Summer Camp

Garden Gurus with Jami - 4 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. Shake out those seeds and let’s create a container garden. Summer is here and it’s not too late to start the process! We’ll transplant some seedlings and create some fun garden art to take home. It’s all about being outdoors, getting our hands in the dirt, creating new spaces and learning some fundamental concepts about growing our own food. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Welcome to Early Childhood with Denise - 3 years old, 4 years old, and new to Montessori 5 and 6 year olds. 8:00am-12noon. This half-day camp introduces rising toddlers and students who are new to the Montessori School of Durham community to the basic routines and expectations of the Early Childhood classroom. Throughout the week, children will have the opportunity to become familiar with typical early childhood expectations and to experience and practice general classroom procedures. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Clay Everyday with Janine - Rising 2nd - rising 7th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Join veteran MSD art teacher, Janine Wolf, for a week of everyone’s favorite—POTTERY! We will create 2-3 finished pieces of pottery using the hand building methods of pinch, coil, and slab. We will learn the process that clay goes through from greenware to bisque ware and finally, finished glassware. Clay is a very satisfying medium. We basically start with a lump of mud and transform it into decorative objects and functional dinnerware. This is a fun and rewarding process! Cost $315.

NC Systema - Youth Martial Arts with Pasquale - Rising 2nd - rising 4th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Systema is a complete training system for the mind, body, and spirit, combining the benefits of martial arts, yoga, and meditation. Our approach to martial arts is non-destructive and free of aggression. We encourage critical thinking and creativity to solve problems. Systema is designed to create, build, and strengthen the body, psyche, family, and community. Activities include: creative movement, learning to fall safely, rolling, running, jumping, strength and flexibility exercises, breathing exercises, and problem-solving scenarios. Cost: $300.

Beekeeping with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon (Tuesday-Friday). This week will provide a better understanding of the roles of the honeybee within the community of the hive and the community outside the hive. We will learn about the tools of the beekeeper, the parts of the hive and the parts of the honeybee! We will construct a hive, enjoy a honey taste, and make balloon thoraxes. Insects are a natural subject for children to learn about science, different kinds of societies, the care of living creatures, and the value of working as a team. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost $215.

Welcome to Early Childhood with Denise - 3 years old, 4 years old, and new to Montessori 5 and 6 year olds. 8:00am-12noon (Tuesday-Friday). This half-day camp introduces rising toddlers and students who are new to the Montessori School of Durham community to the basic routines and expectations of the Early Childhood classroom. Throughout the week, children will have the opportunity to become familiar with typical early childhood expectations and to experience and practice general classroom procedures. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $215.

Good Ol’ Summer Fun with Melissa -  Rising 2nd - rising 7th grade. 8:00am-3:00pm (Tuesday-Friday). MSD’s Upper Elementary teacher, Melissa, has fond memories of her childhood summers growing up in North Dakota. In this camp, we will be having fun the old fashioned way…with fort building, paper airplane flying contests, crafts, challenges, and lots of games! We will start the day playing outside each morning before it gets too hot, then move to the Upper Elementary classroom for indoor activities. After lunch, we will have a little time to relax while reading or playing board games before we move to the multipurpose room for active games, then cool down with water play. We’ll end each day with indoor free-time. Let's play together this summer! Cost $330.

Treasure Maps with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. We will be creating simple maps of our playground and maps of imaginary places. Then we will use these maps to find hidden objects in a fun way to teach basic map skills and hone spatial skills. These activities will also help your child to develop an understanding of direction (which way?), location (where?), and representation (what a drawing stands for). Come join us for fun and exploration. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost $245.

Oceans of Fun with Denise - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. Oceans of Fun is a half-day camp that explores the depths of Earth’s oceans. From tide pools to tripod fish, we’ll dive right into our exploration! Through crafts, games, and experiments, we will learn about vehicles designed for deep sea exploration, discover the zones of the ocean, learn about some of the fascinating creatures that dwell in each zone, and “meet” some famous oceanographers. This camp is going to be a whale of a good time! Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Clay Everyday with Janine - Rising 2nd - rising 7th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Join veteran MSD art teacher, Janine Wolf, for a week of everyone’s favorite—POTTERY! We will create 2-3 finished pieces of pottery using the hand building methods of pinch, coil, and slab. We will learn the process that clay goes through from greenware to bisque ware and finally, finished glassware. Clay is a very satisfying medium. We basically start with a lump of mud and transform it into decorative objects and functional dinnerware.This is a fun and rewarding process! Cost $315.

