2026 Themes and Projects
Every week of Camp STEAM features fun and educational projects, wrapped in that week’s theme. There are 4 themes with unique programming that each run twice throughout the summer. If campers join us for multiple weeks, or progress through projects more quickly, we have challenges and projects that continue to build from wherever they are, ensuring no matter what level a camper is at, we meet them there to start their journey!
Get ready to blast off into an exciting week where campers become astronauts, mission specialists, digital engineers, and creative problem-solvers!
Using engineering tools (Minecraft Education Edition, Chromebooks, Micro:bits and more) along with hands-on stations, we’ll tackle NASA-inspired missions—exploring the challenges and forces that brave space explorers encounter: From understanding solar energy to fostering plant growth in orbit, to navigating bone loss in microgravity, harnessing spacecraft forces, and beyond!
Campers will also build real prototypes of space tools and ISS modules, learn how astronauts live and work on the ISS, complete digital missions and coding challenges and more!
Impact Activity: Astro-Pi Inspired Coding Mission
During Minecraft: Space Expedition weeks, campers learn what Astro Pi computers do for astronauts, how messages and experiments are programmed in space, and then create their own scrolling message and LED display pattern using the official web-based simulator. Campers will take home instructions so they can submit their finalized message to the official Astro Pi Challenge in Sept 2026. The European Space Agency (ESA) will then run their code on the ISS and send each participant a digital certificate showing exactly when and where the station was when their message appeared in orbit!
Buckle up for a rollercoaster week as we enter the thrilling world of amusement-park engineering, creative design and imaginative problem-solving! During LEGO: Theme Park Fun, campers become the creators behind a brand-new theme park—designing rides, games, interactive zones, smart systems, and showtime attractions using LEGO bricks, LEGO SPIKE Essential, LEGO Prime and 3D printing.
By merging creativity with engineering, campers discover how STEAM professionals— from ride engineers to animators to robotics designers—work together to build the amusement parks we love.
By the end of the week, each group contributes to a fully built Camp STEAM Carnival!
Impact Activity: RecordSetter LEGO World Record Challenge
During LEGO: Theme Park Fun weeks, campers take part in an exciting, creativity-driven RecordSetter LEGO World Record Challenge, where they work together to create and set a brand-new world record using LEGO. In their teams, campers brainstorm imaginative record categories, construct their timed builds, and record their evidence. And because RecordSetter welcomes kid-created categories, every camp location has the opportunity to successfully set a unique LEGO world record. This activity gives campers the unforgettable thrill of achieving something extraordinary together. The result is a high-energy, confidence-building experience that celebrates creativity and turns every camper into a world-record setter!
Minecraft: Mission to Mars | July 20-24 & August 17-21
Your mission? Join us as we explore the Red Planet! Mission to Mars transports campers far beyond Earth as they take on the role of space engineers, habitat designers, planetary scientists, and explorers preparing humanity’s first sustainable colony on Mars. Through Minecraft Education, hands-on engineering builds, 3D printing, and micro:bit technology, campers work through real challenges inspired by NASA and future Mars mission planning. Together we’ll prototype rovers, build habitats, engineer water-purification systems, test terrain models, experiment with energy sources, and create digital colony worlds that match campers’ physical builds.
Every activity supports the same exciting goal: building a functioning Mars colony!
Impact activity: NASA Eyes on the Solar System
During Minecraft: Mission to Mars weeks, campers will explore real space missions through NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, an interactive platform that lets kids experience spacecraft landings, asteroid tracking, planetary flybys, and live deep-space communications in stunning 3D. Campers will dive into NASA’s “5 Cool Things To Do,” including landing the Perseverance rover on Mars, watching the New Horizons flyby of Pluto, tracking asteroids approaching Earth, exploring Cassini’s Grand Finale between Saturn’s rings, and seeing which spacecraft are sending data home in real time. Plus, they’ll use Minecraft Creative Mode to recreate one of the missions! Through this powerful impact experience, campers connect with real space science while imagining their role in the next generation of explorers.
LEGO: Forging the Future | July 27-31 & Aug 24-28
Imagination and creativity, engage! Come design and build and bring new worlds to life in this imagination-powered week. Using LEGO SPIKE robotics, 3D printing, hands-on materials, and STEAM-based challenges, campers explore themed environments—adventure worlds, mystery lands, magical realms, underwater cities, space hubs, and more—each with its own design challenges and problems waiting to be solved
Campers explore how structures stand, how machines move, how sensors respond, how digital design enhances physical builds, and how creativity shapes narrative experiences.
By merging artistic storytelling with real engineering, campers learn that STEAM is not just a set of subjects—it’s the toolkit that brings entire worlds to life.
Impact activity: LEGO Build the Change – a Future Without Waste
During LEGO: Forging the Future weeks, campers will imagine and shape sustainable futures through LEGO’s official Build the Change program, a global sustainability initiative that empowers kids to design creative solutions for real environmental challenges. Through the theme A Future Without Waste, campers learn how waste affects communities and natural ecosystems, then brainstorm and build innovative LEGO inventions that reduce, reuse, or eliminate waste. Using engineering-style problem-solving and imaginative storytelling, campers design futuristic systems—from recycling robots to zero-waste city features—which truly empower campers to forge the future!
The tools campers use at Camp STEAM help their imaginations, creativity, and code come to life! From the virtual world to hands-on exploration, campers work with a variety of age-appropriate technologies that turn ideas into real-world creations.
While not every tool is used every single week, each Camp STEAM program is thoughtfully designed so campers are deeply engaged with the tools that best support that week’s theme.
In addition to Chromebooks, campers will work with a selection of the following tools throughout the week:
Micro:bit
Let’s code with the Micro:bit, a tiny, transportable computer (or robot) with many features including buttons, LEDs, sensors, and more! Micro:bit can be programmed using visual block-based programming languages including Scratch and MakeCode or text-based programming languages including JavaScript. Campers joining us for Minecraft themed weeks will work with Micro:bits to create code and watch it come to life!
3D Printer
3D printers have so many practical applications, and let’s face it – are just really fun! Campers will learn how to conceptualize an idea, design it digitally, and then watch as it’s printed layer by layer. Finished designs are tested, refined, and celebrated as tangible results of their creativity and problem-solving.
Tinkercad
Tinkercad is a web-based tool for 3D design, electronics, and coding that supports our project-based learning approach. Campers will use Tinkercad to turn their ideas into digital 3D models, learning the fundamentals of design and spatial thinking before bringing their creations to life.
Minecraft Education
Campers may know Minecraft as a game, but at Camp STEAM it becomes a powerful coding and design tool! During Minecraft weeks, campers use their creativity to build structures and solve challenges, then bring those designs to life by coding directly within the game environment. It’s a perfect blend of creativity, logic, and problem-solving.
LEGO Education, SPIKE Prime & SPIKE Essential Kits
Sure, LEGO is fun to build with on its own, but at Camp STEAM, it becomes a powerful tool for learning and invention! During our LEGO themed weeks, campers will use LEGO Education SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Essential kits to design, build, and code their own interactive creations. These kits combine classic LEGO building with motors, sensors, and programmable elements, helping campers bring their ideas to life through movement, logic, and creativity — all while having a blast!
