CAMP KOOKA-RACHA POPUP CAMPS
2025 - 2026
OCTOBER 13, 2025 - Fall into Fractals: Nature’s Spooky Shapes
Theme Focus: Connect math concepts with patterns and shapes found in nature.
STEAM Challenge: Explore symmetry and fractals by designing repeating patterns and testing how geometry strengthens structures.
Makerspace Activity: Create Fibonacci-inspired art, folded fractals, or geometric models using straws, sticks, and recycled materials.
Westlawn Woods Project: Go on a “shape hunt” in the woods, spotting spirals, circles, and triangles in pinecones, shells, and leaves, then create a collaborative nature geometry collage.
NOVEMBER 24, 2025 - Woodland Builders: Harvest Engineering Challenges
Theme Focus: Use natural materials to explore engineering and construction.
STEAM Challenge: Design and build bridges, towers, or shelters from sticks, stones, and mud; then test their strength and balance.
Makerspace Activity: Construct eco-homes or mini structures with a mix of natural and recycled materials.
Westlawn Woods Project: Build engineering “mini marvels” from pinecones, branches, and other natural finds.
DECEMBER 13, 2025 - Santa’s STEAM Workshop
Theme Focus: Explore chemistry, engineering, and physics through holiday-themed STEAM challenges, and create a personalized science ornament to take home.
STEAM Challenge: Build an Elf Zipline to travel from the “North Pole” to the presents, and design a mini catapult to launch cotton ball “snowballs.”
Makerspace Activity: Create your own holiday ornament in the STEAM Ornament Lab.
Westlawn Woods Project: Collect pinecones and evergreens to decorate a “Woodland Christmas Tree.”
JANUARY 19, 2026 - Frozen Science: States of Matter
Theme Focus: Explore solids, liquids, and gases through hands-on experiments.
STEAM Challenge: Try ice excavation, melting races (with salt, sugar, or warm water), and shake up homemade ice cream or slushies.
Makerspace Activity: Build mini “freezers” or insulated containers to test ice melt.
Westlawn Woods Project: Create Frozen Nature Creations by freezing leaves, berries, and twigs in ice molds to hang as ornaments.
FEBRUARY 16, 2026 - Wild Engineers: Animal-Inspired Design
Theme Focus: Discover how animals engineer and adapt, then try building like them.
STEAM Challenge: Build bird nests, test “beak” designs, and design bug-inspired crawlers or bots.
Makerspace Activity: Create camouflage art with patterns inspired by animals.
Westlawn Woods Project: Build mini animal shelters or camouflage “blending spots” in the woods.
MARCH 16, 2026 - Flight School: Things That Soar
Theme Focus: Experiment with forces of flight through design and testing.
STEAM Challenge: Engineer paper airplanes, design parachutes, launch straw or balloon rockets, and build gliders or kites.
Makerspace Activity: Construct mini flying machines from recycled materials.
Westlawn Woods Project: Test airplanes, kites, or gliders along a forest flight path.
APRIL 24, 2026 - Mind Benders: Puzzles & Problem-Solving
Theme Focus: Sharpen logic, critical thinking, and math skills through puzzles and challenges.
STEAM Challenge: Take on an escape room challenge, tackle math puzzles and tangrams, and design a bridge or tower using limited materials.
Makerspace Activity: Explore art + math fusion by creating optical illusions and geometric artwork.
Westlawn Woods Project: Set up a puzzle trail with outdoor stations of riddles, tangrams, and mini engineering builds.