Inventing summer fun

Seven-year-old Anthony Randazzo is surrounded by screwdrivers and wire clippers as he works to connect parts from an old blender and alarm clock that he disassembled earlier. He's trying to build a laser with his friend.

"We doubt the invention is going to work," the goggles-wearing boy says happily, but he continues to clip wires from the blender and connect them to interior alarm clock parts. The boys are surrounded by other focused goggles-wearing children who have taken apart telephones, record players and old appliances. With the parts (and the help of a little glue and tape) they are making inventions.

This isn't your typical day camp.

The children are participating in Camp Invention, a nonprofit program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The camp was introduced to Utah in 1999-2000, and Utah regional coordinator Suzette Jensen said she expects nearly 800 second- through sixth-grade Utah participants for the one-week day camps this summer. Approximately 30,000 students participated last year in 430 schools in 39 states nationwide.

Randazzo attended Camp Invention at Salt Lake City's J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School, along with about 60 other students. The camps are staffed by Utah educators and volunteers who lead the children in five hands-on and theme-oriented camp activities that mix science, math, history and the arts. The director of this camp was Mary Lane Grisley, who is also principal at J.E. Cosgriff.

"It was kind of a way for me to reconnect with my science roots," said Grisley, who studied science in college.

In I Can Invent, where Randazzo was working his laser-building magic, children bring in old appliances from home, disassemble them, and try to create something new after identifying the need for it. With their instructors, they also go through a mock patenting process for their inventions.

"It really helps them in problem solving, because they have to figure out a problem in their life and try to think of a way to fix it," Jensen said.

Camp directors pride themselves on having unique programs that encourage teamwork, creative problem solving and inventive thinking skills. And Jensen is quick to point out that the camp isn't just for little Einsteins.

"It's very well-rounded -- it's not just for rocket scientists. A lot of it is crafty and creative and inventing," she said. "It's critical for kids to understand it's fun and exciting to learn. And it's fun for the kids to see the teachers having fun."

At the camps, children are typically divided into groups of about 15 by age. After going to what Jensen calls a "base camp with attitude," the groups rotate through classrooms, where they participate in the various activities.

At J.E. Cosgriff, the children participated in I Can Invent, Marbelous Inventions, Dig It and Planet Zak.

Jake Hillard, who was painting with paint-dipped marbles in Marbelous Inventions, said he was enjoying the camp because "it's fun. I really like science and building things." In this class, children use marbles to learn about gravity, friction and motion.

In the Dig It room, children take a trip to prehistoric times to learn about ancient people and their inventions. They work in a serene atmosphere -- a makeshift cave with a paper "fire" in the center of the room. They weave baskets with ropes and cardboard, participate in a mock archaeological dig and receive new names, such as Sister Star, Bull Bear, Eagle Eyes and Little Fox.

The children on Planet Zak have crash-landed on an imaginary planet, and they have to find a way to survive the new atmosphere for five days and build a rocket to return to Earth at the end of the week. The room is filled with shelters made up of chairs, tables, newspapers, trash bags, tape and yarn, built by teams of three to five. The children have to find food, learn about weather trends and avoid the dreaded acid rain storms.

"Oh yeah, they really love it," said Lorie Schmidt, the Planet Zak instructor and a teacher at J.E. Cosgriff.

Camp Invention has nine remaining camps in Utah between June 23 and Aug. 8. For more information, visit www.campinvention.org or call 1-800-968-4332.

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