Skip to content
Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Niles, MI

Parents in Niles, MI book summer in February and regret it in July. The Niles, MI metro area has about 152,444 residents, ranking 289th in the country. What separates a week worth repeating is whether the child was ever genuinely stuck and then unstuck.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Michigan · Midwest

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Niles, MI
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Niles, MI

What the week actually is

Engineering week is constraints week. A bridge that must hold a weight, with a fixed pile of materials and a deadline. Children who have never been told no by a problem before meet one here, and learn that the answer is a redesign, not a tantrum.

Day by day

  1. Constraints and a materials budget
  2. First build, first collapse
  3. Redesign from what failed
  4. Load test to destruction, record the number
  5. Showcase: defend the design choice

Niles, MI — what applies locally

  • The Niles, MI metro area has about 152,444 residents, ranking 289th in the country.
  • Metro area: Niles, MI
  • State: Michigan · Region: Midwest

Questions we get from Niles, MI

What do they build?
Load-bearing structures, simple machines, catapults, water filters — physical things that either work or fall over.
Is it messy?
Yes. That is not incidental.
Do they work alone or in teams?
Both. Solo build first, then a team build where they have to defend a design choice out loud.

Other camp themes in Niles

Engineering Camp elsewhere in Michigan

All Engineering Camp locations · Full camp directory · Ask about a place