FLL/SciOly Summer Camp

Hosted by FTC Team #26115 Alphabots

Week-long sessions of robotics experience and STEM Activities for students aged 6 - 12, taught by FIRST World Championship 1st Place award winners

Program Overview

This camp allows students aged 6 - 12 to experience robotics using SPIKE Prime in a competitive setting by mentors who have more than 7 years of experience in FIRST. Students will complete official FIRST Lego League missions and create competition level robotics in teams, as well as receive hands-on instruction on different STEM Activities. Students will be taught SPIKE programming, building, solving problems, presentation, teamwork, and more.

Ages: 6 - 12

Focus: Robotics, coding, engineering design, hardware building, scientific experiments, teamwork

Core skills: Problem-solving, creativity, collaboration

Dates:

Session 1: July 20th - 24th (9AM - 3PM)

Session 2: July 27th - 31th (9AM - 3PM)

Price: $400

Before care (8AM - 9AM): + $50

After care (3PM - 6PM): + $80

Before + After care: + $120

Location: Room 216, Twin Knolls Professional Center, 5501 Twin Knolls Rd, Columbia, MD 21045

Materials Used:

* LEGO robotics kits (SPIKE / EV3) (Provided)

* Laptops/tablets (PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN!)

* Rocks/mineral kits (Provided)

* Basic lab supplies (cups, water, scales) (Provided)

* Craft materials (paper, tape, straws) (Provided)

Full Syllabus

Daily Structure

9:00 – 12:00 → FLL (Robotics + Innovation)

12:00 – 3:00 → STEM Exploration

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Day-by-Day Plan

Monday – Introduction & Exploration

Morning (FLL)

* Welcome + team-building games

* Intro to LEGO robots (basic parts, sensors)

* Simple build: moving robot

* Programming basics (drag-and-drop coding)

Afternoon (STEM Activities)

* Fun rotations:

* Mini geology (rock identification)

* Simple experiments (density, floating/sinking)

* Science notebook setup

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Tuesday – Building Skills

Morning (FLL)

* Build challenge: robot that completes a simple mission

* Intro to sensors (touch / color)

* Coding: loops and basic commands

Afternoon (STEM Activities)

* Life Science Day

* Human body basics (games & models)

* Disease Detectives intro (simple case study)

* Older group: basic data interpretation

* Younger group: matching & visual activities

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Wednesday – Problem Solving

Morning (FLL)

* Team challenge: obstacle course

* Debugging practice

* Introduce Innovation Project (simple real-world problem)

Afternoon (STEM Activities)

* Earth Science Day

* Rocks & minerals (hands-on sorting)

* Weather basics (build a simple model)

* Fun experiment: volcano or erosion demo

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Thursday – Design & Strategy

Morning (FLL)

* Improve robot design for efficiency

* Strategy: how to score points in missions

* Practice runs + iteration

Afternoon (STEM Activities)

* Physics & Engineering Day

* Simple machines (levers, pulleys)

* Build challenge: paper bridge or tower

* Older group: measurement + optimization

* Younger group: guided builds

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Friday – Showcase & Competition

Morning (FLL)

* Mini competition (friendly matches)

* Present Innovation Project (poster or short talk)

Afternoon (STEM Activities)

* Team-based mini competition:

* Stations (rocks, experiments, logic puzzles)

* Awards + closing ceremony