Summer Camps are offered at Providence Day School located at 5800 Sardis Road in Charlotte, NC. The dates, times, and prices for each camp are listed below. The camps are listed in alphabetical,  not chronological order. Please note that many camps are offered on several weeks during the summer. Half day and whole day camps are offered. The recommended age for campers is listed according to the student’s rising grade.

A snack is included in the price of half day camps. Lunch and 2 snacks are included in the price of a whole day camp.

Parents are invited to a sharing time on the last day of camp.

4 Easy StepsTo Register

Step 1: Click on summer.providenceday.org It takes you directly to the Summer Camps page.

Step 2: Click “Program Area”

Step 3: Click “Specialty Camps”.

Step 4: Click “Miss Ava’s Original Curiosity Camp”

BioTech

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 5-8)

Space is limited to 12.

Calling all lab rats!!!!!!!!!!if you love to look through the lens of a microscope, grow bacteria in agar, and extract DNA from a banana, this is the camp for you. Campers learn about the scientific method as well as aseptic technique (sterile environment) and take home a student’s microscope with several levels of magnification, slides, and a carry case.

Projects include:

• Collecting field samples
• Constructing a model of DNA
• Extracting DNA from a banana
• Growing bacteria in nutrient agar

.Learning concepts include:

• Scientific Method
• Aseptic Technique
• DNA Extraction
• Collecting Field Samples

Dates: June 17 – 21

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

 Cost: $280

            or

Dates: July 15 – 19

Times: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $280

Building Dinosaurs

Ages: Boys and Girls ( Grades TK -1)

Space is limited to 24.

  Journey back in time when T-Rex ruled the Earth. Imagine going outside and running into a dinosaur as tall as a telephone pole or as long as a football field. Discover how paleontologists learned about these giant creatures by studying fossils.

Use plaster of Paris to make a fossil print. Identify bones from a real cow’s skeleton and see the skulls of a wild boar, a deer with antlers, and a bear. Each camper will construct a 3 foot tall model of a T-Rex outlining its bones and internal organs.

Projects include:

• Casting a fossil of an ammonite, a trilobite, or a veloceraptor’s claw
• Building a model of a T-Rex
• Assembling a paper plate stegosaurus, T-Rex, or Brontosaurus

Learning concepts include:

• Fossilization
• Identification
• Reconstruction
• Paleontology

Dates: June 24 – 28

Time: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $230

 Catching Critters

Ages: Boys and Girls  (Grades TK – 1)

Space is limited to 12.

Fascinated by bugs that can change from a caterpillar into a butterfly………….what!!!!!!!or a worm that morphs into a beetle? What about water striders that can skate on top of the water? That’s crazy cool. 

Campers will search for insects like grasshoppers and beetles that hide int he leaves of trees and scrubs or burrow in the dirt. On Wednesday, they will travel to Freedom Park to catch and release critters that live in a shallow stream. Each camper will receive mealworms and painted lady larvae that go  through metamorphosis.

Projects include making a:

• Stuffed insect to show its 3 body parts
• Mealworm container
• Butterfly habitat
• Paperbag puppet

Learning concepts include:

• Identifying insects
• Metamorphosis
• Insect habitats
• Collecting specimens

Date: July 8 – 12

Time: 9 am – 12 pm

Cost: $230

CSI Summer

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 4 – 8).

Space is limited to 24.

Stop in the name of the law! These campers are sure to catch you red handed. As super sleuths they get to photograph the crime scene, dust for fingerprints, investigate all the leads, and interrogate witnesses to uncover possible suspects. No one is exempt…not even the headmaster (unless of course he is the victim).

They show no mercy as they get search warrants, solve the crime, and make an arrest. They learn the proper procedures to solving crimes and the most effective ways to apprehend their suspects.

Learning concepts include:

• Fingerprinting
• Investigating a crime
• Interrogating witnesses
• Deductive reasoning

Dates:  June 24 – 28 OR July 22 – 26

Times: 1 pm  – 4 pm

Cost:     $230

Digging It

Ages: For Boys and Girls (Grades 4-8)

Space is limited to 12.

