Challenger Learning Center NWI

Pairs of campers received a cup of random Legos, had to create something, and explain why it would be useful! This pair's idea was chosen as the best by their peers - here's their take on the International Space Station!

Update - 436 rubber bands before the watermelon exploded!!! 🍉

How many rubber bands will it take for this watermelon to burst? 🍉
Campers also tried the same experiment with eggs at their tables! 🥚
Stay tuned for the watermelon count...

Our Junior Campers got to see just how gross their strawberries turned out after monitoring them all week!
After that, we played a camp favorite, Runner-Builder-Director. This is a super fun team communication and memory game.
Our last day of camp is off to a busy and fun start!

🚀 Today marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana! A dumpster was dropped off in front of our Center, signaling the start of our Mission Control simulator upgrades. 🗑️ 🔧 Stay tuned for updates as we transform our space to bring even more inspiring and engaging STEM experiences to our amazing students! ⭐️

It wouldn't be Challenger Summer Camp without some time in our planetarium learning about space! First we watched an educational movie and did some stargazing, and then we showed our creativity making constellations back in our science lab!
Tomorrow is our final day of Summer Camp 2024!

Here are our Junior Campers exploring properties of matter with a Cracker Lab! Scientists are recording details about texture, color, size, and shape. Observation skills are a must for scientists!

After a fun round of "Would You Rather?" to start the day in small groups, campers got to test out their engineering skills making straw boats. How many pennies can our boat hold?

Today was our Junior Campers' turn to explore moon phases and enjoy a tasty way of depicting them!

Photos from yesterday's rocketry day with our resident rocketry expert, Commander Greg! Our campers learned about the history of space travel, physics, Newton's Laws, and more before blasting off rockets to close out day 2 of camp 🚀

Miss Kate taught our Junior Campers about 3- D shapes and different types of crystals!
Then they began the process to make edible geodes.

Thanks to Ms. Ellie and our friends at Lake County Solid Waste Management District (LCSWMD) for bringing the supplies to make edible landfills and for teaching us all about landfills as we made a delicious treat!
To quote one of our campers, "This is the best garbage I've ever tasted!"

We always enjoy when our Franklin Pest Solutions Bug Squad friends Janelle and Raven join us! Our Junior Campers had a lot of terrific questions about different bugs and their life cycles! Some even wanted to touch the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach!
(Side note: after several years, Miss Val FINALLY had the courage to interact with the cockroach!)

This morning, our Junior Campers kicked off the day playing one of Miss Val's favorite games: Find Someone Who! Campers went around the room and asked each other questions to get to know each other. They then checked on their strawberries to see what happened after 24 hours in a container, not refrigerated!

To finish off the first day of Junior camp, friends from Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. joined us to teach our summer campers about steel production! Thank you so much Chrissy and Norman for coming to camp and making real-world STEM so fun! 👷‍♀️👷‍♂️

Junior Campers had a great time exploring our Lego Spike Engineering kits and building amusement park rides! After the building was complete, they could program their rides to move at different speeds and play music, among other things. We saw some awesome creativity and terrific teamwork!

Welcome to our Junior Explorer Summer Campers!
After learning each other's names and setting up our week-long experiment, campers did a fun chemistry activity: extracting their own DNA!

Astrotots finished their last day of summer camp with creating sun catchers and constructing unique designs with Zoobs!
We had a great week - hope to see you all next summer!

Our Astrotot campers enjoyed a nature walk in the beautiful weather today! They also chose flower petals and leaves to include in a nature sun catcher project!

There's still time to buy tickets for tonight's Laser Grateful Dead! 💀 Not sure you can make it? Tickets will be available at the door too for $20. With classics like Touch of Grey, Sugar Magnolia, and more, this is a psychedelic experience you won't want to miss!! 🤘 Purchase tickets online at https://www.clcnwi.com/events/laser-light-spectaculars.html 🚀

Eating the science??
Yes, please!
Today we tasted our cookie recipe from yesterday and compared it with the control.
Delicious!
Thanks, Miss Kate, for baking the cookies for us!

For our last Astrotots day of the summer, campers made their final observations on the strawberries held in the different containers and compared it to the control!
The results were fun to see (and smell)!

Learn more about our fearless leader, Commander Lara, with this awesome article from our friends at NWI.Life! Thank you so much for shining a spotlight on our epic Executive Director! 🚀

A Northwest Indiana Life in the Spotlight: Lara Bates It’s not common that one can spend their afternoon experiencing a simulated space mission, but the folks at Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana (NWI) can make it a possibility. Lara Bates, the executive director, is the driving force behind Challenger of NWI’s success and continued g...

Here are our Astrotots learning about Moon Phases! We used Oreo cookies to show some of our favorite phases.

Astrotots experimented with light and shadows before learning about how the sun's light shines on the Earth and the moon!
Next up: moon phases, including a tasty treat!

Astrotots did some baking science today! Each group had a slight difference in their recipes. Miss Kate will bake the cookies so we can try them tomorrow!

After a fun morning of learning about farm animals and enjoying science activities, time to relax and learn about space in our wonderful planetarium!

Teacher Eli prepared a fun "eat the science" activity called Fizzy Sherbet! Our Astrotot scientists had a blast preparing and tasting! We also enjoyed learning about chemical reactions!

🐐🐔A Farm-tastic Day at Challenger Center! 🐔🐐

Our summer campers got a special visit from Farmer Steve Howe of Howe Farms, who brought along some furry and feathered friends!

Everyone had a blast engaging with a friendly goat and curious chicken, learning all about life on the farm and the care that goes into raising these animals.