By Kim Hilsenbeck
Hands-on fun while using imagination is the premise of Camp Invention, which took place this week at Barton Middle School.
Camp Invention, a nonprofit, produces the programming for the camps, which are then operated within a school district.
Krista Milan, the camp director for Hays CISD, said this is the first year for Camp Invention in the district.
“We needed 35 students to sign up to run the camp,” Milan said. “We have 85 signed up.”
Students, who ranged in age from third to sixth grade, came from Hays CISD schools and other districts as well. There were even a few home schooled and private school students in attendance. They were put into age-appropriate groups with cool sciency names like da Vinci.
Their week consists of building items and projects from recycled materials. Parents were asked to contribute from an approved list of “upcycled” items, including cardboard, milk jugs, container lids, fabric and more.
One classroom at the school was much like a store where students shopped for upcycled items. Tables were filled to the top with tin foil, bottle caps, rubber bands, string, plastic bottles, cereal boxes and much more.
They had a few minutes to run in, collect what they needed and get back to their project. In one classroom of incoming sixth graders, one team was building their prototype for brain sensors that would allow some with dyslexia to write.
Another group, this time fourth graders, was working with a marine biology theme to build instruments for scooping items out of the bottom of a kiddie pool.
Outside the building, they gathered round the pool as a nine-year old boy found a dryer lint trap that he used with success to remove many items from the water. Other students fashioned devices out of coffee cans, plastic and other materials.
Parents also had to bring in old electronic items that campers will use to create something new. DVD players and VCRs were among the approved devices.
Camp Invention participants will have a showcase of their work on Friday beginning at 2:30 p.m. for parents and family members to see their little inventor’s works of art.
The week-long camp runs from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Milan said the district hopes to run it again next summer.
