A new type of summer camp is opening near Campbell. The DaVinci Day Camp, to be held at in San Jose and Sunnyvale, is a camp that focuses on academics.
The goal of the camp is to fill a child's summer break with structured enrichment opportunities.
The DaVinci Day Camp, its parent company is Education Unlimited Inc., provides an immersive program, giving students the opportunity to develop potentially new skills and to reinforce classroom learning from the regular school year.
The camp, inspired by Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, provides workshops that encourage Kindergarteners through fifth graders to explore their potential as inventors, communicators, performers and writers.
Attendees of the camp choose from a variety of theme-based, experiential workshops that span the disciplines of public speaking, writing and science. These workshops include games, crafts, activities, interactive lessons and other types of projects.
“Our approach is to create a learning community that provides campers with the knowledge, tools, and support they need to succeed," DaVinci Program Director Chris Waage said. "That, paired with our qualified and engaging team of instructors, exciting challenges, games, crafts, and activities, gives campers the best opportunity to reinforce the learning skills they will need when the new school year starts, as well as learn a few new fun ways to apply that knowledge."
Waage said campers are put in positions to solve important problems, whether it's something simple like a sturdy wall or more complex like the physics of a catapult.
"(We) put them in the driver’s seat, so to speak," he said. "We give brief lessons on architecture, design and materials and then we work together, hands-on, to build the best wall we can… followed by the best catapult… and then we play a very hands-on version of a game that pretty much looks like a DaVinci Angry Birds. We follow that up with a debrief of what we learned and how we saw it applied in action.”
DaVinci Day Camp’s summer operating schedule is limited to only two weeks. Waage said the camps are short, which allow for children to partake in other summer camp options in the Bay Area. "Campers can come to us for a week or two and still have time for all the other great experiences summer has to offer," he said.
This summer, DaVinci Day Camp will hold sessions in San Jose from July 9-July 20, in Sunnyvale from June 25-July 6, and Mountain View from July 23-August 3.
For more information on the DaVinci Day Camp go here.
