The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum: Running Maker Camp All Year Round

As our summer Maker Camp programs wrap up for 2022, The Maker Camp team wants to highlight some of the amazing programs hosted by Campsites. Today, we’re celebrating The Bloomsburg Children’s Museum in Bloomsburg, PA. Here are some thoughts from Director, Ginny Weibel, PhD.

In 2022, the Bloomsburg Children’s Museum entered its 8th year of running Maker Camps. The Camp started out as a 5-day camp offered once a year. This camp became so popular that today we run multiple summer camps, after-school Maker Camp during the school year, and a Mobile Maker Camp all year. Our projects range from 3D modeling to leather tooling – from candy creation to electronics. Maker Camp is about inspiring every student and cultivating their interests. Too often kids are trained as technology users with little emphasis on how that technology works. Additionally, we, as a society, have progressed so far with technology that we’ve lost touch with basic skills and master crafts. By providing fun and engaging projects that involve critical thinking and problem-solving skills, kids naturally develop a Maker Mindset – the skills to become Makers instead of users.

“I didn’t think I could make a flashlight,” is a quote from one of our female Maker Camp students. Imagine the confidence and self-efficacy this student gained when they realized I can do this. This student is now armed with the question – What else can I do? Creating this mindset is what Maker Camp is about.

The Maker Camp community provides the backbone needed for a successful program. We get many of our project ideas from Maker Camp, other camps, and the sponsors that donate materials each year. The community is a great resource for feedback and a place to showcase what your campers Make.