What you'll do
Discover the hidden strength—and creative potential—of a simple drinking straw in this weeklong class. Flex your building skills as you design and engineer a trio of straw structures, including a supply organizer, a sculptural bowl and a stunning standing lamp.
Dive into straw construction, investigating the material’s impressive compressive strength as you build a practice structure. Use triangles and double straw lengths to shore up your creation and be reflective to identify which places need reinforcement. Use what you learn to make a paper-and-straw organizer to sort your supplies for the rest of the week (and beyond!). Try your hand at straw sculpture with a shapely, display-ready bowl. Finish the week by designing a dazzling lamp with a symmetrical straw base and frame topped with an overlapping paper shade. Be collaborative by building on your classmates’ ideas for the best ways to balance beauty and stability in your luminous, built-to-last lamp.
Note:
This weeklong class is more than innovation-igniting projects—it’s an immersive experience full of delightful details, including interactive games, silly traditions, snacks (see Materials, below) and dress-up days designed to build community, bolster confidence and deliver loads of camp-away-from-camp fun.
What you'll need
Materials
- 200+ plastic or paper straws
- 25+ sheets standard-size copy paper
- 1 small lantern flashlight
- Hot glue gun
- 20+ hot glue sticks
- Ruler
- Foil
- Masking tape
- Scissors
- 1 pen
- 1 pencil
- 10 books (to be used as test weights)
- 1 medium-size mixing bowl (to be used as a semispherical form)
- Snack: Please have a snack and drink ready for your child approximately halfway through class.
- See your welcome email after you enroll for more detailed material lists broken out by day.
Technology
- Computer or tablet with speaker and camera
- Internet access
- Zoom application installed, signed in with child’s name
What you'll take away
- Straw and paper construction techniques
- The skills to be reflective and notice what is and isn’t working in your design
- The skills to be collaborative and build on others’ ideas
- Three straw structures, including a handy organizer, a sculptural bowl and a dazzling lamp
Join the community
The last step in the Galileo Innovator’s Process is share. Great learning can come from sharing successes and failures—to solidify your own experience as an innovator and to inspire others.
ELL
Some bilingual staff & support for multilingual families.
Baahiyaha Gaarka ah
Support for Students with Special Needs (Oakland Camp Director has a Masters in Special Education).
Heshiisyada
Yes. Every year, we award thousands of weeks of specially priced camp through our financial assistance program. Apply on our Financial Assistance page. Scholarships available.