  • Ages: For children ages 5 to 8 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: June 29 to July 2 – $520 (Week of July 4)
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Once upon a time, Gru was a kid—just like you! This summer will be perfect for campers to use the latest STEM-approved robots and LEGO® to help Gru in his quest to become the greatest supervillain of all time!

Participants will work with—and against—the Minions to build, drive, and crash their way through robotic obstacle escape challenges and Despicable Ramps! Campers will learn and use Drobots' engineering and design process to create their very own supervillain avatar and test it against the ongoing threat of other villains attempting to pilfer their thunder. Children, separated into small teams, will gain exposure to introductory coding concepts via the latest line-following bots and block coding platforms.

This program offers an abundance of fun and experimental model building, LEGO®-Machining events, and supercoder challenges! Remember, just because Minions look cute and cuddly, they can be very, very destructive with a shrink ray blaster! Good luck, and don't forget to strap on your thinking cap!

STEMQuest: Jr. Coasters and Speedsters (Ages 8–12)

  • Ages: For children and preteens ages 8 to 12 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: June 29 to July 2 – $520 (Week of July 4)
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Campers who yearn for the need for speed are required to participate in this energizing camp program. Teams of campers work together during multiple hands-on creative activities to design, build, and race rolling objects. Prepare to design and build the tallest, fastest, and most durable marble roller coasters before releasing your marble in super-speedster fashion down the tracks. Huddle up with your counselors and devise a plan to have your rolling objects jump over as many towers as possible without knocking them over.

Get creative and build your very own balloon-powered speedster bot, navigate it around, and crash it through various obstacles. Finally, try your best to conquer and complete the dreaded superloop for extra excitement!

LEGO® & K'NEX: Jurassic-Bot Adventures (Ages 5–8)

  • Ages: For children ages 5 to 8 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: July 6 to July 10 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Campers, prepare to escape reality during this time-traveling robotics and LEGO® summer program! Design and guide your robotic dino-cart throughout the Jurassic map to find shelter. You'd better hurry, because the King-Rex is ready to track your group down and turn your hard-earned Lizard Tokens into lunch!

During this high-energy and adventurous program, participants will learn to code their robots to recreate the migration patterns of dinosaurs. Groups of campers (junior paleontologists) work together in small teams and will build motorized pulley systems, bridges, and specialized tools to navigate the prehistoric landscape successfully!

So, get ready to transport from the comforts of your own engineering room to the misty, murky land of the terrible lizards who once ruled the planet.

This camp is the perfect blend of creativity, fun, and STEM—all in one!

LEGO® & K'NEX: Super Mario Bros. (Ages 5–8)

  • Ages: For children ages 5 to 8 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: July 13 to July 17 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
The Super Mario Bros. are back at it again! Young Drobots engineers will join Mario, Luigi, Toadstool, and Yoshi to "build'' new levels during each camp day. Campers will use LEGO® and K'NEX motors to create moving obstacles for our (pesky) characters to avoid.

Create and take tunnels to secret levels that only you know about, and then challenge your friends to try to beat your Bowser maze. Parents, it's time for your little ones to enjoy all of the fun from the hit game you knew of growing up, but all brought to life in a STEM setting with LEGO®, K'NEX, and, of course, creativity!

Did we mention robots? Oh yeah… watch out for them!

STEMQuest: K'NEX Theme Park Design (Ages 8–12)

  • Ages: For children and preteens ages 8 to 12 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: July 20 to July 24 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Step right up! Discover how we use wheels, gears, and pulleys to make things move and explore the forces that drive your favorite rides, from trains to merry-go-rounds to Ferris wheels. Using their imaginations, campers will build loop-the-loops and carousels to turn an engineering space into an amusement park. It is certain to be a wild ride as groups of young engineers drive, pilot, and wreck amazing robots through creative courses built with the always-popular K'NEX sets.

Code robots to navigate an amusement park as we build—and also wreck—roller coasters, giant swings, and other exhilarating rides. Join us for a week of fun and learning as we take traditional theme park games and challenges and redesign them with the wonders of the K'NEX engineering platform. This camp provides the best combination of fine motor skill activities and programmable bot learning. No height restrictions for these wacky rides!

LEGO® & K'NEX: Super-Pets Creator (Ages 5–8)

  • Ages: For children ages 5 to 8 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: July 20 to July 24 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Let's see what Krypto, Streak, Comet, Streaky, and the whole DC Comics Super-Pets pack are up to this summer! As always, they are fighting crime and solving mysteries with the help of their superhero owners. So, campers, let's unite and lend them a paw!

Together we will use LEGO®, K'NEX, and robots to help the Super-Pets find lost pups, rescue turtles from the flood, and transport kittens over a damaged rope bridge. Keep your eyes open as we watch out for Lu-Lu, the dreaded hairless guinea pig who wants to foil your plans at every turn!

LEGO® & K'NEX: Theme Park Design (Ages 8–12)

  • Ages: For children and preteens ages 8 to 12 (coed).
  • Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  • Dates and Tuition: July 27 to July 31 – $650
  • Weekly Transportation Fee (Optional): $50 per camper

Camp Programming Overview
Join us as we build our very own theme parks using LEGO®, K'NEX, and other awesome materials. Theme Park Design allows campers to learn and test the science behind roller coasters, giant slides, and other theme park activities.

Build a giant loop and race against other teams in friendly competitions, use LEGO® to make a zip line glider, and then make a video from the rider's perspective as you crash through your concession stand, sending LEGO® everywhere!

McDonogh Summer Camps