Every summer, our family searches for a way to keep my 9 year old twin boys busy, in both body and brain. Like many kids, they thrive in a supportive and structured environment that encourages both sweating and thinking. We try to mix up their summer with sports camps, vacations and what we call “education-fun” camps that are fun and include learning concepts. I’m very happy to be sending them back to Camp Galileo after school is over, confident that they will have a good time, get some exercise, be creative, make friends, have serious fun, and learn a few things along the way. Camp Galileo, for Pre-K through 5th grade and Galileo Summer Quest, for 5th – 8th graders, has 30 locations around the San Francisco Bay Area.
The camp consists of four primary “themes” this summer with thoughtful curriculum for each “theme” planned along the three vectors of Art, Science and Outdoors. The curriculum is customized within age groups from Kindergarten through eighth grade and seems to be have lots of thought put behind it. As a mom, I appreciate that Galileo has an approach focused on developing innovators, collaboration and creativity – all important skills for kids to help them develop into innovators as adults.
The four themes for this summer are “Leonardo’s Apprentice”, “ Create the Golden Gate”, “Galileo Olympics” and “Galileo Rocks”, each with its own innovative activities. In “Leonardo’s Apprentice”, campers are inventors in the time of the Renaissance, bringing alive the time of Leonardi DiVinci through frescos or a cloud-filled dome ceiling. The science of this time is realized by studying the science of compression forces or gears and pulleys. Compliment these brain and expressive exercises with some outdoor exercise like maypole games or juggling and fencing and the week is complete.
The other three themes are similarly balanced between artistic expression, science associated with the theme, and physical activity to keep the kids moving, excited, stimulated and social. My kids are looking forward to seeing a few friends, exercising the different parts of their brain and having a ton of fun along the way. Every year they build some exciting new project, so I can’t wait to see what they do this summer!
5th to 8th grades can attend Camp Galileo Summer Quest which has subjects such as Arts Academy ( Digital Photography, Digital Filmmaking, Cartoon Workshop, Painter’s Studio and Fashion Design ), The Builders and Makers (Inventor’s Inc., Go-Kart Makers and Go-Kart Makers Extreme), Culinary Arts (Chefology: 30-Minute Meals, Chefology: Just Desserts) and High Technology (Video Game Design Foundations, Video Game Design, Advanced Web Design, Lego Robotics). When my twins boys are in 5th grade, I would like to send them to Chefology class. Who knows, there may be hope in the future for me getting help from my three boys with cooking dinner!
Disclosure: I am participating in a mom blogger program and will be receiving a complementary week at Camp Galileo. I have been a customer of Camp Galileo for years before this program – my words are my own.
When people ask me about the parent blogging community, I say it is a diverse and supportive community. Most can’t understand how online relationships can translate to friendships, but it does. I had the honor of meeting Susan Niebur (WhyMommy) through BlogHer. Beyond being a parent blogger, she was also also a 
