There's no mistaking that kids who have navigated a year of pandemic protocols deserve a fun, relaxing summer. Luckily, a plethora of Northwest Arkansas area organizations are offering a wide variety of summer camps and workshops to fit every age group and interest area. Most organizations have some kind of covid-19 precautions in place; be sure to call for more details. And check with your local libraries, many of which will have special summer offerings.
In Part II of this listing, we have rounded up some of the offerings in Benton County:
Bentonville
The Amazeum
1009 Museum Way
696-9280
Boxopolis -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 7. Ages 6-11. $52/Amazeum members; $62/non-members. Earn your Boxopolis maker badge by thinking outside the (cardboard) box.
Woodworking -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 8. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your woodworking maker badge as you learn to sand, paint, drill, screw, saw and carve into various woods to create a treasure box.
Try it Out: Architect -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 9. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Step into the shoes of an architect during a day of engineering challenges and discover what goes into planning, designing and building an amazing structure.
Medieval Times -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 10. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Enter the realm of the medieval and use STEAM to explore catapults, castles and medieval sports.
Try it Out: Carpenter -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 11. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Try out a day in the life of a carpenter as you learn to sand, saw, hammer and screw wood and other materials to create a pinball machine.
Tech Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 14. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Enter the Fix It or Mix It Shop and rifle through the toolbox. Get a closer look inside everyday appliances to discover how things work and create with the pieces we extract.
Try it Out: Astronaut -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 15. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Spend a day learning what it takes to go to space and how a human can survive
Fire and Ice -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 16. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Find out how hot and cold collide as campers experiment with fire and ice. We'll discover how to safely use these two opposing elements to make and create extremely cool reactions.
Bots and Coding -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 17. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your bots and coding maker badge at the bots expo. Experiment with our best bots to discover what they can do and how you can make them follow your instructions.
Beyond Orbit -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 18. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Lift off from Earth as we use STEAM to explore constellations, craters and the vastly different ecosystem of far-off planets.
Magical Mysteries -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 21. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Spend the day disappearing water, sending hidden messages to our magician's assistant, and discovering the power of sleight of hand, all the while using science to get a glimpse behind the magic curtain.
Slime Time -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 22. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. It's Slime Time. Pull back your sleeves for a day of exploring the fascinating world of ooey, gooey polymers.
Wizard Academy -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 23. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Can you complete the wizard challenges to earn house points at Wizard Academy? Try your hand at concocting potions, creating a custom wand and navigating a wizarding obstacle course.
Board Game Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 24. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. In this camp we'll enter the Fix It or Mix It Shop to take apart classic board games piece by piece, discovering the secrets of planning and making the next great tabletop game.
Worlds of Books -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 25. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Be ready to enter the world of your favorite books as we use STEAM to build castles, design ships, conquer dragons and discover new worlds.
Wild Weather -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 28. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. When it rains, it pours. Through tornado touchdowns, deafening deluges and static electricity storms, we'll discover the science behind what makes these awe-inspiring weather phenomena so wild.
Try it Out: Marine Biology -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 29. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Put on your lab coats for a day in the life of a marine biologist. We will explore and re-create underwater ecosystems and dissect a squid to discover the secrets of the deep blue sea.
Mythical Creatures -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 30. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Don't disturb Bigfoot as you enter the world of mythical creatures. We will explore the habitats, characteristics and unknown skills of your favorite mythical creatures.
Whoa. Reactions -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 1. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Be prepared to shout. "WHOA!" during a day filled with bubbling, fizzing and erupting chemical and physical reactions.
Try it Out: Veterinarian -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 2. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Get set to be a vet as we learn how to examine X-rays, perform mock surgery and develop products to better care for the world's pets.
Video Game Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 5. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. We'll bring "Mario" and "Minecraft" to life at our Fix It or Mix It Shop as we take apart video games to learn what it takes to build an incredible game environment, create unforgettable characters and add puzzles and sound effects.
Welcome to Year 5000 -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 6. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Come with us to year 5000. We'll use imagination, tech and problem solving to explore the possibilities of what our world could look like in the future.
Circuit Lab -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 7. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your circuit maker badge by keeping the electricity flowing in our circuit lab. We'll use LEDs, motors and other fun materials to make our creations move around, light up and make sound.
Toy Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 8. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Toys are creepy-cool at our Fix It or Mix It Shop. We'll open up mechanical toys to see how these creatures work and what else we can create from the pieces we extract.
Try it Out: Video Game Developer -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 9. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Get a taste of what it's like to create your own interactive game, from building an environment and creating characters, to programming a playable demo.
Digital Design -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 12. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your digital design badge as we tinker with different design software to explore 3D printing, logo development, sticker creation and other digitally-developed media.
Villains, Gadgets and Lairs, Oh My. -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 13. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Gear up as we travel to the world of villainy using our adventuring skills to make and test out gadgets. Will we discover how to build a perfect secret lair?
