Wisner's Whizbang Emporium
Explore the newest gallery at Sloan Museum designed for young and old to play together. You will reminisce and wonder at toys from the past as your little tykes “shop” for food and go to the kitchen to “prepare” a meal. Spend time with your favorite kids by playing a board game or discovering a book together.
Check out our Super-fun Summer Camps!
Pirate Party
June 22, 9:00 – 10:30am
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Ahoy there, Matey’s! Shiver me timbers, there be pirates hiding everywhere, so keep yer wits about ye. Visit swashbuckling stations and search for treasure in Sloan Museum’s courtyard. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Pirate Party
June 23, 9:00 – 10:30am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Ahoy there, Matey’s! Visit swashbuckling stations and search for treasure in Sloan Museum’s courtyard. Yarrgh! Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Camp Alpha Omega for Girls – Exploring Earth
June 27 – 29, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Girls entering 3rd – 6th grades
Cost: $60 per child, $55 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium (with a walking field trip to Mott Community College)
Join Longway Planetarium as we partner with some of Genesee County’s best teachers! Explore Earth as guest teachers from the Alpha Omega Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society pull out some of their favorite activities! Make some mineral jewelry to wear. Investigate fossils and learn what they can tell us about prehistory. Walk to Mott Community College to meet the Dean of Math and Science and tour MCC’s science facilities. Start your own rock, mineral, and fossil collection to take home. Limited scholarship funds are available thanks to Alpha Omega. Call 810.237.3409 for details. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Level 1 Science Camp
June 27 – July 1
9:00am – 12:00pm (Session 1)
or 1:00 – 4:00pm (Session 2)
(Each session will be limited to 10 participants)
Entering 1st – 3rd grades
Cost: $85 per child, $80 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
The Sky’s the Limit! – The sun, moon, and stars. Planes, balloons, and kites. Explore the daytime and nighttime sky. Make a cloud in a bottle, move air while blowing a balloon through an obstacle course. Make a constellation finder and a glow in the dark moon phase book.
Solids, Liquids, and Gases – Discover the properties of matter! Change materials from solids to liquids and from liquids to gas. Can you change them back again? Use digital scales, beakers, sieves and filter paper to make and separate mixtures.
The Dinosaurs are Coming! – Sloan Museum’s Dinosaurs will be back soon. Get ready with some prehistoric science fun! Make a fossil shark tooth necklace to wear. Make a fossil cast to take home. Visit the dig pit in the garden and take home some fossil and mineral samples to add to your collection.
The Build-it Challenge – Can you build a tower from straws that can support weight? Can you build a ramp that sends a ball the farthest? Can you choose the best materials for making bricks? Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
R2K Rockets
June 29, 1:00 – 4:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $9 per child, $8 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Build and launch (and repair and relaunch) your own air pressure powered R2K rocket. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Microscopes
June 30, 1:00 – 3:30pm
Age: 5th – 8th Grades
Cost: $10 per child, $9 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Visit stations that will help you learn the basics of microscope use. Learn microscope parts, how to prepare dry and wet mount slides and observe single-celled organisms. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Build a Robot
July 5, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Learn the basics of MIT’s Scratch programming language and how to apply them to WeDo Robotics motors and sensors. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Box City
July 6, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Use your artistic skills to build model houses, businesses and other community places while working with other kids to plan and design a model city. Parks, schools, stores and houses. What will you build? Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Kinder-Science Camp – Mud pies, Magnets and Moon Phases!
July 6 – 8, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Entering 4 – 6 year olds
Cost: $60 per child, $55 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Science fun for little ones! Held in the Planetarium’s Family Science Room, this camp will provide opportunities for free exploration and independent play time as well as structured hands-on science and math activities. Investigate color mixing, while making a piece of art to take home. Pick some flowers and leaves in the Planetarium garden. Get up close and personal with bugs and worms. Play with magnets, mix up some mud pies, and explore the daytime and nighttime sky. Grownups are welcome to stay and play. Dress for mess! Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Toymaker Camp
July 6 – 8, 1:00 – 4:00pm
Entering 4th – 6th grades
Cost: $60 per child, $55 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Sloan Museum has a new toy store and it’s looking for a toymaker. Make a robotic hand, a steam powered putt putt boat, tumble wings, and other toys in this hands-on 3 day camp.
