Bend Science Station Programs

Bend Science Station Programs offer hands-on learning experiences where students experiment, invent, and explore through carefully designed experiments and small group instruction. Depending on the session, participants may solve a mystery using simple chemical tests, discover Newton’s Laws through hands-on challenges, engineer and launch their own rockets, play with light to create rainbows, and experiment with optics by making spyglasses and investigating laser optics. Other activities include igniting hydrogen, watching alkali metals detonate on contact with water, observing thermite reactions, turning fireballs into molten lava, using firecrackers to explore velocity, exploring endothermic and exothermic reactions, engineering soda-powered geysers with Mentos, creating foaming eruptions with elephant toothpaste, brewing bubbling chemical concoctions, creating slimes, and making glowing reactions with luminol. Some programs introduce students to sea anemones, jellyfish, leeches, walking sticks, and carnivorous plants, use botanical powders to breathe fire, construct catapults, explore the physics of Quidditch, compete in a House Cup, crack coded maps, geocache for buried treasure, navigate by the stars, test the chemistry of black powder, build boats for a Pirate Regatta, search a crime scene for clues, dust for fingerprints, decode handwriting, examine trace evidence, analyze DNA, design controlled experiments, collect and analyze data, test the 5-second rule, test if metal can spark in a microwave, test popular products, design and test wings and airfoils in a wind tunnel, train on flight simulators, meet pilots, explore aircraft up close, and take flight in small planes and helicopters.

• Ages: 6–14 years old
• Schedule: Summer sessions run in 3- or 4-day blocks between mid-June and late August, generally from about 9:00 or 9:30 am to 3:30 or 4:00 pm, with additional 6-week STEM classes on Wednesdays during the school year.
• Price: Tri-Sci Days: $395; Extreme Explosions: $395; Hogwarts Summer Academy: $525; Pirate Science: $550; Jedi Academy: $550; CSI: Bend: $525; Mythblasters: $525; Amazing Aviation: $615

Bend Science Station Programs were founded in 2002 and state that their mission is to inspire wonder in young scientists through lab-based experimentation, engaging them to be innovators and successful problem solvers. The programs include very popular summer camps that use high-quality lab materials, specialized equipment, and field trips, and they offer small group instruction from talented instructors who bring scientific concepts to life. The organization provides science education for Central Oregon students in K–12th grade from 40 schools across Deschutes County, including Targeted Title I schools and Spanish speaking classrooms. Students connected with Bend Science Station have earned 200 science fair awards and university scholarships for their research. Additional features include scholarship opportunities through the Stewart C. Malone Scholarship Fund, a NetZero STEM learning facility, graduate-level and inquiry-based training workshops for teachers, and access to a Science + Technology Lending Library. Payment is charged in full at registration for credit card payments, or must be received within 5 days for check or cash, and in the event of cancellation, 50% of the cost is refundable or available for credit if Bend Science Station is notified at least 7 days before the class start date, with the remaining balance minus a $25 cancellation fee refunded if the student’s space can be filled.

Last updated June 11, 2026.