Summer Registration

New puzzles, codes, and challenges each day! In this escape room adventure, students will work together to solve clues, crack codes, uncover patterns, and complete hands-on brainteasers using cards, dice, coins, cubes, toothpicks, numbers, and plenty of creative problem-solving. Along the way, they will tackle riddles, logic puzzles, coded letters, mirror writing, invisible ink messages, word searches, cryptograms, picture clues, and other mysterious challenges.

Students will learn how to approach tricky problems like real puzzle designers and code-breakers: breaking a challenge into steps, making predictions, testing possibilities, spotting patterns, working backward, and trying a new strategy when they get stuck. The workshop will culminate in an in-class escape room where students must collaborate to unlock the mystery, solve the final clues, and escape before time is up!

Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue! In this hands-on game design camp, students will become game inventors as they create their own original, board game. Campers will spend part of their time playing and studying popular games to discover what makes a game fun, fair, and replayable, then use those ideas to design their own game concept.

Students will explore basic game mechanics such as goals, rules, turns, teamwork or competition, player movement, scoring, cards, tokens, and win conditions. They will sketch ideas, build a prototype, write rules, create game pieces or cards, and test-play their games with classmates. After gathering feedback, campers will refine their designs and begin creating a polished final version with a game board, graphics, and accessories There is a $25.00 material/supply fee payable to the instructor on the first day of camp for blank boards, cards, dice, spinners, and shared art materials.

Music-making Monday! Kids ages 3- 7 are invited to a free morning of singing, dancing, playing, and celebrating Miss Kathy's 15th year with Compass. In this joyful Music Makers workshop, young children will explore rhythm, movement, musical stories, and hands-on instrument play with drums, sticks, triangles, woodblocks, glockenspiels, and more. Through games, songs, dancing, and playful musical activities, children will experience the building blocks of music in a fun, pressure-free setting that gets little voices singing, little feet moving, and little hands making music!

Step outdoors and into nature's living laboratory! In this outdoor science camp, students will trade screens and desks for fresh air, field study, and hands-on discovery in the woods, streams, and wetlands of Sugarland Stream Valley Park in Herndon. Campers will practice the methods of natural scientists as they investigate ecology, geology, local wildlife, plants, birds, fungi, insects, life cycles, the water cycle, the local watershed, food webs, and the hidden relationships that keep a suburban ecosystem in balance.

Each day, young naturalists will explore with a senior naturalist and outdoor educator, learning to stop, look, listen, smell, touch, turn things over, and peek beneath the surface to uncover nature's wonders. Campers will build confidence and comfort outdoors while practicing safe, respectful, and responsible exploration. Along the way, they will enjoy nature-based games, movement, teamwork, and plenty of curiosity-driven discovery.

This camp offers a refreshing break from indoor, sit-down learning and gives students a chance to experience science where it happens: outside, underfoot, overhead, and all around them.

See Compass's Outdoor Classes webpage for more information on meeting location, what to bring, what to wear, inclement weather, and more.

Venture outdoors for a three-day survival skills workshop in the woods with a senior naturalist and mentor! Students will practice valuable outdoor skills such as building a temporary shelter, making cordage, crafting simple tools, using maps and a compass, identifying local plants and animal signs, and understanding basic outdoor safety and first aid. Weather and seasonal conditions permitting, students may also explore stream health by catching and identifying macro-invertebrates.
Emphasis will be placed on safe exploration, comfort and confidence in the outdoors, environmental stewardship, and what to do if you ever become lost or injured in the woods. This hands-on workshop gives students a refreshing break from indoor learning while helping them build practical skills, self-confidence, teamwork, and a stronger connection to nature and the real world.
Explorations in the woods are for enrolled students only, and tag-along parents and siblings cannot be accommodated. See Compass's Outdoor Classes webpage for more information on meeting location, what to bring, what to wear, inclement weather, and more.

