Bismarck Summer Camps

The only hands-on science center in North Dakota offers programs designed to make science fun, inspiring, and entertaining. This includes science camps in the summer, science clubs during the school year, and many family and special events throughout the whole year. Our programming staff works year-round, creating new programs and updating old favorites.

For the Summer of 2011 we are planning lots of fun summer camps. Each of our summer camps will have your child learning, imagining and working with their hands and tools, while having fun!

Year after year, Gateway to Science hosts returning campers that can't wait to get back to experiencing our unique, hands-on approach to learning, and a high volume of new campers that are excited to try our camps for the first time! We welcome everyone!

Inspire a passion for science in your child! New activities every year, over 40 locations and four different kinds of Camp Invention programs in Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota!

Kids participate in each of these activities every day:

Saving Sludge City – Learn how to clean up pollution and build safe landfills, and design a “green” city
Problem-Solving on Planet Zak - Crash land on an alien planet and try to survive
I Can Invent: Balloon Burst - Work with real tools to take apart a small mechanical device, use the parts and other materials to build a Rube Goldberg machine!
Action and Adventure Games – Use upcycled materials and teamwork to create your own exciting new games!


Directed and taught by qualified local educators, Camp Invention is a national STEM enrichment program from the nonprofit Invent Now. Activities also focus on developing 21st Century learning skills such as teamwork, critical thinking skills, decision-making, creative problem-solving, and working through failure.

Dates: June 4-8, 2012
Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 3:30 pm
For students entering grades 1-6

Registration fee of $220 includes a camp T-shirt
Discounts of up to $35 off; check our current offer.

MAY 28-JUNE 1 SUMMER KICK-stART

Ping Pong your way to summer, or just kick back! Koosh ball painting a la Pollock! With artists like Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, Emma Kunz, and Agnes Martin.

We will also Celebrate the start of summer vacation by creating summer-themed projects: Stepping stones, homemade sidewalk chalk, windsocks, and mixed media art works. FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*


JUNE 4-8 TANGLE UP INTO ART!

Tangle into a World of Spirals and Doodles! Discover the enchanting elements of art with Zentangles coined by Rick Roberts "zentangle king" work on abstract art, paper weaving and stained glass window art! What a camp! We will learn all about photography with light painting and trick photography, We will visit a local Photo Studio. FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JUNE 11-15 WILD WACKY

We're going to the zoo! Draw animals like Henri Rousseau and Picasso! Squirt gun tag, soap paint and Twister in a wild and wacky way! This session is ARTastic! Squirt bottle art, potato printing and balloon cartoons art just the beginning of this wild and wacky camp! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JUNE 18-22 ARTS AND CULTURES/OUR WORLD

Art from India, Russia, Italy. Michaelangelo! Sculptor and Painter! Art from North Dakota! What our ancestors brought to North Dakota! Focusing on Art History, we will learn by creating and illustrating all about Greek mythology. Make a giant Trojan horse! Sculpt your own mythological creatures! Learn about art from around the world! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*


JUNE 25-29 IMAGINATION NATION

Artventor's Workshop! Create Theo-Land from cardboard boxes! Paint your house and create murals. Study the architecture of Gaudi, Hundertwasser and Art Nouveau artists, then design your own cities and worlds with blueprints! Create abstract sculptures and learn about
design from a local architecture firm! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*


JULY 2-6 SLUMBER ART ROCKS PARTY MADNESS!

Visit local artists studios! And on thursday afternoon? Downtown Shops! We will shop and learned from local artisans! Come back to the studio with ideas to create great art! Be ready for a sleepover! duck tape art! glow in the dark art! Make a party pillow and paper bead bracelets! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JULY 9-13 ART-RAGEOUS NATURE!

Get ready for Theo's Garden Walk by painting a public mural on Washington Street! Take a trip to the pool! Make twig and feather journals, nature mobiles, learn how to create yard art from local artists. Campers will observe nature and draw figures, animals, and landscapes. We will be honoring Paul Noot at the mural site with a fun summer party at the end of the week! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JULY 16-20 EXCLUSIVE NEW CAMP FOR THEO ART SCHOOL CAMPERS! HEAVENLY HORSES!

*In partnership with Harmony Stables. Girls only camp! On location at Harmony Stables. Turn your love for horses into works of art with the help of Harmony stables. Get inspiration from the Great Horse Illustrator George Stubbs! From pencil to watercolor, proportion to movement, campers will see their ideas take form. Learn horsemanship and horseback riding!
*ALL DAY CAMP ONLY*

JULY 16-20 ALL-AMERICAN ARTISTS

Explore the diverse world of American art in this camp. Students will have the opportunity to draw, paint, and sculpt using a variety of media. Grant Wood, Warhol, and Noot! Projects include landscape paintings, printmaking and Alexander Calder mobiles. FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JULY 23-27 WILD THINGS, DINOSAURS AND YOU!

Visit the Heritage Center and learn from paleontologists and scientific illustrators about what they know best - Dinosaurs! Bring out the Wild Thing in you with projects inspired by Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are." Sculpt, make masks, draw, and paint. Make your
own fossils, dragon eggs and monsters! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

JULY 30-AUG. 3 COLOR CRAZY - EXPRESS YOURSELF!

The Artiest Blast of a Color Crazy Camp for!
Just think Crazy! Travel while you create! Visit Paris. Monmartre in the 20s and 30s. Poulenc, Cocteau, Satie, Milhaud, Picasso! Wild and Crazy Art, Music, Film, Poetry, Silk Printing, and Dance. Takes it all on! Join us for a kind of FUN you've never had before!Tie dye your own t-shirts! Learn how to paint with watercolors and acrylic paint. Express yourself with color using oil pastels and colored pencils. FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

AUG. 6-10 DIVING INTO VINCENT'S ART: THE WORKS OF VINCENT VAN GOGH

Campers will create amazing works of Art in this Van Gogh inspired painting and drawing Summer of Art Sessions. Working in a wide variety of paint mediums, acrylics, watercolors. We will use bold colors and textures, paint on paper and hard surfaces, and learn exciting brush strokes to create their own masterpieces in and outside the classroom. The students will learn all about the ART of Vincent Van Gogh and the other great Artists of its day.! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*

AUG. 13-17 ART-FULL AUTUMN

This art camp will offer lessons in drawing, painting, and crafts with fall-themed art projects using a variety of mediums and techniques. Fall into a week full of Seasonal Art! Gather both natural materials and inspiration from Sertoma Park and River Shores. A full week of activities will get you geared up for an Art-Full Autumn! Projects and activities will include clay wind chimes, natural photo frames and colorful nature prints. We are bring our easels, canvas, and paints! We will sit down and get inspire by the park, the river, our famous bridge! FIELD TRIP
*ALL DAY OR HALF DAY*