Five Cool Things About iCamp

iCamp, part of the Children's Technology Workshop, wrapped up its time in Weston last week. It moves onto Needham next week.

The camp focuses engineering and robotics, for kids ages 7 to 13. It's run the last three weeks at the Weston Recreation Department.

Weston Patch visited iCamp and came back with these five cool things about it:

1. Campers have a full week to concentrate on a project, like video game design or animation. They work on their project every day and then at the end of the week, edit together a movie documenting their progress.
2. Tara Tetzlaff, camp director, said the camp is great for anyone, not just kids who already come with technical know-how. "We can really customize it to each indiviudal skill level," she said. This also means the camp can be adapted for kids with special needs.
3. The campers all learn together and learn to collaborate, with older campers helping out younger ones, said Tetzlaff. A counselor at last week's session was a longtime former camper who's come back. "They stay with us," she said.
4. Campers don't spend all day inside, either. Tetzlaff said the campers have a good routine of having a morning snack outdoors, as well as a long lunch and recess. And since it's been so hot, they've been able to cool off with the Recreation Department's hose, she said.
5. All the equipment is provided for the campers, including Legos, movie-making gear and computers.