Maker Camp Basics
On behalf of Make: we thank you in advance for creating the “in your neighborhood” part of Maker Camp. We will do our best to make sure that the “online” part is amazing!
Each year Make: produces a seasonal program, designed as an exploration of all things Do-It-Yourself for young makers. This Maker Camp is a free, 6-week online (and in-person) summer camp for young makers interested in DIY, making, creating, crafting, hacking, tinkering, and learning. Maker Camp connects young makers from across the globe as they create, invent and build projects like stop-motion animation, junk automata, and rainbow spectroscopes. At Maker Camp, our camp motto is “Explore-Make-Share.”
We welcome makers of all ages and skill levels: advanced makers can take our projects to the next level or serve as mentors to those who are just getting started. Homes, libraries, schools, museums, makerspaces, clubs, and other community centers worldwide open their doors to become local hubs of creativity, invention, curiosity, and togetherness: making.
Why Does Maker Camp Exist?
On its surface, Maker Camp is designed to be a boredom-buster. We offer a program for kids everywhere, and they can follow along from home or join a camp at a local organization. More deeply, we really want to help get more kids making. We think making is a great way to learn that appeals to kids at the top, middle, and bottom of the school ladder. Maker Camp is part of our effort to cast a wide net and haul in new stories from a million makers. We want those makers to come from new communities the Maker movement has yet to touch, and you play a huge role in this effort. Beyond growing the community, we want Maker Camp to be community-built, too, because as with all things, the making is better when you do it together.
We have written this playbook for you, our Maker Camp Sites, to help you and your campers get the most out of your Maker Camp experience. We’d like to give you a sense of the Maker Movement as a whole and give you some general characteristics of the projects and makers you’ll meet this summer, so that you can imagine and understand what to expect.
We’d like to hear how you have adapted these materials for your camp program. Let us know about your experience and how these materials worked or didn’t work for your program, so that we can improve what we send to next year’s Maker Camp Sites.
What Are Maker Camp Sites?
Anyone can host a Maker Camp. Camp sites are hosted by schools, makerspaces, libraries, camps, and youth organizations. Some camps are hosted by families or neighborhood groups of friends. We welcome makers of all ages and skill levels. Beginners new to the Maker Movement are welcome to explore and learn. Advanced makers can take our projects to the next level or serve as mentors to those who are just getting started. We are all makers and everyone is welcome to hold a Maker Camp.
Our camp leaders come from all walks of life. Some are experienced makers interested in sharing what they know. Others are educators, both formal and informal, who plan summer programs for students in their communities. People often use Maker Camp as a way to stay connected over the summer at schools, daycare centers, libraries, museums, churches, day camps, after-school clubs, and other locations. Some parents host camps for their families and friends. Lastly, some makers choose to participate on their own, finding community through our online groups.
Participating as a Maker Camp Site is free and available to any person or organization with an interest in helping kids create, innovate, and make. There is no cost to register, access our project’s step-by-step instructions, be a part of our online community, view and participate in online events, or license our branding materials.
A Camp Site can:
Select whatever Maker Camp projects fit their community’s interests.
Develop a camp structure that makes sense for their campers and the community.
Celebrate camper projects and creativity with the community.
Interact with other Maker Camp Sites online through the discussion board by asking questions, offering insights, posting project ideas, and sharing pictures or videos of campers at work.
Seek to develop their Maker Mindset and model it for their campers.
Maker Camp provides project ideas and instructions, support through our interactive website, email newsletters, online community, and visibility through our social media channels and/or website. Maker Camp Sites are expected to supply their own materials, find their own staff, secure their own locations for meetings, and any necessary insurance for using your chosen location.
Maker Camp Revinvented!
One of the tried and true aspects of Maker Camp are all the step-by-step projects that inspire campers to learn new skills. These projects are taken by camp sites and used to create custom Maker Camp programs serving the interests of their campers. As of 2020, we have a project library of over 150 projects for your campers to explore. Projects were created by professional educators, authors, makers, and camp leaders like yourself. These projects are hosted online, through our website.
In 2020, COVID-19 changed everything. Since live programs were not available in many places, we moved to an online program that heavily featured live streamed content and projects. The videos from those activities are all available, for free, on the Kids Make: You Tube Channel.
Last year we expanded our online components, as many camps moved to hybrid mode. We developed a brand new learning management system that presents Maker Camp projects in a more powerful and organized way. With additional search functionality and the ability to “like” projects to find them later, it’s never been easier to select the perfect projects for your campers.
But wait. There’s more! We’ve also created a special online group for all of our Maker Camp Sites where they can share ideas, ask questions, and find support. This is where we’ll include additional information, such as recording of information sessions and a weekly newsletter for your campers. Maker Camp staff will also be in the group, ready to help.
