San Diego has a wealth of opportunities for children to learn about STEM throughout the city.
There are STEM camps in San Diego held on university campuses, in private facilities, and in some of the city’s most iconic destinations like Sea World and the San Diego Zoo.
Learning these in-demand skills can help kids become the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, helping to shape the future. Take the work out of searching for the right camp by going with any of the following.
You can help inspire your kids reach a successful career in the STEM field by getting them started young.
The Whole Child Learning Company
The Whole Child Learning Company believes in giving children the best teachers, classes, and summer camp experiences. They have three locations throughout San Diego: La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Rancho Santa Fe.
The summer and spring break programs at the Whole Child Learning Company are open to students ages 4-9. All sessions feature themes that kids will like, like gross-out chemistry, space science, Lego robotics, and other unique ones.
Summer is the time for fun and a great time to keep learning, and Whole Child Learning Company can help ensure that remains true for anyone who attends. Camps are a week long and run daily from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm with snacks and lunch included.
Encore Creative Arts Camp
Encore Creative Arts hosts 9 weeks filled with awesome summer fun for kids. They serve children ages 7-15 with specialty options for campers as young as 4.
With a location at Encore Event Center and Spark TV Studios, students participate in fun indoor and outdoor activities. Kids can become mad scientists and create science experiments, learn about first aid and ecology, and bring back home some of their creations. They also have popular film-making and photography weeks, as well as professional dance lessons.
Encore Creative Arts offers a little bit of everything, providing a well-rounded camp experience that keeps kids wanting to come back every year. Sign them up for one—or two-week full-day camps.
Science Guys of San Diego
The mission of the Science Guys of San Diego is to make learning science fun, cool, and easy for kids 5-12. Every session is limited to 25 students, maximizing the enjoyment for everyone and providing an educational experience.
The instructors of Science Guys of San Diego are hand-selected and really do a good job of helping students grasp the basic concepts of science. There are unique weekly themes, including brilliant bioscience, crazy chemistry, funky physics, and superhero science.
Science Guys of San Diego offers sessions at five locations throughout the city like Carlsbad, Chula Vista, and North Park. In addition to the crowd-favorite science summer camps, they also offer birthday parties, after-school clubs, and science workshops.
Try Engineering Summer Institute
The Try Engineering Summer Institute is a college prep-level program made for high school students 13-17 who are interested in pursuing engineering or a similar field as a career.
Children who attend the Try Engineering Summer Institute can experience the day-to-day life on campus at the University of San Diego. Depending on whether they choose resident or commuter options, they’ll also get to experience dorm life with all of the fun and friendship opportunities of having roommates.
The program follows a tested engineering curriculum based on decades of careful planning and implementation, giving all campers a serious education for the week or weeks they attend. Multiple sessions are available, and students can attend as many as they wish.
Sea World San Diego
Sea World San Diego offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to students in grades 1-12. It’s a chance for kids to enjoy up close and personal encounters with the marine animals that call Sea World their home.
Day camps are open to the youngest kids between 1st and 5th grades, and resident overnight camps are available to children starting in 5th grade. Both options are a week long and feature offsite excursions, a look at careers in the field, and interactions with bottle-nose dolphins. Overnight campers will enjoy the added bonus of staying right on the Sea World Campus thanks to the provided dorms.
A 5-day camp experience at Sea World San Diego can provide lifelong memories and serve as inspiration for a future career in science.
Elementary Institute of Science
Elementary Institute of Science has students in grades 2-8 immerse themselves in STEM during school breaks throughout the year.
These are multi-day camps from 9:00-4:00 daily and include activities, snacks, lunch, and a featured guest speaker who’s part of the STEM field. Classes during the spring and summer also include field trips that allow kids to see STEM in action.
Kids get to see the real-world benefits provided by science, technology, math, and engineering, and how it has impacted our worlds. They’ll learn about what it takes to be the future scientists and engineers of the world. The Elementary Institute of Science does routinely offer scholarships as well.
Fleet Science Center
Fleet Science Center hosts seasonal camps where campers in grades K-8 can explore different fields from astronomy to engineering and science. Each lasts anywhere from 2 to 5 days.
Fun and engaging themes make these camps enjoyable for all who participate. They cover STEM lessons that center on fairy-tale engineering, space exploration, survivalist adventure, and much more.
Adventure and play await all campers who attend the Fleet Science Center, as well as a greater understanding of the world they live in. The Fleet Science Center campus is located in the beautiful Balboa Park.
Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego
The Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego takes advantage of it’s longstanding reputation as a national program. Children can enjoy a well-thought-out, entertaining, and informative time at one of their many camps.
They engage campers with STEM learning and show them how exciting it can be to be a part of the industry. Students work as a team to solve problems together, acquire new skills and knowledge, and become inspired to create solutions to the problems of the future.
There are over ten locations that serve the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Diego, providing enriching opportunities all around the city.
San Diego Zoo Summer Camp
The San Diego Zoo Summer Camp has kids spend time learning on the campus of this world-renowned facility. They’ll explore different habitats and discover the wide range of wildlife in the zoo.
Classic Camp provides kids with all of these experiences, as well as opportunities to learn about wildlife conservation and how to be an ally for all these amazing creatures. For the next great artists of the world, there is also a Little Artists Camp, combining the fun and playful nature of creativity with the awesome animals throughout the zoo.
It’s a chance for creative children to express themselves in one of the coolest spots in all of San Diego.