Summer is fast approaching, and with it, the decision for how best to keep your child engaged and active during those non-school months. More and more parents are turning to summer STEM camps, and for good reasons. Here are just a few things your child can experience at a camp like iD Tech Camps this summer.
1} Learning Disguised as Fun
Between dress-up days, raffles, a high-energy environment, and off-computer activities designed to reinforce the concepts students are learning on the computers, kids don’t even realize they’re absorbing new concepts. Add engaging courses like modding in Minecraft, building your own laptop, and diving into cyber security, and campers can’t help but discover an authentic passion for technology. In a setting that’s educational yet nothing like school, your child can learn deep technical skills while making memories that last long after summer.
2} Build a Skill Foundation
There’s no arguing that STEM skills are vital for the future. But other skills — like if-then thinking, problem solving, and the ability to collaborate with others — are essential skills for every job, tech-related or otherwise. Being able to study a robot that’s not working and test various solutions until they figure it out teaches your child coding and engineering, and they’re also learning logical thinking and tenacity.
3} Discover a New Passion
Most K–12 schools in the US don’t offer computer science options for students, which means your child may never discover their passion for game design, website building, or 3D printing. Attending a summer STEM camp gives your student the opportunity to encounter a subject that could alter the course of their life. Even one summer at iD Tech Camps has been known to inspire students to pursue a tech degree in college and lead to a fulfilling, vibrant career. What new path will your child unearth?
4} Engage With the Right Kind of Screen Time
There are dozens of tech things competing for your child’s attention this summer, from social media feeds to games to apps. What if, instead of just playing video games all day, your child designed them from scratch? What if, instead of tapping away on Angry Birds, your child created their own mobile app? Attending a summer STEM program ensures the screen time absorbing your budding techie is productive and educational as well as entertaining.
5} A Promotional Discount from iD Tech
Okay, this one is more for you as a parent than your child. There are many summer technology programs to choose from these days, but only iD Tech has been the nation’s top summer STEM camp for all of its 18 seasons. It’s the only camp to guarantee its low 8:1 student-to-instructor ratio, even if it means flying a talented instructor across the country to ensure your child receives the personalized instruction they deserve. According to iD Tech students, the fun camp culture, next-level instructors, and innovative curriculum make iD Tech the best camp ever.
One of the key factors in choosing the right summer camp is convenience. iD Tech has locations at Rice University and the University of Houston {with overnight stays available for ages 10 and up}, as well as The Village School – Houston {day camp only}. And just for our HMB readers, you can save $75 on a week of camp with the promo code HMB2017 {code valid through May 31, 2017}.