Comic Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 14. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. We've received an unfinished comic at the Fix It or Mix It Shop. Together we'll take apart comics to learn how storytelling, drawing and digital design unite together and allow us to finish creating this new and colorful world on paper (or screen).
Papertopia -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 15. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your Papertopia maker badge by making, folding and exploring the possibilities of paper to create a place where paper and imagination collide.
Hack Your Wardrobe -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 16. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Become a fashion fixer upper at our Fix It or Mix It Shop as we take apart clothing to reveal how apparel is made. Reuse the pieces to create a fashion-forward piece out of a clothing catastrophe.
Tote-ally Textiles -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 16. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Earn your textiles maker badge as we learn the basics of sewing, embroidering and screen-printing a custom tote bag.
Try it Out: Archaeologist -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 20. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Find out how archaeologists discover ancient civilizations as we use real tools to unearth artifacts, catalog our findings, and piece together the unknown.
Time Travelers -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 21. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. We're headed back in time in this camp to explore, test and re-create some of the biggest moments of innovation and discovery in human history.
Mineral Mayhem -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 22. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Join us as we uncover and examine the world beneath us. We'll examine real rocks and crystals to learn about the past while creating crystal replicas of our own.
Try it Out: Paleontologist -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 23. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Dig into dinosaurs with us as we uncover what a day in the life of a paleontologist looks like.
Bike Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 26. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. You'll see biking in a whole new way after dissecting and taking apart bicycles and other biking gear. Pull up your sleeves to explore how bikes work and how the pieces can be used to make and create in new ways.
Zing Into Kindergarten -- 8:30-11:30 a.m. July 26-July 30. Children entering kindergarten in fall 2021. $125/Amazeum members; $150/non-members. Get a jump on Kindergarten the Amazeum way through hands-on STEAM activities. Young minds explore sensory science, tools, engineering, art, numbers and literacy through playful explorations.
Zing Into Kindergarten -- 1-4 p.m. July 26-July 30. Children entering kindergarten in fall 2021. $125/Amazeum members; $150/non-members. Get a jump on Kindergarten the Amazeum way through hands-on STEAM activities.
Metalworking -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 27. Ages 6-11. $52/Amazeum members; $62/non-members. Earn your metalworking maker badge by welding different metals and trying your hand at soldering, pewter casting, and beginning welding.
Sound Seeker -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 28. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. Become a sound seeker by unearthing how making instruments, creating music and feeling vibrations can be used to solve mysteries.
Kitchen Kabooms -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 29. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. We're ready for a big mess during Kitchen Kabooms, especially after we use common household foods to create fizzing eruptions and sweet explosions. There will be no eating during this camp.
Instrument Take Apart -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 29. Ages 6-11. $52/$62. This day will be music to your ears as we enter the Fix It or Mix It shop to take apart instruments. We'll discover how they work and how we can use unexpected materials to create an instrument of our own design.
Crystal Bridges
600 Museum Way, Bentonville
418-5700
Mini Masters -- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. June 14-18; July 12-16 and 26-30. Ages 4-5. $150/non-members, $120/members. Discover the Crystal Bridges collection through a weeklong summer camp of storytime and gallery activities.
Ready, Set, Paint -- 1:30-4:30 p.m. June 14-18. Ages 6-10. $150/$120. In this weeklong summer camp led by the museum's art instructors, hone your artist's eye exploring paintings in the Crystal Bridges collection. Back in the studio, use acrylic and watercolor paints as you learn techniques to create portraits, landscapes, and abstract art.
Art and Nature -- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. June 21-25. Ages 6-10. $150/$120. In this weeklong summer camp, discover the trails and grounds of Crystal Bridges. Then in the studio, create art inspired by nature using natural materials, including art to put in your yard.
Full Steam Ahead -- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. July 12-16. Ages 6-10. $150/$120. You may know STEM, but what about STEAM? In this summer camp, the worlds of math, science, and art come together in a week of creativity and exploration. Discover what artists can create using the power of science and math.
Fibers and Fashion -- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. June 28-July 2. Ages 6-10. $150/$120. Are you fashion-forward? Do you want to learn more about fashion and art? If so, this camp is for you. While getting inspired by Crystal Bridges' collection, learn how to bring art to life from a simple sketch to a multimedia piece of art.
Printmaking Party -- 9 a.m.-12 p.m. July 19-23. Ages 6-10. $150/$120. In this weeklong summer camp, have fun experimenting with printmaking techniques and materials while gaining new skills along the way. Get inspired by nature and our collection to make relief prints, gelli prints, and sun prints.
Tween Studio Workshop -- 1:30-4:30 p.m. July 12-16. Ages 11-14. $150/$120. Take your artistry skills to the next level in this weeklong workshop just for middle school and junior high students. Throughout the week, head to the galleries to gain inspiration, then return to the studios to experiment with different materials, exploring a variety of artmaking processes led by the museum's art instructors.