Birds of a Feather with Denise - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. Birds of a Feather is a half-day camp that will introduce children to the fascinating world of birds - from their functional feet and beaks to their patterned plumage and sweet songs! Through a variety of activities, crafts, and songs, Birds of a Feather will help children develop an understanding of and appreciation for our fine feathered friends. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Rolling Wheels - STEM with Shelby - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. A Mechanical Engineering adventure with the laws of motion. This program will take participants into the land of moving things. They experience the epic battle between inertia and motion. Move away inertia, as the hands-on activities are sure to get everyone moving! Children get hands-on with the science of forces & motion, experience 4C skills of Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity with engineering design challenges. Activities include: Grab-I-NatorTM, Laziness Workshop, Action Reaction Car, Balancing Gizmo, Driver Inertia, and more. Cost: $315.

Cycles! - Dragonfly Nature with Rachel - rising 2nd grade - rising 7th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Each day of the week will focus on a different natural cycle: water, nutrients, and the life cycles of trees, amphibians and invertebrates. Our time together will be playful, active and most of our time will be spent outdoors, exploring the school’s campus. We will be using learning techniques and tools such as capture and release practices of wildlife, plant and animal identification, water play, and the use of binoculars, hand lenses, and microscopes. Dragonfly Nature Programs LLC, owned by Rachel Woods, has been designing nature studies for young people in the Triangle Area for 15 years. Our programs encourage curiosity, understanding and an appreciation for our natural spaces with a focus on NC flora and fauna. Cost: $245.

Breadmaking with Jami -3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. Around the world, bread is the nutritional mainstay of many diets. People “break bread together” as part of social and religious traditions. The kinds of breads are as varied as the people who eat them, often reflecting the natural resources and cultural traditions of the region in which they first originated. Similar breads are eaten in different countries, with most now being universally available. Campers will participate in making several types of bread in this camp. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Adventures in Africa with Denise -  3 years old - rising 1st grade. Adventures in Africa is a half-day camp that highlights the rich biodiversity of the African savanna. Campers will enjoy learning about the climate, vegetation, and wildlife of this grassland biome through a variety of activities, games, and songs. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Intro to Electrical Engineering and Internal Combustion Engines with Techsplorers- Rising 2nd grade - rising 7th grade. 8:00am-3:00pm. Start your journey into the exciting world of Electrical Engineering and electronics hobbying! We’ll begin with the basics – voltage, current, resistance, using a multimeter, and building circuits on a breadboard – and campers will work their way up to building a really cool electronic circuit that you will solder together and take home with you. This amazing little circuit is an electronic musical instrument that can be played with just the wave of your hand. After adding a few more electronic components, it becomes the crazy-sounding Theremin Outer Space Siren, which gets its unique sound by allowing the electricity to flow through your body. In the afternoon, you will completely take apart a lawn mower engine and put it back together again – the right way! Learn everything from how to use mechanical tools like ratchets and wrenches to the engineering theory behind carburetors, magnetos, spark plugs, and compression ratios. By the end of the week you’ll know why octane ratings matter and how to calculate the displacement of any engine. Cost: $400.

Science Sleuths with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. We will explore the chemical reactions, surface tension, and density (how to make a penny shine, milk swirl, and 7 layer density jar). We will follow the scientific process of questions, predictions, observations, and explanations of what we have observed. This is a wonderful opportunity to work together as a group and to design our own experiments. Science Sleuths are on the case. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost $245.

Land Down Under with Denise - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. Land Down Under is a half-day camp that introduces children to Earth’s smallest continent. Throughout the week, we will explore the music, art, and games of Australia’s indigenous people, learn about the unique flora and fauna of this continent, and discover why June, July and August are winter months in Australia. Children will enjoy completing mapping activities, creating art, and learning songs about marsupials, kookaburras, and gum trees! Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Good Ol’ Summer Fun with Melissa - Rising 2nd - rising 4th grade. 8:00am-3:00pm. MSD’s Upper Elementary teacher, Melissa, has fond memories of her childhood summers growing up in North Dakota. In this camp, we will be having fun the old fashioned way…with fort building, paper airplane flying contests, crafts, challenges, and lots of games! We will start the day playing outside each morning before it gets too hot, then move to the Upper Elementary classroom for indoor activities. After lunch, we will have a little time to relax while reading or playing board games before we move to the multipurpose room for active games, then cool down with water play. We’ll end each day with indoor free-time. Let's play together this summer! Cost $360.

Folk Art Camp with Pamela - rising 5th -rising 7th graders. 8:00am-12noon. Take a trip around the world in this wonderfully creative hands-on art camp. Each day, campers will be introduced to a different culture and explore art from that area. Each day, campers will also create another fascinating item to take home! Projects will include: Hopi Kachina Dolls, Aboriginal Dot Art/Storytelling, Indonesian Shadow Puppets, Iranian Tiles/Mosaics, and Adinkra stamping from the Asante people of West Africa. Pamela, one of MSD’s Elementary After School Instructors, will lead this camp. She is an artist who has taught many children’s art classes. Cost: $245

Magical Kingdoms with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. What is real and what is pretend? You decide! We will explore castles, dragons, and fairies. Some of our activities will be: building fairy houses, castles, magic wands, and fairy lights. Join us in our creative imaginary play of the wonderful world of childhood. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost $245.

