College for Kids summer camp registration opens in March.

Visit our CFK Summer Camp Details webpage for information on how to register, camp policies, procedures and the answers to frequently asked questions.

“College

Courses

In this Black Rocket classic, you will go well beyond the limitations of the traditional 2D game design classes and create an immersive 3D world. Students will learn the physics behind 3D games, explore beginner event scripting, level design, controlling the flow of gameplay, and storytelling. Student projects will be available on a password-protected Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Projects are only compatible with Windows devices. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 8-11, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
This beginner game development course is designed to get elementary-aged students excited about technology through hands-on and engaging learning activities. Recreate classic video games while exploring level design and digital arts concepts. Experience intuitive, child-friendly software while learning the game development process. Show off the awesome games you create on a special, password-protected website to share with your friends and family! Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 8-11, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Did you know honeybees and other pollinators help make one-third of the world's food? That's a lot of buzzing power! At Honeybee Camp, you'll dive into the amazing world of honeybees and discover how these tiny heroes play such a vital role in our lives. Campers will explore how a hive works, learn the jobs of the queen, workers, and drones, and discover how bees make honey and beeswax. Through hands-on activities, games, experiments, and crafts, you'll see how pollination helps fruits, vegetables, and flowers grow. You'll also learn what beekeepers do and how people can help protect bees and other pollinators. Join us for a week of buzzing fun, hands-on activities, and cool discoveries about the bees that keep the world growing! Camp includes outdoor activities. Please dress appropriately and you may apply bug spray and or sunscreen before coming to camp. LLCC does not provide sunscreen or bug spray.


June 8-11, 2026, Kreher Agriculture Center Room K1122
June 15-18, 2026, LLCC-Litchfield Room L103
Decode moods, master movement, and paint with purpose in this joyful, paint splattered adventure, creativity and fun flow side by side. Young artists explore how colors, shapes, and movement can express feelings, ideas, and stories. After chatting about how different colors make us feel, students dive into creating their own expressive artwork using bold strokes, gentle swirls, or anything their imagination dreams up. Whether their piece tells a story or simply captures the moment, the focus is on freedom, exploration, and the pure delight of playing with paint.


June 8-11, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2205
Hammer, paint, and let your imagination shine! Unleash your creativity in this hands-on DIY camp! Campers will dive into small building projects, including assembling their very own birdhouse. Along the way, they'll learn the basics of art and design through daily sketching and creative activities. Once the building is complete, campers will explore their artistic side with painting projects starting with the birdhouse they built! This camp is perfect for makers and artists who love to imagine, design, and create.


June 8-11, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 0011
Build game apps you can play everywhere and anywhere using a web-based development tool. Learn in-demand skills like programming events and coding controls for a touch screen or keyboard and mouse. Finish by personalizing levels and characters with your own design. Now you are ready to upload your games to the Black Rocket cloud arcade and play on any mobile device or computer. Games can easily be shared with friends and family! Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 15-18, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Calling all future coders, programmers, & designers! Learn the basics of coding languages like HTML, JavaScript, and CSS through a series of web projects and design challenges each day and be on your way to becoming the next tech star! Whether you want to be a Silicon Valley CEO or the high school student who just made a million dollars for programming in her bedroom, this course has the essentials you need to begin your journey. Projects will be available on a Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Returning students can create more advanced projects that build on previous years. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 15-18, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Enter the world of fossils and dinosaurs. Become an amateur paleontologist while you study the past through the physical remains of what was left behind over 11,000 years ago! Examine fossils to open a prehistoric world where dinosaurs, along with many other extinct animals lived and died. We will have an opportunity to excavate and put together dinosaur "bones" as well as excavate real fossils!


June 15-18, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 2209
Ready to turn your wildest ideas into awesome digital creations? Let's code them to life! In this exciting hands on camp, you'll dive into the world of Scratch an easy, colorful, block based coding platform that lets you bring your imagination to life with just a few clicks. As you explore Scratch, you'll sharpen problem solving skills, practice creative thinking, and learn the basics of real programming concepts and you'll discover how coding can feel just like building with digital LEGOs. Get ready for a camp full of creativity, collaboration, and "I did it!" moments. By the end, you'll walk away with projects you're proud of, new tech skills, and the confidence to keep creating long after camp ends. It's imaginative, brain powered, and seriously fun!


June 15-18, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2229
July 13-16, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1136
Get ready for a hands-on adventure in American Sign Language (ASL)! Campers will dive into exciting games and activities while learning basic signs and phrases. From signing songs to telling stories with your hands, every moment is full of fun and creativity. Build new skills, make new friends, and discover a whole new way to communicate!


