Camp Invention focuses on brainstorming, critical thinking

While some children are spending their days at summer camp building fires and whittling wood, Jacob Melone is working on a way to make his life a little easier.

"I'm making a robot to do my chores," said 7-year-old Jacob. "It will feed my dog, make my bed, clean my room and maybe help my dad."

Jacob is one of 98 kindergarten through fifth-graders participating in Antioch District 34's second annual Camp Invention.

Amy Henning, a reading teacher in District 34, is directing the weeklong day camp at W.C. Petty school.

"Children who attend Camp Invention learn skills that enhance their abilities to brainstorm, solve problems and work in teams," Henning said. "As educators and parents, we know that children of all ages should continue sharpening these skills as we enter an era in which critical thinking will be extremely important to their future."

The Camp Invention program was created in 1990 by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation, and receives support from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Antioch began offering it last year and had about 74 students attend.

Henning said this year, there are a lot of repeat campers and younger siblings of students who attended last summer.

The camp is divided into classrooms based on age.

One of the rooms, Moving at Rocket Speed, allows campers to plan and execute a trip to Mars.

In Art Park, children attempt to save a museum by designing a new sculpture garden.

Those working in Saving Sludge City are using recycled materials to clean up a polluted city.

Students visit "The Dump" every day before camp to pick out the materials they will work with.

Jacob worked in the "I Can Invent" room Wednesday, where 5- through 7-year-olds disassembled household items they brought in to make new inventions.

Leah Minsky, 6, was there too, and pretty pleased with her invention.

"I made a vacuum car," Leah said. "I got all my stuff from the dump."