Maker Camp: Bring Your Makey!

We’re revving-up for the launch of our fourth annual Maker Camp on July 6. Maker Camp is where you need to spend your summer. It is for anyone who is interested in DIY, making, creating, crafting, hacking, tinkering, and learning, especially kids.

You’re invited to join us online or at your local library or other community space for the summer camp every Maker dreams of. It runs for six project-packed weeks, ending August 14th. And it’s all free!

We’ve taken some of the things we love best about summer camp and added the things we think kids love best about Make: and Maker Faire. So there are lots of projects to build, and all the supplies are pretty easy to find.

This year we’re keeping our project videos super short, so that you can jump right into making! And we will still host our epic field trips to places like NASA and Disney. Join us a week from today on July 10th as we visit the videogame production house Double Fine Productions. (Be sure to read their FAQs which are hilarious!)

Maker Camp Launches Monday

But first: check out our site on Monday, truly an awesome day for our launch. It’s a busy day where we kickoff camp and our weekly theme of Fantasy. We’re squeezing in a fun visit with Valerie LaPointe, the talented Pixar Story Artist who, rumor has it, may have inspired a little bit of the character Joy in Pixar’s summer hit Inside Out. Valerie’s going to show us a thing or two about sketching. She’ll  jump on our Maker Camp Community at 2pm (new!) 3pm Pacific time / 5pm 6pm Eastern to answer our questions!

Dial up our website as soon as you wake up on Monday to see our beautiful new map and videos, featuring animations by Julian Glander.

You’re the Star of Maker Camp

The best part of this year’s camp is that you get to build camp with us, too! Our theme is “Explore + Make + Share,” and our #1 goal is to Share the awesomeness you discover as you Explore and Make. We can’t wait to show the world your videos and photos of whatever you create and figure out.

Make a Makey

Speaking of building, we have our first build-and-share Maker Camp job for you! As Burke and Paloma announced in the video above, we want you to build our camp mascot, Makey, and show what he looks like in your neighborhood, watching fireworks this weekend, going with you wherever you happen to go. You can make Makey out of paper, clay, felt, even 3D filament and snap a picture with him.

We have some pretty easy paper templates you can put together, two smaller (the first two, for an 8.5 x 11-inch piece of paper, in full color and black-and-white) and one bigger (for 11 x 17.) Choose the one best for your printer.

I took my Makey on a little tour of the area in and around Maker Media Lab. Makey went on a highwire, strummed a guitar, got lost in the soldering swamp, explored the forest, and went rock climbing. Makey may also have fallen into a interdimensional space!

Where will your Makey go? Take a picture and share it on the Maker Camp Community this weekend.

Learn More about Maker Camp

To sign up as a camper, or to register for free to become an affiliate (also free!) visit makercamp.com.