Camp Invention
Various schools and community centers nationwide, 6475 E Ponderosa Ln Basecamp 1, Thornton, CO 80138
About
Camp Invention is a weeklong STEM experience that features fun, hands-on STEM adventures and high-energy morning games that encourage creativity and teamwork. Campers take on hands-on challenges and open-ended adventures where they might miniaturize top-secret innovations, safeguard their designs using cryptography, protect their intellectual property, and time travel to ensure their ideas are patented and protected. They also investigate a series of mischievous pranks as they create sleuthing gadgets, collect bits of fluffy fur, reveal a trail of animal tracks, examine suspicious splatters, and forensically analyze the evidence. Additional activities include building confidence as they ride the waves of entrepreneurship through hands-on buoyancy experiments, paddling through salty challenges, generating ideas for unique, innovative products, sketching, designing and building prototypes, and creating an innovative billboard boat. Campers can also build a DIY rocket, launch a mission to transform a faraway planet’s atmosphere, terrain and ecosystem, compete in a Rover Race to collect important data and samples, design and build inventions for navigating the intense conditions of their planet, make new discoveries in their Space Lab, hatch a mysterious animal egg, and encounter a dazzling crystal surprise.
• Ages: 5–12 years old
• Schedule: A weeklong STEM experience; camp dates and hours vary by location, and some locations offer Before and After Care to fit families' schedules.
• Price: Pricing starts at $285 or approximately $9 per hour, with payment plans available at checkout up to eight weeks before the camp start date.
Camp Invention is a summer day camp filled with fun, hands-on STEM adventures led by qualified local educators. The program’s experiences are carefully crafted to spark joy and ensure the development of persistence, adaptability and creative problem-solving skills. The 2026 Camp Invention program is called “Spark,” and campers team up with real-world inventors through program curricula created in collaboration with National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees. These programs integrate 21st-century learning with fun, hands-on activities, align with state and national education standards, and provide the next generation of inventors with skills that last a lifetime.
Camp Invention has been honoring the spirit of innovation and promoting inventors as role models since 1973. To fulfill its mission of making STEM education accessible and promoting innovation across the country, its education team collaborates with National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees to create new program curricula each year. Over 1,500 camp programs run nationwide in schools, community centers and other local facilities. In the past year, Camp Invention has partnered with over 2,500 schools and districts nationwide and in Puerto Rico, is founded and supported in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and works with 2,144 philanthropic partners making STEM education more accessible.
The program’s leadership and education team includes Rachelle Albrechta (Director of Program Development), Jayme Cellitioci (Senior Director of Education), Ashley Giordano (Manager of Program Management), Susie Duchon (Education Specialist), Rachel Lutes (Curriculum Writer), Emily Mitchell (Senior Content Writer), Sara Pompeo (Editor), Maggie Saine (Spanish Services Lead & Education Specialist), and Jennifer Sitton (Director of Science & Product Development).
Parents and caregivers describe a range of experiences at Camp Invention. One parent, Sonia S., shared that her daughter came home beaming with excitement and eager to share what she was learning. Another parent, Katie J., noted that her son, who had been quiet before camp, wanted to try everything and be more involved with friends after attending. Several parents, including Heather D. and Amie J., mentioned that their children were excited to bring inventions home and even discovered a new hobby of inventing things. A grandparent, Alexa N., reported that a grandchild gained knowledge, confidence, friends, a sense of cooperative learning, and an openness to others’ ideas while having fun learning. Other parents, such as Apryle S., Courtney S., and Tara T., highlighted their children’s interest in creativity, problem solving and innovation, as well as their engagement in hands-on activities. Multiple parents, including Amanda H., Jenna M., Jennifer M., and Beverly L., said their children were eager to attend each day, enjoyed making projects, and looked forward to returning.
Last updated February 20, 2026.
• Ages: 5–12 years old
• Schedule: A weeklong STEM experience; camp dates and hours vary by location, and some locations offer Before and After Care to fit families' schedules.
• Price: Pricing starts at $285 or approximately $9 per hour, with payment plans available at checkout up to eight weeks before the camp start date.
Camp Invention is a summer day camp filled with fun, hands-on STEM adventures led by qualified local educators. The program’s experiences are carefully crafted to spark joy and ensure the development of persistence, adaptability and creative problem-solving skills. The 2026 Camp Invention program is called “Spark,” and campers team up with real-world inventors through program curricula created in collaboration with National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees. These programs integrate 21st-century learning with fun, hands-on activities, align with state and national education standards, and provide the next generation of inventors with skills that last a lifetime.
Camp Invention has been honoring the spirit of innovation and promoting inventors as role models since 1973. To fulfill its mission of making STEM education accessible and promoting innovation across the country, its education team collaborates with National Inventors Hall of Fame Inductees to create new program curricula each year. Over 1,500 camp programs run nationwide in schools, community centers and other local facilities. In the past year, Camp Invention has partnered with over 2,500 schools and districts nationwide and in Puerto Rico, is founded and supported in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and works with 2,144 philanthropic partners making STEM education more accessible.
The program’s leadership and education team includes Rachelle Albrechta (Director of Program Development), Jayme Cellitioci (Senior Director of Education), Ashley Giordano (Manager of Program Management), Susie Duchon (Education Specialist), Rachel Lutes (Curriculum Writer), Emily Mitchell (Senior Content Writer), Sara Pompeo (Editor), Maggie Saine (Spanish Services Lead & Education Specialist), and Jennifer Sitton (Director of Science & Product Development).
Parents and caregivers describe a range of experiences at Camp Invention. One parent, Sonia S., shared that her daughter came home beaming with excitement and eager to share what she was learning. Another parent, Katie J., noted that her son, who had been quiet before camp, wanted to try everything and be more involved with friends after attending. Several parents, including Heather D. and Amie J., mentioned that their children were excited to bring inventions home and even discovered a new hobby of inventing things. A grandparent, Alexa N., reported that a grandchild gained knowledge, confidence, friends, a sense of cooperative learning, and an openness to others’ ideas while having fun learning. Other parents, such as Apryle S., Courtney S., and Tara T., highlighted their children’s interest in creativity, problem solving and innovation, as well as their engagement in hands-on activities. Multiple parents, including Amanda H., Jenna M., Jennifer M., and Beverly L., said their children were eager to attend each day, enjoyed making projects, and looked forward to returning.
Last updated February 20, 2026.
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