KCI offered two very successful integrated engineering camps for kids last summer, and with the opening of the KCI Makerspace, we are poised to serve an even broader audience of kids, ages 11–16, at KCI Summer Camp at Foothill College. Choosing from an offering of four camps, students will flex their creativity as they engineer fascinating projects while exploring the latest technologies in virtual reality, 3D printing, laser cutting, video production, and more in KCI’s new Makerspace.

Designed to be hands-on and experiential, campers will embark on a week-long journey of learning, problem solving, team-oriented challenges, and tackling concepts such as design thinking, engineering processes, programming, and prototyping. Led by instructors with professional engineering and teaching expertise, each one-week session will highlight timely topics such as creativity and sustainability in a fun, educational, and encouraging space. The camps are five-day sessions (9am-4pm, Monday-Friday) each week from July 9 through August 3.

July kicks off with How to MAKE (Almost) Anything, a course in which campers will undergo a design thinking process before bringing their ideas to life using the Makerspace’s 3D printers, laser cutters, vinyl cutters, sewing machines, microcontrollers, and more. The second week features World Builders, an exciting opportunity to design and build an interactive fantasy world. Limited only by their imaginations, campers will use the high-tech tools in the Makerspace to populate their cityspace with elements that move and light up, before making them interact using their newfound knowledge of circuits and microcontrollers. Week 3, campers will discover the beauty of our oceans and the importance of sustainability in The Ocean Plastics Engineering Project, as they overcome CAD-focused design challenges to 3D print fantastical real or imagined sea creatures, marine plants, and coral reefs. This technology-integrated art project will use vector tools and 3D printing with biodegradable PLA and exotic materials such as ALGIX Algae Filament.

Finally, Week 4 features Integrated Engineering Camp: Design and Build with Virtual Reality, an introduction to the wonderful world of 3D video engineering with Arduino, 3D modeling and printing, and virtual reality. Campers will create a number of projects covering concepts such as the basic principles of electrical circuit design, the use of scaffolding to solve complex problems, overcoming challenges unique to 3D filming, and more. They will learn about and select from various coding platforms and hardware to complete a final project.

KCI Summer Camp at Foothill College aims to integrate engineering with art, creativity, and technology in a fun, engaging, and approachable way. Rather than limiting topics to a single discipline, campers learn how to use a variety of software and hardware tools in conjunction with one another. Campers will walk away with a well-rounded experience and understanding of how coding, hardware and controllers, and fabrication equipment work together to create displays of creativity and imagination.