Interested in going to a dig site to work with a real archaeologist? Dr. Alan May’s team will meet us at the Schiele Museum on Thursday to show us how archaeologists carefully scrape through layers of dirt and shake out debris with standing sifters to uncover valuable artifacts.

To get ready, we will study the megaliths at Carnac (pictured here)

Stonehenge, Machu Picchu, and the Coral Castle to discover how man used primitive tools thousands of years ago to construct magnificent structures.

We will use Steve Watts’ guide entitled Practicing Primitive: A Handbook of Aboriginal Skills as a reference. Watts served as the Director of Aboriginal Studies at the Schiele Museum as well as consultant for the popular Tom Hanks film, Castaway.

Projects include:

• Making a clay dwelling model
• Constructing a portable sifter
• Searching through fossil sands
• Identifying primitive tools

Learning concepts include:

• Archaeology
• Excavation
• Identification
• Reconstruction

Dates:  June 24 – 28

Times:  9 am – 4 pm

Cost:  $460

Dissecting Critters

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 5 – 8)

Space is limited to 12.

        Requires a certain amount of maturity and skill.

No guts….no glory! Not for the squeamish. Requires a certain level of maturity and skill. Campers will be using dissecting tools including scalpels. They will work in teams to dissect frogs, sharks, and piglets identifying the internal organs of each. We take every precaution to be safe by wearing goggles and gloves.

Learning concepts include:

• Dissecting techniques
• Identifying organs
• Using dissecting instruments

Dates:  July 8 – 12

Time: 9 am- 12 noon

Cost: $230

Earth Buddies

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades TK – 1)

Space is limited to 24.

What do cheetahs, zebras, and giraffes have in common? Their numbers are dwindling. Millennials can reverse this by recycling, reusing, and reducing to same Mother Earth, her natural resources and her inhabitants.

Earth Buddies raises their awareness by teaching them about endangered species. They choose an animal to paint beginning with their own handprint and ending with a mat showing its skin pattern. Totally awesome……completely frammable.

Other projects include:

• Decorating a clay pot
• Making a mega crayon from old crayon bits
• Stamping leaf prints
• Assembling a coin purse from a capris sun pouch
• Reusing a milk jug for a bird feeder

Learning concepts include:

• Recycling
• Reusing
• Reducing
• Earth Care

Dates: July 22 – 26

Time: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $230

Great Engineers

Ages: Boys and Girls (grades 2 – 5)

Space is limited to 24.

if you can dream it, you can build it. This camp gives each child a unique opportunity to envision something, make a drawing of it using pencil and paper, and then build a scale model of it. This is a weeklong project. Campers work together to plan a community, each taking responsibility for constructing what they believe to be an essential part of it.

They learn about famous contributors life architect,  Frank Lloyd Wright, sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, and engineer/architect Gustave Eiffel. By studying the infrastructure of homes, the Statue of Liberty, and the Eiffel Tower, campers learn how to think outside of the box.

Learning concepts include:

• Industrial design
• 2-Dimensional drawing
• 3- Dimensional  model
• Architecture
• Engineering
• Artistry

Date: June 17 – 21

Time: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $230

Dates: July 15 – 19

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $230

Innovators & Inventors

Ages: For Boys and Girls (Grades 4- 8) 

Space is limited to 24

Enter at your own risk!!!!!!!!!This camp is for serious quadcopter pilots. They will learn how to land them on top of a stool, flip them over, and fly them through a hoop. Imagine a dozen of these buzzing through the hall all at once. It is a sight to see AND so much fun!  As these pictures reveal, they also glow int the dark.

Campers will learn about the top 10 inventions of the last century and how they have impacted our lifestyles. Miss Ava will share her experience in helping families get life saving organ transplants (#10 on the list.) Robotics, electrical transfers, digital media, genetic engineering, and the internet also made the list.