Day 1: Robohand
Day 2: Robohand Continued and Putt Putt Boat
Day 3: Robohand Finished and Tumble Wing Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Polymer Science
July 7, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 5th – 8th Grades
Cost: $10 per child, $9 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Investigate these amazing molecules, while mixing up and playing with slime and polyurethane foam. Make a giant clothespin from Eurocast material. Investigate super-absorbers. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Pioneer Obstacle Course
July 11, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Travel back in time and try your hand at pioneer games and chores. Haul water, churn butter, card wool and much more. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Car Safari
July 11, 1:00 – 2:30pm
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Buick Gallery
Explore Buick Gallery’s collection of classic cars! Get your picture taken behind the wheel of a 1917 Buick touring car, go on a picture Safari, and enjoy car themed crafts and activities. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Level 2 Science Camp
July 11 – 15, 9:00am – 12:00pm
Entering 4th – 6th grades
Cost: $85 per child, $80 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Wild Weather – Learn about Michigan’s only recorded F5 tornado that devastated a local neighborhood in the 1950s. Make a cloud in a bottle, use a tornado tube, and investigate what makes wild weather happen.
Prehistoric Predators – Explore the some of the fiercest predators the world has seen. Examine model skulls of a Saber Tooth cat and a Velociraptor. Learn about the physical adaptations that helped these hunters survive and their prey animals escape.
Rockets and Race Cars – Build a balloon powered racer. Launch in-room rockets and build a model rocket to launch and take home.
Energy – Explore electricity, heat, light, sound, and magnetic energy with several fast-paced, hands-on activities. Use a battery and motor to build a marker robot. Make a plan for melting a piece of chocolate, use mirrors to direct a ray of light, make an obnoxious noise maker and build an electromagnet. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
SCRATCH Camp
July 11 – 13, 1:00 – 4:00pm
Entering 4th – 6th grades
Cost: $60 per child, $55 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Learn to use MIT’s Scratch computer programming language and have a blast creating animated games and multimedia stories, while building math and technology skills. Students are strongly encouraged to bring original stories, art, and game ideas to the camp.
Day 1: Introduction to SCRATCH and basic programming skills.
Day 2: Stories with single backgrounds, dialogues, and character animations.
Day 3: Side scrolling background, character controls. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Fairy Party
July 12, 1:00 – 2:30
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Wear your fairy wings and dress up clothes for the Fairy Party in the garden! Make a sun catcher and discover a colorful world. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Things Your Mother Wouldn’t Let You Do At Home
July 13, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Messy, noisy, and even downright rude! Try out some of our favorite messy science activities! Build an obnoxious noise maker, use a straw to make a rocket, and play with Oobleck along with other fun projects. Dress for mess. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Electricity / Marker Robots
July 14, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Build series and parallel circuits, an on-off switch and an electromagnet. Then use a battery, motor, and a hot glue stick propeller to build a marker robot that draws. Can you make your robot draw circles? How about dotted lines? Can you add more than one motor and propeller? Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Teddy Bear Picnic
July 14 1:00 – 2:30pm
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Bring your favorite Teddy and a sack lunch to a Teddy Bear Picnic! We’ll make lemonade, read a story, and use our Teddy Bears to explore math and science. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Fairy Party
July 18, 9:00 – 10:30am
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Wear your fairy wings and dress up clothes for the Fairy Party in the garden! Make a sun catcher and discover a colorful world. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Art and the Environment
July 18, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Help the environment by making art! Do your part to clean up the environment by using found and recyclable materials to create an original sculpture to take home. Look at samples of how both professional artists and students have used found objects to create one of a kind works. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Science and Art
July 19, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Discover the science in art! Make colors mix and watch colors separate in these colorful hands on activities. Make colorful paper to take home using a variety of science techniques. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Roboarm
July 19, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 5th – 8th Grades
