A summer camp adventure 66 million years in the making! Piece together prehistoric evidence as you investigate how dinosaurs lived and why they died. Extract DNA from modern-day relatives of dinosaurs. Take a hike through the museum and nearby Schenley Park to compare today’s world to that of the dinosaurs. Build a full habitat, complete with life-size dinosaur murals, to transform your classroom into Jurassic Planet.
The last day to register for this camp is May 29, 2024.
Learn more about Jurassic Planet.
Create interesting artworks using reclaimed and salvaged materials like the artists exhibited in Everlasting Plastics. Dream up architecture, weave with plastic bags, and assemble cardboard to construct artful objects that lessen the impact on our environment. Travel to nearby Phipps Conservatory to explore the splendor of their natural exhibitions and translate what you see into paintings and drawings.
The last day to register for this camp is June 5, 2024.
Learn more about Eco Art.
Design your own character and immerse yourself in this Choose Your Own Adventure style experience. Travel back to the dawn of time, and see if you have what it takes to escape extinction. Work with museum experts to deepen your understanding of the driving forces behind extinction events in Earth’s past, then work with your time-traveling crew to take on challenges that will test your knowledge, reasoning skills, and teamwork.
The last day to register for this camp is June 5, 2024.
Learn more about Escape the Extinction.
Search for salamanders, set up insect traps, and “fish” for microplankton on biology expeditions. Soar to new heights as you study seed dispersal. Find animals in different ecosystems on hikes through nearby Schenley Park. Investigate woodlands and streams farther afield on an extended day field trip to Powdermill Nature Reserve, the museum’s environmental research center.
Activity fee: $50
Day trip to Powdermill Nature Reserve: museum pick up at 6:30 p.m. Late afternoon snack provided.
The last day to register for this camp is June 12, 2024.
Learn more about Eco Adventure.
Explore visual arts, science, engineering, and simple machines for a true STEAM experience. Upcycle everyday items into spectacular inventions of your own through assemblage, painting, and sculpture. Work in teams on a Rube Goldberg machine to create complicated chain reactions and experiment with uncommon art-making materials to achieve unexpected results.
The last day to register for this camp is June 12, 2024.
Learn more about Inventions and Innovations.
Roll up your sleeves and prepare to get messy! Make mystery solutions that fizz, pop, and explode. Discover why objects glow in the dark and make fluorescent crystals. Explore the science behind the perfect chocolate chip cookie. Dive into mysteries of the mind and dissect a sheep’s brain. Learn forensic science techniques and use them to solve a museum mystery.
The last day to register for this camp is June 12, 2024.
Learn more about Super Scientist.
Plunge into experiments about the physics and chemistry of H2O as you develop your own mega-bubble solution, test solutions for acids and bases, and get cracking with ice. Design your way through a boat building race, water balloon drops, and other friendly challenges. Hike through Schenley Park to investigate aquatic habitats in the Panther Hollow Watershed and take a dip in nearby Schenley Swimming Pool.
Activity fee: $35
Day trip to Schenley Swimming Pool: museum pick up at 4:00 p.m.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Aquatic Adventures.
Could you outrun a mighty T. rex? Could you stand up straight if you had a giraffe’s neck? Find out as you explore skeletal structure and locomotion in animals. Test your ideas about movement and balance, and calculate the size and speed of an animal from its footprint alone. Play physical games and take on friendly challenges to see how your skills stack up to those of the animal kingdom!
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Eco Athletes.
Do you favor the watery worlds of Claude Monet or the textured colors of Joan Mitchell? A landscape that looks perfectly real or an abstraction open to interpretation? Get to know great paintings in the museum’s galleries. Build your skills through daily experiments with numerous painting techniques and color mixing strategies and choose your favorite approach to create your own masterpieces.
The last day to register for this camp is June 19, 2024.
Learn more about Painting Lab.
Get on your feet and produce performative art with movement and wearable artwork. Learn movements from a variety of dance and meditation practices and create a beat using multiple percussion methods and instruments. Choreograph an original production to perform in the galleries and invite your family and friends to watch.
The last day to register for this camp is July 3, 2024.
Learn more about Art In Motion.