Campers will be given the opportunity to design a prototype for their own invention. They will learn about teens who invented a solar oven to feed their family in africa, a battery that changes in 20 seconds, and a method for changing a car’s exhaust into oxygenb to reduce global warming. (14 INVENTIONS CREATED BY TEENAGERS YES Magazine).

Other projects include:

• Designing a spider stand for your cell phone
• Transforming a shoe box into a projector
• Building a tin can robot

Learning concepts includes:

• Integrated technology
• Inventions
• Prototypes

Dates: June 24 – 28

Times: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $280

Dates: July 15 – 19

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $280

 Into the Sky

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 2 – 5)

Space limited to 24

Campers learn about aerodynamics by building and flying

• Several types of paper airplanes
• Stomp rockets
• Remote controlled airplane
• Bottle rockets

Scientific laws including Newton’s Laws of Motion and Bernoulli’s Law explain how flight is possible.

They will conduct simple experiments using balloons and string as well as wind up gliders.

Projects include:

• Making paper airplanes
• Design and build a stomp rocket
• Operating a remote control plane
• Launching a bottle rocket

Learning concepts include

• Aerodynamics
• Newton’s Laws of Motion
• Bernoulli’s Law
• Four Basic Forces.

Dates: June 24 – 28

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $280

Dates: July 22 – 16

Times: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $280

Ooze, Glop, & Slime

Ages: Boys and Girls  (Grades TK – 1)

Space limited to 24.

In the beginning, there was Ooze, Glop, & Slime. Still everyone’s favorite way to get messy. Campers mix ordinary kitchen ingredients to make extraordinary concoctions that they can squish and squash between their hands, dribble off the tips of their fingers, or change color when exposed to heat or cold. Squeals of joy emerge from the lab as youngsters blow bubbles in their Glop or watch their volcanoes erupt.

Campers learn about gases, liquids, solids, and plansa, the four states of matter. Parents are amazed at how much their children know about atoms and molecules in just one week.

Projects include making:

• Ooze (also known as Dr. Seus’s Oobleck)
• Glop (a substance made with glue and Borax)
• Slime that changes color
• Red Cabbage indicator
• An erupting volcano

Learning concepts include:

• The states of matter
• Chemical reactions
• Physical reactions
• Indicators

Dates:  June 17 – 21

Time:  9 am – 12 pm

Cost: $230

Pet Pals

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades Tk –  1 )

Space limited to 24

Campers learn how to pick out the pet that is purrrfect for them. Learn how to take care of kitties, puppies, turtles, guinea pigs, and fish. Compare domestic, wild, and farm animals. Make a field guide to use to identify the tracks of animals.

Design a cardboard house big enough to play with or house your domestic pet. Personalize it by placing the name over the door. How cute is that?????????too cute!!!!!!

Projects include:

• Painting a silhouette drawing of a wild animal
• Making a track pack to take on field trips to identify animal tracks
• Building a house for your domestic pet
• Sewing a cushion for your puppy
• Making a farm animal puppet theatre

Learning concepts include:

• Choosing a good pet
• Domestic animals
• Wild animals
• Farm animals
• Using a Field Guide

Dates: June 10 – 14

Times: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $230

Physics Fun

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 4 – 8)

Space limited to 24.

Bombs away!!!!!Campers drop their contraptions from the second floor balcony to see if their eggs will survive the fall.

The primary goal for this week is to design and build a paper roller coaster complete with ramps, curves, and even a loop de loop. Campers will learn about the types of energy that govern the universe including magnetism, electricity, forces, motions. and matter. They will learn about famous physicists including Einstein, Feymann, and Hawking, each remarkable in his own right.

Projects include:

• Designing and building an egg drop basket
• Constructing a paper roller coaster
• Building a simple wind turbine

Learning concepts include;

• Properties of matter
• Laws of Motion
• Magnetism
• Electricity
• Simple machines.