June 15-18, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1116
June 22-25, 2026, Trutter Center Room 1114
Step into the shoes of a real archaeologist and uncover the mysteries of the past! This interactive course introduces kids to the exciting world of archaeology through hands-on activities, creative projects, and fun discoveries. Students will learn how archaeologists study ancient civilizations, use special tools, and piece together clues from artifacts to tell the stories of people who lived long ago.


June 15-18, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 2209
Join the team that makes gardens bloom! Get ready to dig in and have fun! Garden Innovators is an exciting camp where kids explore the magic of nature and learn how to grow their very own garden. Campers will plant seeds, care for plants, and discover cool bugs and tiny creatures that help gardens grow. We'll test the soil, make awesome garden art, and spend time outdoors learning and playing. It's science, creativity, and adventure all rolled into one! Come join us and watch your garden (and your skills) bloom!


June 15-18, 2026, Workforce Careers Center Room 1150
The Illinois Symphony Youth Orchestra introduces you to different string instruments including violin, viola, cello, and bass. Take the opportunity to begin learning to play violin with a skilled instructor! Hear and handle different string instruments throughout the week, learn about various music concepts such as rhythm through fun activities, and meet professional musicians! Instruments will be provided, and no previous experience with music or playing an instrument is required.


June 15-18, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2250
June 15-18, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2250
Unleash your imagination and become a master storyteller! In this course, you'll combine the power of code with the art of storytelling to create your very own interactive adventure. You'll get hands-on experience building a non-linear story with multiple endings. Learn the basics of web design to format your passages and bring your adventure to life with custom fonts and colors. Immerse your friends and family in a story that twists and turns, taking them on a branching adventure of your design! Student projects will be available on a password-protected Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 22-25, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
With the world's increased reliance on digital data, cybersecurity is more important than ever! In this class, you are all that stands between a group of international hackers launching cyberattacks and world peace. Through a series of challenges, students will learn to apply tools used by professional digital forensics teams to crack codes and use encryption. Working in teams, you will collect clues, recover lost data, and explore the tools of the trade to become the next great cyber spy! Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 22-25, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Inside Out Explorers is an exciting camp for students who want to learn more about themselves in fun and creative ways! You'll explore your feelings and thoughts through stories, games, art projects, writing, and role playing activities. In a friendly and supportive group, you'll practice sharing ideas, asking questions, and listening to others. Along the way, you'll build confidence, learn positive ways to express yourself, and discover how your thoughts and feelings help make you the unique person you are. Get ready to understand yourself, one adventure at a time!


June 22-25, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1103
Why choose just one art material when you can use all of them? In this playful, anything goes studio, young creators dive into a treasure trove of everyday supplies cardboard, bubble wrap, buttons, felt, and more mixing them with paint, oil pastels, glue, and paper mâché to build truly one of a kind works of art. Students experiment, combine, layer, and invent as they discover how different textures and materials can work together. Every project becomes a multi dimensional masterpiece that celebrates curiosity, creativity, and the joy of making something wonderfully unexpected.


June 22-25, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1136
July 13-16, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2205
In this fast-paced, hands-on summer camp, young tech enthusiasts will dive into real computer hardware by safely disassembling used desktops and laptops (with guided supervision and proper tools) to explore key components like the motherboard, processor, RAM, storage drives, graphics cards, and cooling systems. Participants will learn how each part functions, how they connect and communicate to power modern computing, and gain practical insights into building and troubleshooting technology. This is perfect for a short, engaging session that builds STEM skills and demystifies the devices we use every day. It's an empowering, eye-opening experience that turns curious kids into confident hardware explorers.


June 22-25, 2026, Workforce Careers Center Room 2101
Our classic game design camp reimagined to include even more of what you love! Make your first video game in this one-of-a-kind class that gives you the keys to designing your first 2D platformer game. Conceptualization, level design, graphics, sounds, and simple coding are just some of the concepts that we'll explore. No prior experience is necessary, just a desire to have fun! Student projects will be available on a password-protected Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
In this Black Rocket classic, you will go well beyond the limitations of the traditional 2D game design classes and create an immersive 3D world. Students will learn the physics behind 3D games, explore beginner event scripting, level design, controlling the flow of gameplay, and storytelling. Student projects will be available on a password-protected Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Projects are only compatible with Windows devices. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Get ready to build, test, and wow your friends in this action packed engineering adventure! In this camp, students will become real life builders as they design and create their own bridges and towers using everyday materials like cardboard, popsicle sticks, paper, and wood. You'll try out cool design ideas, learn the secrets behind super strong structures, and put your creations to the ultimate test adding weights to see whose bridge survives the challenge! If you love creating things, solving puzzles, or just enjoy a good challenge, this camp is for you. Come join the fun and level up your engineering skills one awesome build at a time!