Senses in Summer with Denise - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. This half-day camp explores the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feels that remind us of summer. This fun-filled week will be packed with sensory experiences and explorations. Throughout the week, we will make rainbows, play Sounds Bingo, smell herbs, conduct sweet, sour, and salty taste tests, and use our sense of touch to experience a variety of sensations. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Exploring Mechanical and Electrical Engineering - with Techsplorers - rising 2nd - rising 4th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Discover the exciting worlds of mechanical and electrical engineering! In the morning we’ll design roller coasters, build catapults, discover simple machines, and explore gravity, buoyancy, energy, work, and friction. In the afternoon, we’ll experiment with static electricity, create electromagnets, build our own batteries, learn how electric motors work, and design circuits. If you’d like to build and work with activities that light up and buzz, this camp is for you! Cost: $400.

Paper Crafts with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00am-12noon. There are few art materials more available, more economical, or more satisfying to the craftsperson than paper. The projects offered in this camp are designed to stimulate explorations that are unique and discoveries that are personal. Some of our projects will be paper mache, paper sculptors, and paper mobiles. We will talk about basic paper materials and shapes which will include cutting, folding, tearing, joining, and decorating. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Welcome to Early Childhood with Denise - 3 years old, 4 years old, and new to Montessori 5 and 6 year olds. 8:00am-12noon. This half-day camp introduces rising toddlers and students who are new to the Montessori School of Durham community to the basic routines and expectations of the Early Childhood classroom. Throughout the week, children will have the opportunity to become familiar with typical early childhood expectations and to experience and practice general classroom procedures. Denise, one of MSD’s Montessori trained Early Childhood Teachers, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Art Inspired by Famous Artists with Pamela - rising 2nd – rising 4th graders. 8:00am-12noon. Come explore five fascinating artists and create art inspired by them. Who were these artists? What did they want to say? Be inspired by them to create your own art using a variety of techniques and materials including tempura paint, resist painting, collage, cut paper, colored pencils, and pastels. This week campers will study: the abstract art and costume design of Sonia Delaunay, the delightful and often humorous work of Paul Klee, patterns and textures of Gustav Klimt, the modern cityscapes of Stuart Davis, and the powerful story of quilts of Faith Ringgold. Pamela, one of MSD’s Elementary After School Instructors, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

Graphic Design with VineyardAppCamp - rising 5th – rising 7th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Interested in drawing, art, or design? In this class, you’ll learn how to use your doodling skills for real, by working on a graphic design project. You will learn how to make professional posters and art to promote good causes. Students are required to bring a laptop from home. Cost: $300

Pets with Jami - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00-12noon. This week will provide experiences to become more familiar with animals and types of pets, as well as pet care, and the role of veterinary medicine in pet care. We will act out animal roles in a variety of situations and learn about the interdependence humans and pets develop while developing performance, listening, and cooperative skills. Jami, MSD’s lead Early Childhood After School Instructor, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

The Space Frontier! STEM For Kids with Shelby - 3 years old - rising 1st grade. 8:00-12noon. The feats of mankind in the world of aerospace are nothing but awe-inspiring - the Beluga transporter, the supersonic jets, Armstrong's moon landing, and the well-choreographed descent of Curiosity on Mars to name a few. As the next frontier of asteroid mining and space travel unravels, let's understand what it takes to get off the ground and fly. This program delves into the foundations of aerospace technologies. Campers will face off with all the mysteries of space, planets, and stars. They will create planet models, design taternaut TM space suits, and enjoy hands-on rocketry. Cost: $315.

Art Inspired by Famous Artists with Pamela - rising 5th – rising 7th graders. 8:00am-12noon. In the second week of this camp theme, we will explore five more fascinating artists and create art inspired by them. Who were these artists? What do you see, feel, and think about when you look at their art? Be inspired by them to create your own art using a variety of techniques and materials including tempura paint, resist painting, collage, cut paper, colored pencils and pastels. In this camp we will study: the large-scale work and silhouettes of Kara Walker, the individual style and expressionism of Paul Klee, Henri Rousseau’s jungle paintings, the bold landscapes of Georgia O’Keefe, and the vibrant colors and style of Beatriz Milhazes. Pamela, one of MSD’s Elementary After School Instructors, will lead this camp. Cost: $245.

NC Systema - Youth Martial Arts with Pasquale - Rising 2nd - rising 4th grade. 8:00am-12noon. Systema is a complete training system for the mind, body, and spirit, combining the benefits of martial arts, yoga, and meditation. Our approach to martial arts is non-destructive and free of aggression. We encourage critical thinking and creativity to solve problems. Systema is designed to create, build, and strengthen the body, psyche, family and community. Activities include: creative movement, learning to fall safely, rolling, running, jumping, strength and flexibility exercises, breathing exercises, and problem-solving scenarios. Cost: $300.