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Develop a robotic arm from common materials. Students will design and construct a working robotic arm and explore the basics of making them move. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Robofingers
July 21, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Robots are machines that do specific tasks, but there are limits to what they can do. Join us to explore tasks robots are great at doing and those that are better left to the humans and make some Robofingers. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Water Party
July 21, 1:00 – 2:30pm
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Wear your swimsuit and bring a towel! Cool off with several hands-on stations in Sloan Museum’s courtyard. Do some laundry the old fashioned way and play some water games. Activities will be substituted and moved indoors in the case of inclement weather. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Sink and Float
July 25, 9:00 – 10:30am
Age: Preschool – Kindergarten
Cost: $6 per child, $5 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Experiment with objects to see what sinks and what floats in water and in the air! Launch a model hot air balloon, build a floating sculpture, and play with objects in water. Dress for mess! Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Pierson Doll Day
July 25, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
Bring your favorite doll and join Sloan educators on a scavenger hunt through the Pierson Doll Exhibit. Learn how to make corn husk, yarn, and other dolls from the past. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Amusement Park Science
July 26, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Inertia, momentum, and forces! Investigate the science of amusement park rides through hands-on experiments and activities. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Crime Scene Investigation
July 26, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 5th – 8th Grades
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Science sleuths will examine hair, fingerprints, blood, and hand writing samples to solve the case of Lois McArthur. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Chemistry Lab
July 27, 1:00 – 4:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Investigate solids, liquids and gases, as well as physical and chemical changes. Make an acid/base indicator, make some “states of matter cookies”, and try your hand at electroplating. Please be aware that we will be using peanut butter during this activity. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Recycle!
July 28, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Using recyclable materials create a variety of projects to take home to decorate your home, your garden and even you! Learn about the importance of recycling and how it impacts the environment. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Native American Know-how
July 28, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Sloan Museum
For centuries before the Europeans arrived in the Great Lakes, Native Americans hunted, fished and lived off the land we call Michigan. Discover the tribes that lived in this area and make a traditional-style pot to take home with you. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Advanced Rocketry (2 Day Program!)
August 1 – 2, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 5th – 8th Grades
Cost: $22 per child, $20 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Build and fly your own model rockets! On Day 1, we will earn what makes a successful model rocket and construct “Alpha” and “Viking” rockets. On Day 2, we will launch our rockets; first with a smaller “test” engine, and if everything checks out, a second launch with a more powerful engine. No prior model rocket building experience needed. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Garden Exploration
August 2, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Explore the Planetarium garden, while learning about plants, seeds, and flowers. Use plants from the garden to make a piece of art to take home. Learn how butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and worms help our garden grow. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Bubble Festival
August 3, 9:00 – 10:30am
Age: 1st – 3rd Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
It’s a bubble party! Build a bubble maker that makes gigantic bubbles. Paint with bubbles to make a beautiful card to send to someone. Mix your own bubble juice to take home. Enjoy several bubble-blowing stations! Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Weeds, Seeds, and Worms
August 3, 1:00 – 3:00pm
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $8 per child, $7 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Explore the Planetarium garden, while creating a small garden ornament, dissecting a plant, learning about the importance of pollinators and how to encourage these beneficial animals to the garden. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
Telescope Technology
August 4, 9:00 – 11:00am
Age: 4th – 6th Grade
Cost: $12 per child, $11 per APHC member child
Location: Longway Planetarium
Learn how telescopes function, while you build a working refracting telescope of your own to take home. Pre-registration is required.
Click here to register.
