The joys of camp

Hands on Children’s Museum offers Winter Camp

By Christina Butcher on December 6, 2018

Forget about presents this winter and give your kids an experience. We're talking action-packed, weekend-long camp experiences filled with science, art and nature activities to keep youth happily entertained and out of the house. Hands On Children's Museum is offering families exactly that, with its Winter Camp this holiday season.

"We're really excited about our STEAM-focused winter camps," said Emily Ehrlich, the Education Department manager at Hands on Children's Museum. "We're offering a nice variety of topics this winter, with maker and tinkering camps, science camps, and art-focused camps. It's a great way to keep kids engaged and learning through the school break, and they get to do awesome hands-on experiments and projects and play in the museum."

Hands on Children's Museum, which is an interactive, nonprofit museum geared towards youth, has been offering camps for over 20 years now. This year's Winter Camp will begin mid-December. It is divided into two three-day sessions (Wednesday-Friday) consisting of half-day programming. Youth may sign up for one or both sessions. This winter's camp schedule is:

Dec. 19-21

Youth 3 years old to Kindergarten-enrolled:

Youth enrolled in Grades 1-4:

Dec. 26-28

Youth 3 years old to Kindergarten-enrolled:

Youth enrolled in Grades 1- 4:

In addition to the activities above, all Winter Camp sessions include ample time for play and exploration in the museum's Outdoor Discovery Center and galleries. Parents should note that youth currently enrolled in kindergarten through fourth grade may participate in "Combo Care," which is a combination of a.m. and p.m. camp sessions.

HANDS ON CHILDREN'S MUSEUM'S WINTER CAMP, Wednesday-Friday, Dec. 19-21, 26-28, Hands On Children's Museum, 414 Jefferson St. NE, Olympia, Winter Camp single session: $80 members / $90 non-members (plus $10 materials fee); Winter Camp Combo Care: $210 members / $230 non-members (plus $30 materials fee), 360.956.0818, hocm.org/winter-camps