In many ways Autumn is a time of transition. The days are getting shorter and colder, the leaves are changing colors, and the animals are preparing for winter. What is the science behind these changes? In this camp, we’ll explore this topic. We will learn about the Sun - Earth relationship during Autumn and how that affects our days and nights, and the weather. We’ll examine how and why leaves change their colors by doing leaf paper chromatography. We’ll learn about the habits of animals as they prepare for winter, make observations of plants in our wetlands, and dissect pumpkins.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

September 26th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

You’ve probably learned about the colors that make up a rainbow, but do you know how those colors appear in the first place? To answer this question, we’ll replicate one of the most famous scientific experiments in history, performed by perhaps one of the most famous scientists in history. Of course, knowing the science of how color works means you can be creative and come up with all kinds of uses for color. You can make your own color pigments from rocks, separate colors from candy, understand why some color combinations look better to our eyes than others, even learn why different colors can put you in different moods, and so much more!

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

October 10th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Fossils can be fascinating to look at and wonder about. But what makes a fossil a fossil? How do fossils form and how do we know how old they are? How do Earth scientists use fossils to figure out what the ancient world in the geologic past was like? What do fossils tell us about how life has evolved over time? Could it be that we humans have inherited some of our body parts from ancient life forms, like fish, amphibians, and reptiles? In this camp, we will answer all of these questions and more, including the mass extinctions that have occurred in the geologic past. Campers will also learn about the best places to look for and collect fossil specimens in the Kansas City Metro and will learn how to identify them.

For elementary school ages.

$100 Non-Members
$90 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

October 23 & 24 (Thursday & Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

For centuries, people have tried to figure out how to get up into the air and fly like a bird. From Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of his flying machines to hot air balloons to quirky pedaling contraptions and the first true self-powered plane, it took humans quite some time to get it right. Once we cracked the code, we quickly went from rickety-looking airplanes to rockets that launched people to the Moon. In this camp, you will explore the science of flight and watch and learn from past inventions. With all the space we have around the museum, you can test out your own flying machines that you design yourself.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

November 7th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

The Earth is 4.56 billion years old and as far as we know, life has been around for most of that time. In this offering, campers will look at how the tree of life has grown and expanded over geologic time up to the present, starting with single-celled, life forms and ending with the multi-cellular, creatures of modern times. Along the way, we will focus on transitional forms from one major group to the next and on the mass extinctions that have occurred in the geologic past.

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

November 10th (Monday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

Our home is the solar system heated by a star, we call the Sun. In the first part of this camp you will investigate the astronomical bodies that make up our solar system, including Earth and our Moon. Topics in this part of the camp will include why we have days and nights, Earth’s seasons, and much more. We will answer questions like: what is the difference between rotation and revolution? Do the other planets in our solar system have seasons like we do? In the second part of the camp, we will investigate the workings of stars and how they age over the course of time. You will also learn about the constellations and how to use sky maps to find them in the night sky.

For elementary school ages.

$100 Non-Members
$90 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

November 24th & 25th (Monday & Tuesday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.

By now you’ve probably heard from others that birds are actually feathered dinosaurs. How could that possibly be true? Dinosaurs are huge and birds seem so tiny next to them. In this camp we will do a deep dive into this topic. Along the way, you will take on the role of a vertebrate paleontologist as he/she tries to assemble the bones of an ancient creature into the skeleton of a dinosaur. Speaking of which, we will also tackle questions like what makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, were dinosaurs actually covered in feathers, and did some dinosaurs actually sit on nests of eggs before they hatched?

For elementary school ages.

$50 Non-Members
$40 Members (please sign in to your account and use the discount code emailed to you)
If registering multiple children, please add them to the cart one at a time.

December 5th (Friday)
Drop-off for camps is from 8:00-8:20 am and pick-up is from 3:30-4:00 pm. Please email education@visitthemap.org with any questions.