Load-bearing structures, simple machines, catapults, water filters — physical things that either work or fall over.

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.

Engineering Summer Camp in Willimantic, CT

Willimantic is one of the cities the Norwich–New London–Willimantic, CT metro area is officially named after. The case for engineering summer camp here is not that the area lacks camps — it is that most of them end without the child being able to explain what they made.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Connecticut · Northeast

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Willimantic, CT

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

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

Willimantic, CT — what applies locally

Willimantic is one of the cities the Norwich–New London–Willimantic, CT metro area is officially named after.
Metro area: Norwich–New London–Willimantic, CT
State: Connecticut · Region: Northeast

Questions we get from Willimantic, CT

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 Willimantic

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Engineering Camp elsewhere in Connecticut

West Hartford, CTCity East Hartford, CTCity Stamford, CTCity Danbury, CTCity Shelton, CTCity New London, CTCity Hartford, CTMetro area Bridgeport, CTMetro area

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