VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University has partnered with the National Inventors Hall of Fame to present Camp Invention June 11-15. 

Elementary aged students interested in being creative and innovative are invited to attend.

Hosted by VSU’s Department of Mathematics, Camp Invention is the only nationally recognized nonprofit elementary enrichment program inspired by the brightest thinkers around — the National Inventors Hall of Fame inductees. All activities are designed to be fun, hands-on, challenging, and age-appropriate, with a focus on encouraging problem-solving, teamwork, innovation, and entrepreneurship, according to release. 

Camp Invention attendees will spend the week rotating through a series of activities designed to encourage creative thinking, team building skills and a passion for innovation.

In Robotic Pet Vet, students will use tools, circuitry, biology and physiology to build and personalize a take-home robotic dog. They will also apply design and engineering principles to construct a one-of-a-kind dog park.

In Mod My Mini Mansion, children imagine and design their very own futuristic smart home filled with gadgets and cutting-edge technology. The mini mansion will allow them to explore renewable energy sources, binary coding and architecture concepts.

Armed with the futuristic Optibot, a small self-driving robot, children will also discover aerial, aquatic and land transportation technology. Students will design tracks for their take-home bots and learn how sensors are used in autonomous vehicles.

Camp Invention’s curriculum plans for attendees to invent something new every day, from a dancing dinosaur to a cupcake catapult, and explore fun realities, such as the chemistry of magnetic slime, as they experience what it is like to be a physicist, engineer and entrepreneur. 

This is VSU’s seventh year offering Camp Invention to the community. Activities will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in Nevins Hall. Registration is $225 per child and includes all supplies and a T-shirt. Those interested in registering can visit www.campinvention.org.

Camp Invention is appropriate for children entering kindergarten and first through sixth grades during the 2018-2019 academic year. Children are grouped by ages and all classes are taught by certified teachers. There is a five-to-one ratio of campers to workers.

Anyone needing more information can contact Dr. Denise Taunton Reid, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at VSU, at (229) 333-5784 or dtreid@valdosta.edu. 

Discounts are available to children of VSU faculty, staff and students and to sibling groups attending camp together.