No Money to Send the Kids to Camp?

No problem, on July 13th, 2015 Google launched a totally cool online summer camp for kids aged 7-10. No need to pack and no tuition to pay.

Summer vacation can be torture time for parents

Summer vacation from school is actually not such a long time. Ask any teacher, and he or she will tell you it is not nearly enough time to fully recover, unwind, relax and prepare for the next school year. Ask parents, and they will tell you that two weeks is about enough! Most kids look forward to escaping from school, but the truth is that after about two weeks, they are starting to get bored. Usually, this is the time families send them off to camp, or enroll them in a community day camp. But, camp tuition and associated fees can be out of the reach of many families, especially today when finances are tight. Google the internet giant, has seized the moment and launched an awesome solution for these families—Camp Google, an online summer camp.

Camp Google

In partnership with Khan Academy, National Geographic, National Park Service and NASA, Google is offering a four-week camp. Each week is filled with virtual field trips and a menu of fun activities, just like regular camp. For instance, during the first week of Camp Google, the kids will “travel” along with National Geographic divers and learn all about underwater life along the Atlantic Coast. They will even get to check out the remains of an old shipwreck. After the diving expedition, kids will complete a number of projects that will help them understand the science behind what they saw during their dive. The projects are intended to reinforce the learning and pique their curiosity. At the end of each week, camp goers will receive a badge for all the activities they completed. During the second week, campers will go from the ocean floor to outer space with NASA astronauts. Week three will be spent exploring volcanoes and the final week will be music camp.

Is this not too much time in front of a computer screen ?

While it is true that Camp Google does require significant online time, the idea is to motivate kids to begin to explore the outside world—to think about how nature works, where does food come? What can they find in their own backyard? Four weeks at Camp Google should inspire them to leave behind all their high-tech gadgets for the rest of the summer and become real-time explorers like the ones they joined at camp.