Dates: June 17 – 21

Times: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $255

Dates: July 15 – 19

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $255

Rocket Launchers 

Ages: Boys and Girls ( Grades 4 – 8)

Requires focus on details and excellent listening skills

Five………four…….three………two……one……..BLAST OFF!!!!!!!!!!!! Watch your Alpha III climb to heights of 600 ft before the parachute deploys and it drifts back to the ground hopefully just several yards from where you are. Be sure to aim into the wind so it won’t get swept away.

Build your own launch pad and igniteer using a battery pack, split wiring, and alligator clips. The alpha III is a level 1 rocket perfect for launching on a football field or in a city park. No special license required.

Projects include:

• Building a stomp rocket
• Assembling the Alpha III rocket
• Making a launch pad
• Putting together the electronics for the igniter

Learning concepts include:

• Reading and following directions
• Simple electronics
• Laws of Physics

Dates: July 8 – 12

Times: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $230

Rock Hounds

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 2-6)

Intrigued by colored rocks, rocks with lines and layers, rocks with holes in them, rocks that sparkle, beautiful crystals, geodes (rocks formed from bubbles trapped in the Earth), or rocks that came out of a volcano? Rock hounds are. toddlers, kids, teens, adults, and even old timers can work side by dies in search for that one special stone more magnificent than the last.

Mr. D and Miss ava started their collections over 20 years ago with just a handful of gemstones. Now they each have boxes and boxes of rocks. They are displayed in their classrooms and in their homes. Their children are collectors as well. Mr. D’s latest addition is a meteorite from Northwest Africa. Miss Ava’s is a stone from the Great Wall of China, a gift from a friend traveling to East Asia. Can you even imagine?

Campers will check out rocks in the creek behind the Nature Museum and climb on the boulders. They will participate in mineral texts to determine color, cleavage, and magnetism. They will learn how to identify sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks.

Projects include:

• Dyeing a t-shirt in red mud for collecting
• Decorating a collection box
• Making a sieve for river collection
• Constructing a portable sluiceway
• Painting a pet rock

Learning concepts include:

• Collecting rocks
• Identifying rocks
• Testing minerals

Dates: June 17 – 21

Time: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $230

Dates: July 15 – 19

Time: 1 pm – 4 pm

Cost: $230

Roughing It

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 4- 8)

Space limited to 12 (Week of June 11 and July 9)

Space limited to 24 (Week of August 3)

It’s survival of the fittest! Campers work in teams to test their skills.

On Monday, they travel to Mcalpine Greenway Park to learn how to build a fire (in the bar-b-que) with only twigs, dry leaves, and a match. Later in the day they return to campus to build lean to shelters in case they are ever caught in need of a safe place to wait out a storm.

it’s off to Inner Peaks Climbing Center on Tuesday to learn how to free climb and to belay with a friend.

Wednesday finds us traveling to McDowell Park to hike the trails and learn about the trees and animals that share the forest. Campers will learn how to identify plants so they can avoid harmful ones like poison ivy.

It’s off to Freedom Park to fish on Thursday. Campers will use their portable fishing poles and miniature tackle box…..very handy. Everybody has to bait their own hook with live worms. Eeeek!!!!!!!!!!Catching a big catfish is the goal of the day.

Canoeing at Cane Creek will round out our week. Watch out for Mr. D. He loves to splash all of the other boats.

Each camper will receive a disposable digital camera to make a photo journal of all their adventures during Roughing It.

Dates: June 10 – 14

Time: 9 am – 4 pm

Cost: $510

Safari Adventure

Ages: Boys and Girls (Grades 2 – 5)

Space is limited to 12.

Campers snag this photo op with Michael, a rare white lion, as he snoozes in the shade at Tiger World. Screeching peacocks lead the way to lemurs, panthers, kangaroos, bears, and tigers……….lots and lots of tigers at this amazing rescue facility located just 45 minutes from Charlotte in Rockwell, NC.

