by Noella Noelophile®
(Royalty-free image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.)
Are you familiar with the twin dilemmas of Christmas?
“What’s a special gift my child will really enjoy?”
“What can the kids do after Christmas, so they won’t be bored and we can keep the magic going?”
If you’re in the Sacramento area, Aerospace Museum of California may just have an answer.
During Christmas week, they’ll be hosting their first Winter STEM Camp for children, grades 1-6. Both morning and afternoon half-day camp sessions are available, each lasting for three hours.
What to expect
(Royalty-free image by Susanne Jutzeler, Schweiz, from Pixabay.)
While I don’t have specifics yet about the STEM activities available, these will be winter-inspired. A flyer from the museum advertises that campers will learn about friction and gravity, kinetic energy, strong shapes and the engineering process.
Based on past summer-camp curricula, according to an email from the museum, a safe assumption may be that participants will get to apply these principles as they learn about snow, and build things like snowball launchers and sleds.
Limited spots are available, so you’re encouraged to register your young honorary aerospace engineers early! Registration for Winter STEM Camp opens one week from today: Monday, November 21st. Here’s the link.
Presentation thoughts
(Royalty-free image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.)
And if you’re presenting this as a Christmas gift, wouldn’t it be fun to cut a paper snowflake and write, “You get to go to Winter STEM Camp!” on it? And wrap it up in a small box, inside a bigger box, inside a still-bigger box, each with sequin “snowflakes” in it, and leave it under the tree?
Or, maybe you could pick up a small snowman ornament or stuffed toy and have it holding a “newspaper” you create on your computer, with that news? And position it next to a breakfast or dinner plate on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning for your recipient to find?
(Royalty-free image by Susanne Jutzeler, Schweiz, from Pixabay.)
Or, maybe even hold this gift till December 26th when everybody thinks all the festivities are over? And suggest maybe cookies and hot chocolate at home as you watch a movie together? And on the plate of cookies will be a paper “Christmas cooky” you’ve cut out of construction paper, bearing that news? (And of course, going through Pixabay, I just saw this teddy bear. Imagine if you left this bear somewhere, or in a Christmas stocking, with a note pinned to the snowball?)
OK, I’ll stop now. You can tell I’m having way too much fun with this–and you probably have some great creative ideas of your own, to surprise your winter campers.
Aerospace Museum of California, located at 3200 Freedom Park Drive in McClellan Park, California, offers their first “Winter STEM Camp” for grades 1 through 6 starting Wednesday, December 28th. Week 1 sessions run December 28th through December 30th, with Week 2 sessions happening Wednesday, January 4th through Friday, January 6th, 2023. Session 1, the morning session, runs 9 am to noon, while Session 2 is hosted from 1 to 4 pm. Cost is $150 for non-Museum members and $135 for members, and space is limited. Here’s the link for registration, which opens on Monday, November 21st.