Arlington Community Education

Get ready to join the circus! Learn a variety of age-appropriate circus skills while preparing for a performance for SummerFun! friends. We’ll exercise a variety of fine motor skills through balancing arts, basic juggling, and spinning objects, plus we’ll incorporate gross motor skills such as “vegetable stretches,” tai chi, yoga, and dance. Throughout the week we’ll connect circus arts to the themes of healthy eating, healthy moving, and healthy hydration.

Build and create different modes of transportation out of more than 20,000 pieces of LEGO®, all while learning about the engineering concepts that make vehicles and vessels work and the various ways that we transport goods and people from place to place. In the grades 1-3 class break the sound barrier on a supersonic jet, deliver cargo by train, and explore a swamp in your airboat. In the grades 4-7 class, take a double decker bus ride through London, pilot a hovercraft over land and sea, and make important deliveries in a cargo plane.

Pass through a spider’s web, create the strongest bridge using only popsicle sticks, or decipher a puzzle and solve a scavenger hunt. You and your classmates will face new challenges involving a combination of intellect, strength, and teamwork. Enter each day looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead, then have a blast coming up with your solution.

Did you ever wish you could visit the famous historic sites you learn about in school? There are tons of cool, impressive sites close to Arlington. Together we will explore beautiful and historic areas around Lexington and Concord. Walk in the footsteps of Revolutionary War soldiers through Lexington Green and the Old North Bridge. Follow the Battle Road and discover the location of the “shot heard ‘round the world.” Visit Thoreau’s cabin in the woods and swim at Walden Pond. See where the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers meet at Eggrock, the site of the Native American settlement Musketaquid.

Turn any environment into a playground for movement and physical challenge. For students of all ability and fitness levels, classes will include a number of games, exercises, and drills to improve balance, coordination, strength, spatial awareness, and flexibility while having fun.

Come travel around the world with a week of crafts! Through our projects we’ll explore a different continent each day. We’ll visit Mexico and create papel picado streamers, sail to Africa and make masks, fly to Australia and paint Aboriginal dot art, and travel north to Japan to celebrate Children’s Day by making carp streamers. Explore the globe while creating amazing works of art. Please note: To minimize item sharing, all students should bring basic pencil box/art supplies: -pencils, eraser, glue stick, scissors, markers, colored pencils or crayons

Considered one of the greatest games ever invented, chess teaches many important life concepts such as concentration, sportsmanship, how to win graciously, and how to accept defeat with dignity. Learn chess rules, positional tactics, and basic to more advanced moves with the guidance of an experienced chess master. We will be divided into groups according to experience, and end the week with a mini-chess tournament. All levels welcome.

Please note: This is a full day program 9:00 am - 4:00 pm Live Action Role Play (LARP) allows you to participate in an interactive narrative, similar to the “choose your own adventure” books using a combination of theater, martial arts, and costume/prop/stage design. We combine these arts with critical thinking, creative problem solving, and community leadership skills. Join us for hands-on creative activities as we explore everything from game systems and character development, to prop and costume building. Physically portray your characters and enact a plot within a fictional setting while interacting with each other. Mornings will be spent primarily outdoors for LARP Games and the afternoon LARP Makerspace will be for prop and costume design and build. In the AM: LARP Games In the first half of the day, we will focus on the physical activities and basic rules of playing in LARPs. This time will be primarily outdoors to provide students an opportunity to run around but with direction that will make them practice tactical and critical thinking skills. In the PM: LARP Makerspace Students will learn how to build the various props that make LARPs immersive events. This includes a variety of activities from boffer building to costuming. Our instructors will help students understand how their design choices can affect those around them while also allowing them to express themselves creatively.

Role Playing games give players experience with a variety of skills including improvisation, critical thinking, math and public speaking. We will use Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition rules to guide us through the process of creating characters and then testing their might through an interactive story. Everyone will be taught—at a comfortable skill level—how to make characters and serve as dungeon masters. Please note: Feel free to register for both morning and afternoon classes as we will create different storylines and characters. Please note: The AM & PM sessions of this camp will have a different interactive storyline, with different characters and plot. Students can sign up for one or both sessions but should be aware they will be making a different character for AM and PM. We discourage students from creating characters before the first day of class. Instructors and students will collaborate to determine what kind of story they will be created and in the past, students who arrived with a character in hand have been disappointed if their character doesn't fit the group decision.

Learn to draw animals, vehicles, plants, ocean creatures, and more, using a combination of basic shapes. Pick your favorites and combine them to make a scene that you will color with a variety of media. Each day we will focus on a different theme, and build on our drawing knowledge to make more elaborate pictures. There’s no right or wrong in this class—drawing is all about having fun! Please note: To minimize item sharing, all students should bring basic pencil box/art supplies: -pencils, eraser, glue stick, scissors, markers, colored pencils or crayons

Crack codes and solve challenges during this mind bending week. Test your secret-agent skills by working through number and letter puzzles, riddles, and patterns. Tackle problems involving patterning, logic, and decoding. Activities include toothpick puzzles, Jumbles, Sudokus, number mazes, math magic, logic riddles, and many other fun activities. Please note: To minimize item sharing, all students should bring basic pencil box/art supplies: -pencils, eraser, glue stick, scissors, markers, colored pencils or crayons

Practice tumbling and gymnastics skills, and work on stretching, flexibility, coordination, and strength-building exercises in a non-competitive atmosphere. Each day learn new techniques and practice mastering skills such as low beam, forward and back rolls, mini tramp, cartwheels, barrel and box mat stunts, and more. We’ll end the week with a show for our SummerFun! friends.

Ultimate frisbee is a super fun non-contact game that combines the qualities of sports such as football, basketball, and soccer. We will practice different frisbee throwing and catching techniques and learn route-running skills to practice when you don’t have the frisbee. Join us for this awesome game!

Folktales are a fun way to learn about different cultures, meet silly characters, hear oral stories, and learn life lessons. Explore folktales from around the world, make crafts inspired by these stories, act out stories, and create your own by the end of the week.

Join the coding fun. Using ScratchJr, Ozobots, and code.org we will explore coding and programming on iPads. In between screen sessions, we will play coding card games, board games, and other brain games. Please note: This is a self-paced course for students who enjoy concentrated screen time.

Minecraft is more than just a game. It is a tool that allows you to create amazing structures, scenes, and works of art. With hundreds of blocks and items we will learn how to engage in "constructive play" as we design and build our structures. We will work in the same world and learn the meaning of good "digital citizenship" and working together. There is no one theme for this class and students can choose to create from their imagination or use real world reference material for their inspiration. No Minecraft experience needed.