When I sat through part of this camp, I couldn’t help thinking that this is what education should ideally be like – lots of hands-on learning, a small student-teacher ratio, and picking up knowledge almost subconsciously because there’s so much fun in the process! If only we had the luxury of porting this over to every primary school.
And no kid needs to be persuaded to attend this Science camp, because it is conducted at Bounce! Kids get passes to attempt to defy gravity for an hour every day after the 4-day camp, and the 5th day is wholly conducted by Bounce crew (4 hours at the trampolines).
What did we like most about A Science Escapade?
1. Its passionate founder!
Denise, who emits boundless energy, conducts the large group sessions throughout the camp herself. She really personifies PASSION. Her love for engaging children, imparting knowledge and just nurturing the entire learning process comes across clearly throughout.
2. The engaging curriculum
It is also evident that founder Denise has thought through the curriculum extensively, and marries an impressive amount of scientific content with engaging play. More details on that later.
Beyond science, this camp also stimulates linguistic development through sociodramatic play. I personally felt that it was very thoughtful to begin each day by introducing four different emotions (e.g. Who is feeling irate?, Who is feeling exuberant? Who is feeling indignant?). Beyond boosting vocabulary, it acts as a good check-in for every child as they start the day.
Each set of four emotions are then cleverly woven in to the story of the day, which is also carefully selected to inspire the kids (Dumbo’s journey of building self-confidence) as well as introduce the scientific concept of the day (forces – can Dumbo fly?).
3. Great teacher-student ratio
After the large group learning, the children go to their small groups of 5-8 kids (depending on age group). There is a very generous and conducive facilitator-kid ratio, which really helps to ensure that no kid gets left behind.
4. Fascinating experiments
The facilitators guide the kids through the hands-on experiments, which often have an element of magic to it, since science is often quite magical. Just think of magnetic levitation and the creation of polymers like slime!
Some days, the kids get to do up to 10 different experiments.
5. Real life applications
I liked how the experiments relate closely to real life. Every day, there is at least one real life application explained for each concept. And the examples are not always well-known.
For instance, I didn’t know that our old coins (floral series) and new coins (merlion series) comprise different metals. One is coated with nickel (a magnetic material) and another contains copper (a non-magnetic metal). So some can be fished out of a bottle with a magnet and others can’t! Can you guess which is which?
They even visually and systematically learned about how doorbells operate via magnets with the help of a circuit!
6. Cool experiments that they can bring home
The kids got to build and take home their own floating pen stand too. The thin iron ring is attached near the bottom of the pen so that there’s a magnetic pull downwards towards the magnet at the bottom. And by experimenting, the kids discovered that an attraction is required between the upper magnets so that the pen will be held straight and not topple.
They had so much fun learning about solar eclipses and making their own pinhole camera to bring home too. The images were really clearly inverted! So much to learn about our own eyes too – God’s creation is indeed so intricate.
Of course, almost every kid’s favourite thing to make is still SLIME.
What was interesting was how Teacher Denise drew their attention to how bullet-proof vests work on the same concept as slime – soft and malleable when no force is applied, but hard and resistant when a force is applied. Fascinating.
7. A take-home workbook
An accompanying full-colour workbook is also prepared for every child, so that they can write down their observations and consolidate what they’ve experienced. No need to worry that everything is forgotten right after camp ends!
The materials were well-pitched such that they are not too difficult for the younger ones to complete with guidance from the facilitators, and also had enough information to interest the older ones.
8. Close communication with parents
Cognitive Whizz also goes the extra mile compared to other holiday camps, as Denise sends out detailed updates daily (personally written, and about 2000 words!) via Whatsapp to all parents.
There is also a daily 15 minute de-brief at the end of every session where Denise shows parents some of the experiences and concepts introduced that day, so that they can reinforce the learning at home if they wish. The effort and heart in all this is truly commendable.
Denise also shared that they come up with new content for every holiday camp, so kids can look forward to learning new concepts and trying out new experiments at every session with Cognitive Whizz.
For this camp, the icing on the cake was that all participants would get this set of passes for Bounce that can be used after the morning activities, or you could choose to save them for use after the 5 day programme! So although the camp might seem pricey (fee details are in the flyer – final image below), you are actually getting quite a lot of bang for your buck.
As good things go, slots for the camp this June are all but gone. There are only 1-2 more places available for camp on the week of 17-21 June! You can call Denise at 90097086 to enquire further, or just bookmark this and keep Cognitive Whizz in mind for upcoming holiday camps!
Note: Thanks so much Cognitive Whizz, for inviting the girls to experience the camp for this review!
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