Learn the difference between wild, exotic, and domestic animals. Projects include:

• Identifying animal tracks
• Making a cast of an animal footprint
• Building a diorama
• Sewing a stuffed animal

Learning concepts include:

• Animal habitaats
• Biomes
• Adapting a rescue animal

Date: July 1 – 3

Time: 9 – 4 pm

Cost: $184

Space Cadets

Ages: Boys and Girls ( Grades TK – 1)

Space limited to 24.

To infinity and beyond!!!!!!!!!!! Learn about NASA and see authentic footage of several of the first space flights. Work at 6 centers that demonstrate the special training that astronauts must complete before going on a mission to outer space. Use toys to simulate invisible forces including gravity, magnetism, inertia, and centrifugal force that make you wonder……how does that work?

Projects include:

• Building a stomp rocket
• Designing a space suit
• Completing astronaut training
• Making a whirling cup

Learning concepts include:

• Space travel
• Astronaut training
• Invisible forces

Date: July 15 – 19

Time: 9 am – 12 noon

Cost: $230

Under the Sea

Ages: Boys and Girls ( Grades 4 – 8)

Space is limited to 24.

We will meet at PDS on Monday – Wednesday to do camp activities including making a sea scape, identifying sea shells, and learning about the creatures that live in the ocean.

Sleeping with the sharks? You cannot be serious!!!!!!! Oh yes we are. On Thursday, July 4 we will go to Ripley’s Museum at Myrtle Beach and do just that. It IS the coolest. We get to have the museum all to ourselves, see all the exhibits, go to a classroom presentation, actually touch baby sharks and rays, have a bedtime snack, and settle down for the night right under the shark’s tank. AND….did I mention that your parent(s) can come with you if they like. In the morning we wake up to a simulated sunrise underwater. So beautiful.

On Friday, we will go to the beach to play in the sand and surf in the morning before grabbing some lunch and heading home in time for carpool at 5. A detailed itinerary will be emailed to you when you register.

To get ready, we will talk about ocean safety and animals that live in the oceans, rivers, and ponds.

Projects include:

• Making a plaster cast of a megladon shark’s tooth
• Designing a shark t-shirt
• Building a sea creature

Learning concepts include:

• Ocean safety
• Fresh water animals
• Salt water animals

Dates: July 1 – 5

Times: 9 am – 4 pm

Camper’s Cost: $650

Parent’s Cost for the Overnight Trip to Myrtle Beach: $200 (if you ride the bus) $150 (if you drive your car)

 Week at the Creek

For Boys and Girls in Grades 4 – 8

Class size limited to 12

Camping anyone? Learn how to set up a tent site, build a fire, and make smores. Campers will work in teams to plan all their meals and prepare them with supervision of course.

Cane Creek offers many fun activities including canoeing, swimming, hiking, paddleboating, fishing, putt putt golf, and volleyball on the beach.

Schedule for the week:

Monday: Camping Prep at PDS

Tuesday: Grocery shopping,  set up tents at Cane Creek

Wednesday: Canoeing, swimming, putt putt

Thursday: Fishing

Friday: Break camp, return to PDS

Projects include: Making a fishing pole

Learning concepts Include:

• Teamwork
• Wilderness survival skills
• Cooking on a camp fire
• Setting up a campsite
• Bating a hook
• Making a lean to

Dates: July 29 – Aug 2

Times: 9 am – 4 pm

Cost: $660

Zap! Electricity

Ages:  Boys and Girls ( Grades 2 – 5)

Truly a hair raising experience. Start by simply rubbing a balloon on your hair. Next try the Van de Graaff Generator. Place your hand on the dome, turn the crank, and see what happens. Lwearn about static electricity and current electricity.

Design and build your own circuit board using simple tools to mount buzzers, lights, motors, and a battery pack. This is a week long project.

Learning concepts include:

• Static electricity
• Current electricity
• Conductors and insulators
• Series and parallel circuit

Learning concepts include:

• Static and current electricity
• Series and parallel circuits
• Conductors and insulators

Date: July 22 – 26

Time: 1 – 4 pm

Cost: $230