Venture outdoors for a three-day survival skills workshop in the woods with a senior naturalist and mentor! Students will practice valuable outdoor skills such as building a temporary shelter, making cordage, crafting simple tools, using maps and a compass, identifying local plants and animal signs, and understanding basic outdoor safety and first aid. Weather and seasonal conditions permitting, students may also explore stream health by catching and identifying macro-invertebrates.
Emphasis will be placed on safe exploration, comfort and confidence in the outdoors, environmental stewardship, and what to do if you ever become lost or injured in the woods. This hands-on workshop gives students a refreshing break from indoor learning while helping them build practical skills, self-confidence, teamwork, and a stronger connection to nature and the real world.
Explorations in the woods are for enrolled students only, and tag-along parents and siblings cannot be accommodated. See Compass's Outdoor Classes webpage for more information on meeting location, what to bring, what to wear, inclement weather, and more.

Grab your hard hats and get ready to build! This engaging, hands-on summer camp invites our youngest learners to explore the exciting world of construction through creative play, early math, and collaborative design. Rooted in a literature-rich and play-based approach, this class encourages curiosity, problem-solving, and teamwork.

Throughout the week, campers will design and construct their own bridges and structures using a variety of materials, learning through trial, error, and imagination. As they "build" their own city, students will be introduced to simple graphing concepts, helping them sort, count, and represent their ideas in meaningful ways.

Our builders will work together to create a large-scale structure using pool noodle frames, experiencing what it's like to collaborate on a big project. Using blocks and Duplos, campers will also recreate famous landmarks from around the world, strengthening spatial awareness and fine motor skills.

A favorite activity will be designing a marshmallow skyline, where children can experiment with balance, shapes, and simple engineering concepts in a fun (and tasty!) way. Throughout the camp, songs, stories, and guided activities will reinforce themes of building, community, and creativity.

Little Builders Camp provides a joyful introduction to early STEM concepts while nurturing social development and imaginative play-perfect for preschoolers who love to stack, create, and construct!

Discover what happens when simple machines are combined to work sequentially. Engineers will be challenged to develop a unique, automated maze that moves a ball from start to end with intentionally complex steps! They will use simple machines like ramps, pulleys, and levers and complex machines (compounded simple machines) like tracks and screws to move the ball through a series of lifts, flippers, automated carts, moving gates, escalators, and more! Each successful step will initiate the next step. Can the ball move through the maze without hitting the floor?

LEGO Mindstorms components and motors are not just for building robots. These interconnecting pieces can be constructed into an infinite number of unique, mechanized machines. This workshop integrates science, engineering and computational thinking while introducing physical constraints, units of measurement, and coordinate systems.

Blast off for a two-day art adventure where young artists explore planets, galaxies, rockets, and imaginary worlds through painting, collage, texture, and creative construction. Students will experiment with color blending, layering, splatter effects, shiny materials, and 3D design as they create artwork inspired by Earth, outer space, and the wonders of the solar system.

On Tuesday, artists will travel from Earth to the far reaches of the galaxy as they paint our planet, design textured planets with sponges and layered colors, and create starry galaxy backgrounds. They will explore how color, shape, and texture can make planets look bold, swirling, rocky, icy, or mysterious.

On Thursday, students will launch into their own space stories by building rockets, designing alien creatures, and adding metallic or foil details to make their artwork shine. From blast-off scenes to make-believe planets and friendly extraterrestrials, students will use imagination and hands-on materials to create space art that is truly out of this world. This is a 2-day workshop which meets on Tuesday and Thursday. There is a $15.00 supply fee due payable to the instructor on/before the start of the camp.

From swirling stars to flying paint, students will discover two unforgettable ways artists capture energy, emotion, and movement on canvas. In this two-day painting workshop, young artists will explore the bold brushwork of Vincent van Gogh and the free-flowing action painting of Jackson Pollock while experimenting with color, texture, rhythm, and creative expression.

On Tuesday, students will take inspiration from Van Gogh's Starry Night as they create a dramatic night sky filled with layered color, sweeping lines, and swirling brushstrokes. On Thursday, they will shift from stars to splatter as they explore Pollock-inspired action painting, using movement, layering, and playful paint techniques to create abstract art with energy and personality. Students will also design a Pollock-inspired wearable hat, turning art into something they can take home and show off.

This workshop is perfect for students who love paint, color, creativity, and a little bit of artistic mess! This is a 2-day workshop which meets on Tuesday and Thursday. There is a $15.00 supply fee due payable to the instructor on/before the start of the camp.