Free virtual science camp helps STEM summer brain drain

Maine (WABI) - Summer camp doesn’t have to involve sleep aways.

A free virtual camp is keeping kids entertained and enlightened all at the same time.

Joy Hollowell tells us more about Camp Yellow Scope.

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“Camp Yellow Scope is a virtual science summer camp that families can access online,” says Dr. Marcie Colledge, co-founder of Yellow Scope.

There are 8 activities posted on the blog section of the website. All with step by step printable instructions so kids can work offline.

“Especially after the last 15 or 16 months, get kids away from the screen, using their hands interacting with a paper and pencil,” says Colledge.

Most of the science projects consist of every day items including food coloring, dish soap, salt and sugar.

“We went to base then around fun, summer science themes,” explains Colledge. “How to make a better bubble, how to extract DNA from a strawberry, how to make a fizzy lemonade.”

Each project is about 20 minutes long. They’re geared towards kids as young as six with parental guidance, all the way up to 12 years old.

Both Colledge and her business partner, Kelly McCollum, are trained scientists as well as moms of daughters.

“Our initial mission which continues today is to focus on closing the gender gap in science,” says Colledge. “Research shows that girls tend to lose interest in science in middle school and we wanted to keep them excited.”

To access the free, online science experiments, log onto https://yellow-scope.com/blogs/news

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