Arlington Community Education

Let’s get creative with electricity! In this hands-on electronics course, gain experience creating your own electronics. Design custom light-up greeting cards, electric games, mazes, and even musical instruments. Each day consists of a circuitry lesson and a hands-on project, using components like lights, buzzers, switches, motors, and sensors.

Craft your own miniature masterpieces using soft, vibrant air-dry clay. Each class features a fun theme to spark your imagination—whether you’re shaping cute animals, delicious food, or unique figurines. Your creations will dry to a durable, hard finish in just 24 hours. With endless possibilities for tiny sculptures, have fun bringing your ideas to life with clay.

Bring magical scenes to life as you develop your drawing and coloring skills. Illustrate friendly monsters in candy-colored landscapes, dragons breathing fire or ice over towering skyscrapers, and dazzling doodles that fill the page. Experiment with abstract artwork using curvy blobs, triangles, and squares, or perhaps draw a peaceful boat sailing on an ocean full of fantastical fish. Together, we'll brainstorm ideas and add exciting details to create worlds full of wonder.

Form your own architectural firm and start imagining the skyscraper of your dreams. Create a stunning blueprint that considers sustainability, transportation, and green spaces. Then bring your vision to life with a LEGO model. Your towers will be the defining structure of the 21st century.

Tinker with electronics while learning the basics of computer programming and the fundamentals of electronics and circuitry and design our own interactive and programmable devices. Use the latest tools including Arduino and Raspberry Pi to experiment with LEDs, resistors, motors, and programming.

Spend the school vacation week outside. Each day you’ll hop on the van and head off to explore a different wilderness area, tackling hikes of varying distances and experiencing unique landscapes and challenges. Gain valuable outdoor skills while enjoying the beauty of nature. Please note that this is a 3-day program. Rain dates may apply. Some necessary equipment (including hiking backpacks, microspikes, snowshoes, and headlamps) will be provided. Please have sturdy and waterproof boots, wool or synthetic layers, and cold weather outerwear. Gloves and a winter hat are required.

Learn amazing tricks that will wow your friends and family. Real circus performers will teach you skills including hula hooping, spinning plates, balancing objects, twirling flags, and juggling. We will take our circus to new heights as we learn to walk on stilts. Together we will make a circus backdrop and end the week with a circus spectacular.

In a one-of-a-kind experience, explore community, art, and self-discovery by becoming your own personal hero in an interactive world of live-action roleplay (LARP). Through themed games, art projects, and interactive theater, we’ll create fantastic adventures.

Spend your vacation making a movie trailer or shooting a commercial. Working in small groups, you will script, storyboard, rehearse, and film while learning techniques like script writing, rule of thirds, and mise-en-scene. Use Final Cut Pro to edit, add titles, sound effects, and music. You’ll have a finished film by the end of the week.

Become a part of a Minecraft community and help create a spectacular city for future residents. Build, budget, and furnish your dream home, launch a marketing campaign for your own business, and shape the city’s future as a council member—your vote truly matters!

Jump into the dynamic world of parkour! Explore basic techniques in a safe and progressive setting while building your physical strength and developing self-confidence. Learn to embrace obstacles as an opportunity for fun and exploration and see your physical environment through “parkour vision,” where the whole world becomes your playground. Designed for a wide range of fitness levels and abilities.

Discover various printmaking techniques in this creative, hands-on class. Try monoprinting, gelli printing, styrofoam prints, block prints using linoleum or rubber that you carve yourself, and use a real printmaking press. Finish off the week by creating a book to show off all your newly-made prints.

Enjoy learning the fundamentals of playing and painting with watercolors, including proper brush and palette selection and application techniques. We will use various surfaces and styles to create unique works of art.

Explore a seemingly endless supply of fun materials in this “craft-tacular” class. We'll use yarn, paper, felt, and more to make a variety of projects that may include fluffy pompoms, fun stuffies, and innovative upcycled creations. Crafting really is cool!