Push, pull, squish, and play with clay into anything you can imagine—from a bowl you can use to sculpted figures of your pet or an imaginative creature of your own design. Become inspired by the organic forms of ceramic artist Beate Kuhn, mix mediums like found objects and plaster with multiple forms of clay, and construct figurative sculptures that stand, sit or dance suspended in motion. Kiln-fired projects will be fired and available for pick-up at the museum 3 to 4 weeks after camp.
The last day to register for this camp is July 3, 2024.
Learn more about Ceramics.
Explore the world of Super Mario and find out how it compares to our natural world. Adventure into the museum and meet the inspirations for your favorite turtle and dinosaur characters. Create STEM-based “power-up” projects, and dive into the natural biomes that match up to favorite game worlds. Design and race your own model go-kart and complete a Mario-inspired obstacle course in this week of next-level fun!
The last day to register for this camp is July 3, 2024.
Learn more about Mario's Natural World.
From anthills to wasp nests, animals have unique ways to create shelter. Throughout the week, you’ll undertake a habitat design challenge using naturally available resources to replicate nature’s designs and see if your creations can withstand the same elements of their natural counterparts. Explore different cultures to discover how they are inspired by the natural world. Take a hike for inspiration as you explore nearby Schenley Park to scope out example structures in nature.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Build It and Break It.
Invent your very own creature and bring it to life through comics, paintings, and wearable sculptures of monster proportions. Insert kaiju into unexpected places, construct mixed-up beasts, and become inspired by the creatures inhabiting the art galleries and lurking in Natural History’s dioramas and Hall of Dinosaurs.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Cryptids and Other Made-Up Things.
Level up your knowledge of rocks as you examine gems, minerals, rocks, and fossils in the lab and throughout the museum. Learn the tools of the geologists’ trade on a rock walk in Schenley Park, and tour the natural wonders of Laurel Caverns on a day trip. Discover surprising ways we use rocks and minerals in everyday life. Experiment with the rock cycle and observe everyday items made from rocks and minerals, plus start your own collection to take home.
Activity fee: $50
Day trip to Laurel Caverns: museum pick-up at 4 p.m.
The last day to register for this camp is July 10, 2024.
Learn more about Geology Rocks.
Apply left-brained thinking to a right-brained activity for unexpected results. Observe works of art in the galleries for ideas, hypothesize some “what-ifs,” then head to the lab for experimentation. Ink, graphite, rubber bands, straws, paint brushes, paper, wood, plastic—let materials take you on a scientifically fun drawing journey. Record your process and results in your sketchbook and make a series of pieces based on your findings.
The last day to register for this camp is July 17, 2024.
Learn more about Drawing Lab.
Explorers, you have a mission! A mysterious benefactor has given you a generous gift, and you must use it to build a new museum to inspire future generations. Design a character and team up with museum experts to deepen your understanding of how exhibitions are curated. Examine artifacts and work with your co-players on challenges that test your knowledge, creativity, and teamwork on this exciting adventure.
The last day to register for this camp is July 17, 2024.
Learn more about Exhibition Explorers.
Explore the exhibition Widening the Lens: Photography, Ecology, and the Contemporary Landscape to find examples of photographs, installations, and collage that will inspire works of your own. Look to photographer Charles “Teenie” Harris’s body of work to help compose portraits of your classmates and head outdoors to take images of the natural world using a variety of methods including pinhole photography. Experiment with camera-less methods like cyanotype and reconfigure images from magazines, old photographs, and reproductions of works in our collection to create something new.
The last day to register for this camp is July 17, 2024.
Learn more about Experimental Photography.
Become a playwright, actor, and designer as you discover the ingredients of great performance. Work with your class to create a unique play concept, sets, costumes, and props all inspired by the art housed in our galleries. Immerse yourself in comedy and drama as you work towards the grand finale, a performance open to friends and family.
The last day to register for this camp is July 24, 2024.
Learn more about Center Stage.
A summer camp adventure 66 million years in the making! Piece together prehistoric evidence as you investigate how dinosaurs lived and why they died. Extract DNA from modern-day relatives of dinosaurs. Take a hike through the museum and nearby Schenley Park to compare today’s world to that of the dinosaurs. Build a full habitat, complete with life-size dinosaur murals, to transform your classroom into Jurassic Planet.
The last day to register for this camp is July 24, 2024.
Learn more about Jurassic Planet.