Teen Studio Workshop -- 1:30-4:30 p.m. July 12-16. Ages 14-18. $150/$120. Enhance your studio skills during this weeklong, teens-only workshop, exclusive to high school students (incoming freshmen to recent graduates).
Bentonville
School of Rock
700 SE Walton Blvd.
969-8838
Best of the '90s -- 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.Ages 7-18. $450. Great for students 7-18 years of age who have had some previous instruction.
Rock 101 -- 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m. June 21-25. Ages 7-12. $450. No experience needed. Students will explore their instruments through musical games and activities.
Thaden School
800 SE C St.
268-5321
Theatre Camp -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 7-11. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. Campers will focus on constructive make-believe, including upbeat exercises and acting games. They will also work on pantomimes, bring characters to life, and create short plays.
Music Camp -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 7-11. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. Campers will immerse themselves in vocal and instrumental studies to develop confidence in musical performance. Music will be taken right from the theatrical spaces of Broadway to teach healthy vocal practices, performance communication and the value of ensemble.
Food and Farm -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 14-18. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. During this action-packed week, participants will explore connections with the food system and the natural world through hands-on cooking, gardening, and science activities.
Stop-Motion Storytelling -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 14-18. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. In this week-long camp, participants explore the history and theory behind stop-motion storytelling. The camp will culminate with campers presenting their short stories to their friends and family on the big screen here at Thaden.
Be a Wheelie -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 14-18. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. Nothing says "summer" like riding bikes with your buddies, so gather your best ones together and sign up to be a "Wheelie" at Thaden School's week-long, bike-centric summer camp.
Explorations in Music Making -- 8 a.m.-3 p.m. June 21-25. Children entering grades 5 and 6. $300. This one-week camp will allow students to use their imaginations to explore musical intersections of technology, found objects and nature. From assisting chickens in making music to learning how to use GarageBand to compose your very own soundtrack to observing a piano at the Scott Family Amazeum that interacts with fire, this camp will be sure to ignite curiosity and wonder.
Trike Theatre
902 SW Second St.
464-5084
Dream World -- Choose between two sessions: 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. June 7-11. Ages 4-8. $165. Students will have the opportunity to create characters through movement and build social skills. Students will begin the week playing games and exercising their creative muscles. After establishing body awareness and a feel for creative play, students will use their new acting skills as they prep towards an exciting end-of-week show and share.
Junior Performance: Adventures in Wonderland -- Choose between two sessions: 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-4 p.m. June 14-18. Ages 8-12. $215. This half-day in-person performance camp focuses on acting and playwriting. Students will have the opportunity to write and perform their own story centralized around the world of "Alice in Wonderland." After establishing a script and casting the play, students will rehearse their collaborative story as they build towards an exciting end-of-week performance.
Junior Performance: Down the Rabbit Hole -- Choose between two sessions: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 21-25. Ages 8-12. $240.
This full-day in-person performance camp focuses on acting, playwriting and design. Students will have the opportunity to write and perform their own story centralized around a fantasy theme of their choice. After establishing a script and casting the play students will rehearse their collaborative story as they build towards an exciting end-of-week performance.
School of Magic (virtual) -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. July 12-16. Ages 7-13. $215. This full-day virtual adventure camp focuses on team-building, games and crafts. Students will have the opportunity to craft wands, learn spells, brew potions, and more.
Broadway Bound -- 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 2-6. Ages 8-12. Call for pricing. This full-day in-person performance camp focuses on acting, singing and dance. Students will have the opportunity to learn songs and dances from popular Broadway-style musicals. Then, students will start learning songs and choreography as they build towards an exciting end-of-day performance. Each day will conclude with a recorded performance we will share with you at the end of camp.
Summer Intensive -- 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 28-July 2. Ages 12-18. $240. This full-day in-person Summer Intensive focuses on directing, acting, playwriting and design. Students will have the opportunity to write, direct, and perform an original play that speaks to them. After establishing a script and casting the play students will rehearse their collaborative story as they build towards an exciting end-of-week performance.
Trike's D and D Adventure (virtual) -- 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 2-6. Ages 12-18. $165. This half-day virtual adventure camp focuses on role-playing, character creation and storytelling. Students will have the opportunity to play in a Dungeons and Dragons Campaign -- Trike Academy style.
Broadway Bound Week -- 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 2-6. Ages 12-14. Call for pricing. This full-day in-person performance camp focuses on acting, singing and dance. Students will have the opportunity to learn songs and dances from popular Broadway-style musicals. Then, students will start learning songs and choreography as they build towards an exciting end-of-day performance.
Northwest Arkansas Community College Kids' College
At Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food
800 SE 8th St.
986-4000
This year, Kids' College will take place at Brightwater: A Center for the Study of Food and classes will focus on culinary and baking skills for kids ages 9-17. Camp subjects include Farm to Table, Picnics of the World, Southern Food and Flavors and Global Food Truck Favorites. $400.
