2023 Summer Camps registration is OPEN! Click the button below to register today!
Geering Up is offering camps for elementary students all across the lower mainland this summer! Our five-day camps inspire children and youth across British Columbia through fun, innovative, and hands-on experiments and projects. Each camp is focused on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), but we make sure to keep topics beginner-friendly and fun for all elementary students.

- Weekly Programming
from JULY 4 to AUG 31, 2023 - 9AM – 3PM
PACIFIC STANDARD TIME - UBC Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver,
South Surrey, Coquitlam, and UBCO Kelowna
Grade Levels: 1 – 7 (varies by Camp Theme)
Program Pricing: $305 – $430 (varies by Camp Theme, Location, and Program Duration)
We believe that every person should be able to participate in our programs. As such, please see the information regarding our camp bursaries.
Registration Deadlines: Registration for each camp will close at 11:59 PM on the Sunday the week before the camp begins.
(i.e., if the camp begins Monday, July 25th, registration for it will close on Sunday, July 17th)
ELEMENTARY STEM SUMMER CAMP THEMES:
Please note that each camp theme in the same grade level will feature the same curriculum each week. As such, we do not advise taking the same camp more than once throughout the summer.
Miniminds
Instill curiosity and develop a passion for STEM from a young age! Our Miniminds camps introduce mini-scientists and engineers to all areas of STEM by providing a space for future grade 1 students to practice being in a new classroom and have fun with lots of hands-on STEM activities.
We offer two different versions of Miniminds: A and B. The two versions will discuss different STEM topics and involve different building challenges and activities. Get ready for a STEM-tastic week!
GRADE LEVELS: 1
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver, Richmond, South Surrey, Coquitlam, UBCO Kelowna
Maker
We’re here to inspire participants to build creatively and think critically, so grab your hard hats, engineers! Take a deeper dive into design and construct using the Engineering Design Cycle. Discover the forces behind airplanes, the science of engineering, and create lots of hands-on creative projects! This Maker Camp is for the builders and makers of our world.
Join this camp if you love to build (or even destroy) and are interested in learning more about what engineers do.
GRADE LEVELS: 2 – 5
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver, South Surrey, Coquitlam, UBCO Kelowna
STEAM
Cultivate your creativity while learning about the world around us. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) camps combine the design processes and concepts of STEM with hands-on creative projects that allow campers to explore their artistic side! Learn about the sky, sea, cells, and more in our co-enriched environment where participants can explore their STEM passions alongside creative pursuits. Join us for a week filled with design inquiry and fun hands-on projects! Full STEAM ahead!
Join this camp if you want to unleash your creative side through original engineering projects and are ready to combine the worlds of art and science!
GRADE LEVELS: 2 – 5
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver, Richmond, North Vancouver, South Surrey, Coquitlam, UBCO Kelowna
STEM Explorations
Calling all future scientists: this camp has it all! Understand our world and unravel its interconnected complexities through STEM Explorations, which is all about exploring the four disciplines of STEM— science, technology, engineering, and math. Whether it’s solving engineering problems or being amazed by mind-boggling science experiments, our STEM Explorations camp will engage our participants through hands-on, fun, and interdisciplinary activities.
Join this camp if you have a passion for exploring and want to investigate the interconnectedness of the fields of STEM.
GRADE LEVELS: 2 – 7
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver, South Surrey, North Vancouver, Richmond, Coquitlam
Biomedical Engineering
Healthcare and medicine are as complex as the human body itself, and we want you to help us solve the problems of the future! In this camp, students will combine biology, medicine, and engineering to explore how engineers and doctors work together to solve medical problems. Campers will get to experience being biomedical engineers through engineering challenges and fun experiments that include designing and building their own prototypes. Grab your lab coat and a pair of safety goggles, engineers!
Join this camp if you’re interested in medicine, biology, and engineering and want to learn how they intersect.
GRADE LEVELS: 6 – 7
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver, South Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam
BioExplorers
Learn about biodiversity and sustainability through direct, real-world experience! The BioExplorers Camp takes a different teaching approach; this is all about getting outdoors to conduct science! The camp recognizes the importance of the land we live on: if we want to be sustainable engineers or scientists, we need to spend time exploring and understanding the land. This camp will be conducted mostly outdoors and integrate outdoor education and physical activity while learning about scientific exploration and environmental engineering practices.
Join this camp if you want to take your STEM experience out of the classroom into the field to conduct experiments, study nature, and design innovative solutions to environmental issues.
GRADE LEVELS: 6 – 7
LOCATIONS: UBC Vancouver
CAMP POLICIES & FAQ
Please read the information below regarding our policies in place for camps this year.
Geering Up operates as a non-profit organization and incurs substantial fees for each cancellation. To offset these costs, our cancellation and transfer policy is as follows:
Date of Cancellation | Amount Refunded |
---|---|
More than one week before the program’s start date: | 100% refund of program price, minus a $30 cancellation fee |
One week or less before the program’s start date: | 50% refund of program price |
Less than 72 hours before the program’s start date: | No refund provided |
Camp Hours: 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Recess & Lunch: Campers will go outside for a 30-minute recess and a one-hour long lunch each day.
Activities: In our camps we will have a variety of activities including engineering building challenges, coding projects, experiments, creative design projects, and more.
Before & After Care: Geering Up offers supervision for campers who need to be dropped off before camp or picked up after camp ends. We offer before care from 8:15 AM - 9:00 AM Monday through Friday. We offer standard after care from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM or the extended after care from 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM. We offer both after care programs Monday through Friday. If provincial health restrictions due to COVID-19 change and Geering Up must cancel Before and After Care, participants will be contacted with advanced notice and refunded for this service in full.
*Only our UBC Vancouver and UBCO Kelowna locations offer Before & After Care.
Lunch Program: If purchased, campers receive a main course, side, and drink for their lunch each day. The lunch program costs are only for Mondays to Thursdays as all campers at UBC Vancouver Location receive a pizza lunch on Friday.
*Only our UBC Vancouver Camps offer a lunch program.
Geering Up programming is deigned and intended for individual participants, not groups. Having a group (local or visiting) register for our programming greatly impacts the quality of the individual participant's experience; something that is extremely important to us. As such, group registrations are prohibited.
Please note that Geering Up will withdraw all participants without a refund who are found in breach of the group registration policy at any point before or after programming begins.
Each location's camp schedule can be found on our location pages. Click here to view all locations.
Check out our FAQ, or reach us at camps.geeringup@ubc.ca.