Summer 2025: Continental Drift!
June 30 - August 8, 2025
This summer is as big as the earth is blue, and campers will cross oceans to discover all they can about the giant land masses we call continents. Each place we’ll visit is beautifully diverse in topography, geography, climate, and culture. To celebrate the world’s rich differences, campers will make instruments, flags, maps, and masks. We will lean into engineering, as campers design and build important structures, like that Italian tower that doesn’t stand straight but, somehow, doesn’t fall down. Along with other marvels like the Taj Mahal, campers will build the smaller structures where people have traditionally lived, like the igloos and log cabins of North America. Of course, it wouldn’t be summer at Camp Fort Greene without hands-on science, like erupting volcanoes and whirling tornadoes. Catch our drift as we go big, with enough fun to fill all seven continents!
WEEK 1 : North America
June 30 - July 3 (4 days)
We’re starting here at home this short week of camp, with a hands-on activity to see how the continents broke apart and how they pushed together. Campers will also build a log cabin with popsicle sticks and an igloo with marshmallows and toothpicks. We know there’s no place like home, but we’ll whirl away on our next adventure like Dorothy, with a tornado in a bottle.
WEEK 2 : South America
July 7 - July 11
This continent does so much for humans everywhere in the world, with a rainforest that acts like lungs and provides oxygen for our entire planet. Campers will make their own rainforest ecosystem in a jar. Using simple materials, campers will also craft rainforest frogs. To celebrate many bright and beautiful South American cultures, we’ll make coffee filter dancers and jumbo straw pan flutes.
WEEK 3 : Africa
July 14 - July 18
Africa is the world’s wealthiest continent in terms of natural resources; however, with a huge desert and vast, semi-arid Sahel, access to drinkable water can be a challenge. To help solve the issue of water scarcity, campers will make a water filtration system using sand, gravel, charcoal, and cotton. Because Africa is home to one of the world’s most enduring civilizations, campers will design and build the iconic Egyptian pyramids. Expect kente cloth weaving and Masai necklaces to celebrate some of the people lucky enough to call this rich, diverse continent their home.
WEEK 4 : Asia
July 21 - July 25
This week will be explosive, as campers learn about the ring of fire and build their own volcano. This is also the week that campers will design and build the world’s most famous monument to love, the magnificent Taj Mahal. Craft activities will include paper lantern-making, henna hands, and cherry blossoms.
WEEK 5 : Australia (and Antarctica, too)
July 28 - August 1
This week campers are going down under (and then way down under). The Great Barrier Reef is home to over 9,000 known species, including clownfish and regal blue tangs. Campers will make a diorama of Nemo and Dory’s magnificent underwater home. To celebrate aboriginal culture, campers will craft boomerangs, didgeridoos, and dot paintings. We’ll make a quick stop in Antarctica this week to conduct simple ice cube insulation tests and learn how penguins and seals stay warm.
WEEK 6 : europe
August 4 - August 8
Speaking of ice, ecosystems like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef are threatened by climate change and melting glaciers, like the ones in the Alps. A simple ice cap melting experiment should help campers make important connections, and better understand how events in one part of the world impact living things on a completely different continent. This is also the week campers will design and build the leaning tower of Pisa, along with crafts like shamrocks and Medieval crowns.
