Aldridge Gardens offers summer camps for kids

Aldridge Gardens is offering six types of summer camps for kids this June.

There are four camps for children who will be entering 5-year-old kindergarten through the third grade next school year and four camps for children entering fourth and fifth grades.

Options for the younger kids include art camps, engineering and construction camps using natural materials, Myth Busters camps where kids explore scientific questions and American Girl doll camps.

The Myth Busters camp is based on the same premise as the Discovery Channel TV show, but the experiments the kids do are not dangerous, said Debbie McDonald, the education director at Aldridge. That camp, however, is a little messier than some of the others, she said.

At the American Girl doll camps, girls are invited to bring their American Girl, My Life or Our Generation dolls, explore the gardens and make crafts and accessories for themselves and their dolls.

There will be four American Girl doll camps for the younger children, focused on a different theme each week. The themes are “Around the World,” “All About Fairies,” cooking and camping adventures.

Ki Shin is the instructor for all the American Girl doll camps for the younger girls. “She’s amazing,” McDonald said. “She had the most precious tea parties last year.”

There is a different American Girl doll camp for girls entering fourth and fifth grades. Other camps for the older kids include an engineering and construction camp, S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, art, math) lab and paper circuitry, which is an introduction to electricity.

Classes are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon, and cost $120 for Aldridge Gardens members and $140 for non-members. Mid-morning snacks and drinks are provided. Classes are limited to 20 children and may fill up. Pre-registration is required.

To see camp dates and register, go to aldridgegardens.com/education/summer-camps.