Just announced: Crafting Character: The Costumes of Paul Tazewell opens Jan. 19, 2026!

The Museum will close at 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 19.

Call for artists now open through October 12, 2025!

Escape the Museum for 2025 is completely sold out!

Virtual Crime Lab

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Scholarships for camp fees are available for students and their families who demonstrate financial need. Contact us for details.

Summer 2026 dates coming soon!

Our week-long summer camp experiences are about exploring everything the Museum has to offer. Campers can engage in a wide variety of interdisciplinary activities bridging science, art and engineering. Don't miss out — this summer is going to be a blast!

One-week sessions in July and August 2026.

$500 per camper ($450 for Griffin MSI members)

After Camp (3 to 4 p.m.) available: +$100 per camper

Snack and beverage provided. Campers will need to bring a lunch.

Come beat the heat — and summer brain drain!

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You’re never too young to start making! Join us in our Fab Lab Studios, and let’s build stuff together. Get ready to have a ton of STE(A)M fun and see what you can create. For youth entering grades K-1 in fall 2025.

Online registration for summer camps has closed.

For youth in grades K through 1.
Join us on a journey to a destination far, far away! From the Moon, Mars and beyond, learn what scientists are looking for in the great unknown. Complete your mission with hands-on STE(A)M activities to help humans survive and thrive while we explore the final frontier. Related exhibits: Henry Crown Space Center, Transportation Gallery.

For youth in grades K through 1.
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes! Tap into your superhero strengths and discover how science can save the world. From solving problems to building your own superhero gear, these activities will help you become the hero of your own story. Related exhibits: Wired to Wear.

For youth in grades K through 1.
Learn the fundamentals of sewing and leave with a custom design made by one of the greatest artists in the world… YOU! Create your own interactive art piece using tools and techniques straight from our Wanger Family Fab Lab. Related exhibits: The Art of the Bicycle, Wired to Wear.

For youth in grades K through 1.
Even critters need some TLC! Campers will put their medical and design skills to the test to customize their own plushy critter creation. Build, care for and take home your own Griffin MSI plushy animal. Related exhibits: Farm Tech, Numbers in Nature.

Come tinker away in our Fab Lab Studios! Whether it is designing with paper and cardboard or creating works of art and design, there is something for every kiddo in our Tinker Tots camps. Dive into your toolbox to discover your potential! For youth entering grades 2-3 in fall 2025.

Online registration for summer camps has closed. 

For youth in grades 2–3.
Let’s get connected! Create circuit systems that move and harness electricity to power the world around us. Bend and squish circuits to build energizing objects and create solutions. With these skills at your fingertips, the power is yours! Related exhibit: Wired to Wear.

For youth in grades 2–3.
Whether flying through the city or writing code to change the world, being a superhero takes a lot of science. Learn how to build your own superhero tech with our vast array of fabrication tools. Unlock your inner superhero and discover how you can change the world! Related exhibit: YOU! The Experience.

For youth in grades 2–3.
Learn the fundamentals of sewing and leave with a custom design made by one of the greatest artists in the world… YOU! Create your own interactive art piece using tools and techniques straight from our Wanger Family Fab Lab. 
Related exhibits: Yesterday’s Main Street, Wired to Wear.

For youth in grades 2–3.
Come join us in our Fab Lab Studios and invent your own machines with one of the most sustainable materials in the world: cardboard! Use our laser cutters to come up with amazing cardboard creations. Related exhibits: The Art of the Bicycle, Swiss Jollyball.

Join our Young Makers camps and immerse yourself in the world of MAKING! Use 3D printing and laser cutting technology to create solutions for all types of challenges. Join us in our Fab Lab Studios and get your gears turning! For youth entering grades 4-6 in fall 2025.

Online registration for summer camps has closed. 

For youth in grades 4–6.
Let’s get moving with some cardboard mechatronics! Whether creating the gears of a bike, a train or a robot, these hands-on activities developed in our Wanger Family Fab Lab will help you go the distance. Learn to use cardboard, circuits and sensors to engineer amazing machines. Related exhibit: The Art of the Bicycle.

For youth in grades 4–6.
Let’s get connected! Create circuit systems that move and harness electricity to power the world around us. Bend and squish circuits to build energizing objects and create solutions. With these skills at your fingertips, the power is yours! Related exhibits: Wired to Wear.

For youth in grades 4–6.
Whether building up or scaling down, use tools from our Wanger Family Fab Lab to build on your engineering skills and literally measure your success! From giant skyscrapers and castles to whole neighborhoods, learn how to build with bricks to scale. Engage in STE(A)M challenges and create groundbreaking structures. Related exhibits: Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle, Cars, Ships Gallery.

For youth in grades 4–6
Get your gears turning! Learn how to solve everyday problems by designing unique and creative solutions, within our Fab Lab Studios. Through the use of prototypes made from a variety of materials and technologies you will get to express your creativity and imagination and see your own ideas take shape! Related exhibits: Wired to Wear, Cars, Ships Gallery.

Cancellations received by Monday, June 2 will be issued a full refund. Please send cancellation requests to camps@msichicago.org.After June 2, camp fees are nonrefundable, except in the instance that Griffin MSI makes the decision to cancel camp. Unfortunately, we cannot issue refunds or week transfers for campers who are sick or for unexpected schedule changes.

You can give the young scientist an Griffin MSI Gift Card in the amount of the camp. Their parent or guardian can later redeem the card, select the camp, and register the camper.

Giving a camp as a gift?

Our week-long summer camp experiences are about exploring everything the Museum has to offer.&nbsp;

Summer Camps

Come beat the heat — and summer brain drain!

Summer Camps registration opens in November.

Giving a camp as a gift?

Inspire the inventive genius in you