Does anyone on here do there own camp for 4-6th? Any different setups then what is at camps.vex.com?
Hi Barry! Before VEX, I worked in or ran camps for almost 10 years. So I have worked with many setups. Is there anything specific you want to try and start running for a camp setting? Would be more than happy to help you brainstorm your own camp!
First, I’m new to vex. This is my first year in teaching. We are a private school and are running a camp for kids who have no experience with robots (4th-6th). I’d like to build simple bot and do a competition but also include some of the activities with vex too. Looking around 4-5 day camp. I have 10 Gen 2 kits.
Ooo I have a few ideas. I am going to roughly sketch out what I think a half day camp could look like, but we can tweak and add things as we brainstorm together 
Also apologies in advance for the length of this message. I get very excited about camp design.
For Day 1, I would recommend starter activities like:
- Creating a Camp Rules Sheet to talk about how they interact with the kits, how they treat other campers, etc
- Scavenger Hunt
- Tallest Tower Challenge
- Get in Shape
- Wheel and Axle Lunar Rover
These would be a great place to start for students who have never used the robotics or built with a VEX IQ Kit. Gets them exploring the kit while still being a challenge.
For Day 2:
After they understand the kit a bit more, I would recommend a Speed Bot (Build instructions link) for a really simple build to help them get started with a mobile robot. Then you can do some starter activities like the Lesson 2 and 3 of the Team Freeze Tag STEM Lab Unit. That challenges the students to try different controller configurations and test the different wheels in the kit. So they are both learning, testing, and competing with one another!
Now these Lessons use the BaseBot, but the Speed Build will function essentially the same for these challenges.
For Day 3, I think you have a couple directions you could go. You could either continue with the Team Freeze Tag Challenge, OR move on to a more engineering-focused activity like Robot Soccer. Personally, I think Robot Soccer is a better avenue because it does not require any coding like the Freeze Tag activity would. You can always introduce VEXcode in the last day or two.
- Robot Soccer Lesson 1: Building the Simple Clawbot
After building each day so far, I think they will be ready and excited to tackle a larger build like the Simple Clawbot. - Robot Soccer Lesson 2: Manipulators
- Robot Soccer Lesson 3: Competition
For Days 4/5, I would recommend bringing in some basic coding! By this points, campers have gotten the experience of building without instructions, building with instructions, and also designing their own manipulators for soccer.
A personal favorite of mine that builds on the idea of competition is the Cube Collector STEM Lab Unit. They would need to build the full Clawbot, learn to control it with the Controller, practice stacking cubes, and also get great experience discussing strategy and learning how to do some basic coding in VEXcode IQ.
You could also supplement these with additional VEX IQ Activities or even throw in a few in VEXcode VR if they need a break from the more engineering focus and want to do more with coding.
Hopefully this helps you get a plan in motion! Other great documents to use for starting a camp are more procedural things like:
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This is 
! Thank you so much. It will take a little while, but if you don’t care I’m going to prepare a daily agenda and share with you and get your feedback.
Have you ever used any of these builds?
Thanks again? This community rules!
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Oh please do create one and share! I would be happy to take a look when you’re ready.
I havent used any of those builds before, but if you’re looking for more small creative builds, take a look at builds.vex.com/go and see if any of those look like something you would want to use! I bet @Matthew_Goodwin would have some great ideas how to adapt those instructions into IQ also.
@Barry_Carter_II This new live session will also be a great time to talk about these ideas/planning! I am going to go over planning a camp and details to think about and would be happy to tailor the session to your questions as well.
https://pd.vex.com/sessions – The Thinking Outside the Classroom session March 27th is the one I will be hosting next where we will talk about camps! It’ll be a zoom so we can actually chat face to face as well which is lovely.
