• Children are natural scientists, because they are innately curious and love hands-on experiments.brightly colored science test tubes image by Steve Johnson from Fotolia.com
  
  Every time you make a phone call, cook a meal or wash your hair, you're benefiting from the work of scientists. Children are surrounded by science, although they may not know it. And chances are, they already like doing science, although they may not realize it. Fun and educational science camps are increasingly important, as the American Association for the Advancement of Science asserts: "In a world filled with the products of scientific inquiry, scientific literacy has become a necessity for everyone."
  
  

Nature Science

• Almost any kind of environment offers opportunities for nature study.nature image by litinerante from Fotolia.com
  
  The natural world offers many opportunities for hands-on science. Depending on your camp's location, you may be able to do leaf or bark rubbings. Use these rubbings---along with sketches or photographs---to identify the trees in your vicinity.
  
  Photographing birds and researching their calls can help you identify feathered visitors to your camp, as well. To bring the birds, work with your campers to build a simple birdhouse or feeder and mount it on a fencepost or roof overhang. 50 Birds' website provides many different wooden birdhouse plans. Kids can make simple feeders from pine cones coated with peanut butter and rolled in birdseed.
  
  To study nature up close, try putting a hula hoop or circle of string on the ground and have campers closely observe this mini-ecosystem, taking note of all the types of plants and animals they can see.
  
  

Chemistry

• Chemistry does not require elaborate labs or dangerous toxins.classe image by Pascal P??chard from Fotolia.com
  
  Chemistry has the reputation of being dangerous and complicated, but at some level, chemistry is part of campers' daily lives. If you have cooking capabilities at camp, discuss the chemistry of food. How does bread rise, for instance? How do separate ingredients, solid and liquid, combine to form lemonade?
  
  Campers can take chemistry beyond the kitchen and make their own polymers. The National Science Foundation supplies an easy recipe for "crazy putty" that kids can create. Non-Newtonian fluids are another fun creation, despite the tongue-twister name, and they are also simple to make from household products.
  
  If your campers really enjoy these "mad scientist" mixtures, have them work with dry ice, solid carbon dioxide. As long as campers are carefully supervised to ensure they do not touch the ice with bare skin, they can safely engage in a number of dry ice experiments, such as touching metal utensils to a block of it, or adding it to soapy water.
  
  Campers may already be familiar with the wonders of baking soda "volcanoes"; you can use this chemical reaction to power a balloon-rocket or explode a plastic baggie while explaining acids and bases.
  
  

Physics

• Bubbles can help illustrate the physical property of surface tension.bubbles image by Beryl Armstrong from Fotolia.com
  
  Send campers into an exploration of the forces and structures of our world. A physics concept as simple as friction, for instance, can yield a number of experiments, such as sock-sliding races. Use a baking sheet and a few toy cars to show friction---and gravity---when you race the cars down a tilted sheet. You can alter the surface's friction with cooking oil, syrup, water or sandpaper.
  
  As long as you're getting messy, have campers mix up their own bubble solution of soap and water, and try using different items ---such as coat hangers or ---to make bubbles of different sizes and shapes. Bubbles are fascinating examples of how surface tension works.
  
  Another illustration of surface tension uses a penny. Use a dropper to place tiny amounts of water atop a penny, counting as you go. Campers can see how surface tension holds a dome of water on the penny---up to a point!
  
  

Engineering

• Model bridges, like their real-life counterparts, rely on engineering to span gaps and carry loads.Model Train Bridge image by czbrat from Fotolia.com
  
  Building and making things that really work are among the most rewarding kinds of experiment your campers can do. If you have access to products like K'Nex or Legos, have campers create roller coasters, robots or vehicles.
  
  You won't need any special equipment to build a great variety of paper airplanes, however, and these simple toys are perfect illustrations of aerodynamics. Have campers try different wing shapes and body styles, testing them for flight distance, trick loops, and so on.
  
  Raise the stakes by having campers build bridges out of paper, string or drinking straws, then challenge them to roll toy cars across their constructions. Or invite them to make parachutes or "escape pods" out of paper, then use their creations to protect real eggs that you drop from a ladder or upper story window.
  
  If your camp involves older children, introduce them to the Rube Goldberg device, defined on the official website as "a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation." Have them design and construct their "machine." This activity has the advantage of being repeatable, because there are always more tasks to perform and more comical variations of ways to perform them.