LIMA, Ohio (WLIO) - Camp Invention is a nationwide summer day camp program for kids kindergarten through 6th grade who have an interest in STEM and creativity. The camp gives the students the opportunity to put those interests to use through hands-on activities.
Locally, this year's Camp Invention was held at St. Charles School and the K through 6th graders used special robots to help solve a mystery and made waves with boats.
"It's like an invasion force - it's a mystery you've got to solve and then you have to figure out who's hacking into stuff, so we're making safes and all this stuff to keep all your ideas safe," said Jackson Hardesty.
"We made boats and stuff and advertised a product, we made a prototype," said Colton Menke.
Across the nation Camp Invention serves 140,000 students every year at more than 2,600 schools. The camp encourages these students to think outside of the box and come up with their own solutions to the problems presented for them to solve.
"You just get to be you, you get to express your feelings," said Adelise Gaston.
"You get to make the ideas from scratch and you have to think of what you're going to do," said Lainey Schied. "It's not like you like you get told what you're going to make, you can make your own thing."
"I like building stuff and and I like a lot of math and science, so I thought it would be a good idea to come," Hardesty said.
But beyond the science and critical thinking of it all the camp just helps promote friendships and teamwork across the board for these kids.
"They've gotten to meet some friends from the other schools here locally, so I think that's great, they've built a lot of friendships," said camp volunteer Candace Keating. "We have a lot of team building skills which is very important. They've learned how to work together as a group and as a team, and just that science can be fun."
More information about Camp Invention and other events promoted by the National Inventors Hall of Fame can be found at invent.org.