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, Workforce Careers Center Room 1150
Join the Magic Adventure in this Magician's Workshop! Step into a world of wonder and become a magician for the week! In this thrilling class, taught by a professional magician, you'll unlock secret tricks used by real magicians. Learn amazing illusions with cards, money, rope, and even mind-reading! Plus, you'll craft your own magic props to take home and use in your very own magic show. Get ready to amaze your friends and family because the magic starts with YOU!


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, Trutter Center Room 1116
Students will dive into the world's rainforests to investigate what makes these ecosystems so unique and important. They'll examine rainforest weather and climate, map where rainforests are found around the globe and explore the layers and landforms that shape these environments. Through engaging stories, vivid visuals, and hands-on activities, students will study the plants, animals, and people who live in rainforests and discover the clever ways they adapt to their surroundings. This program builds curiosity, strengthens environmental awareness, and inspires appreciation for the incredible diversity of life found in these vibrant ecosystems.


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 2210
"Action Zone" is a course that teaches statistics through physical activities such as free throws and long jumps. Students collect data from these activities to learn concepts like mean, median, mode, range, and probability. The lessons guide students in analyzing their performance data to understand statistical principles and even write a "Scouting Report" on their skills.


June 29, 2026 to July 2, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1136
If you love the game Minecraft® and always wanted to design your own world, this class is for you! Learn how to create a custom map, design structures to share between worlds, build with Redstone and Command blocks, and create custom textures for you to import at home or share with friends. Projects from this class require the Java version of Minecraft®. Tablet, phone, and game console versions of Minecraft® are not compatible. Returning students can create more advanced projects that build on previous years. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


July 6-9, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Unlock the power of Roblox® Studio, the world creation tool used by real-world Roblox® developers! Learn how to build 3D models and create an adventure in your Roblox® world. Bring characters to life with unique animations you design. Student-created projects will be available on a password-protected Black Rocket website to share with friends and family. Students will work in pairs or teams for most of the program.


July 6-9, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 1101
Young storytellers and artists team up their imaginations in this dynamic comic making camp. Students learn how comics come to life from characters and dialogue to panels, pacing, and visual storytelling. Through guided lessons and plenty of hands on practice, they discover how to shape a story, choose impactful imagery, and design each panel so it truly pops. Along the way, campers experiment with style, build confidence in both writing and drawing, and create original comics that showcase their unique voice. Perfect for any child who loves stories, art, or dreaming up new worlds.


July 6-9, 2026, LLCC-Litchfield Room L103
Expand your ASL Connections: Your Hands Have Something to Say! Want to expand upon your skills in a fun and useful way! Join us to further explore American Sign Language (ASL) in a way that feels fresh and interactive. You'll pick up everyday signs and phrases, learn how to sign along with your favorite songs, and even create stories using ASL. Plus, it's a great way to connect with friends and meet new people because communication isn't just about words, it's about connection. Participation in previous sign language learning environments is strongly recommended before enrolling in this camp.


July 6-9, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1116
July 13-16, 2026, Workforce Careers Center Room 1169
Ready to step into the spotlight? In this super-fun, 4-day adventure, campers will discover the magic of theatre and storytelling while making new friends and creating unforgettable moments! Get ready to become amazing characters using your voice and body, think on your feet with exciting improv games, and bring stories to life with creativity and teamwork. Plus, you'll dive into cool ideas like conflict, motivation, and staging and then work together to write and perform your very own short scenes! Lights, camera? YOU!


July 6-9, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2250
Discover the perfect blend of fun, mindfulness, and movement! At Zen-tastical Kids Yoga Camp, children explore yoga through playful poses, creative games, and calming breathing exercises designed just for them. Each day is filled with activities that nurture flexibility, focus, and confidence all in a supportive, stress-free environment. From imaginative yoga adventures to mindful crafts and relaxation techniques, campers learn skills that promote inner peace and resilience. Perfect for kids who love to move, create, and grow in a positive, uplifting space! Don't forget to bring your yoga mat each day!


July 6-9, 2026, Trutter Center Room 1116
Embark on a journey that blends discipline, strength, and self-discovery. In this camp, young participants train both mind and body through the rich practice of martial arts. More than learning physical techniques, campers explore the core values of respect, focus, and perseverance. Through dynamic activities including skill-building drills, mindfulness exercises, and collaborative team challenges campers grow in confidence while developing foundational martial arts skills. Supportive instructors and a positive atmosphere help each participant cultivate inner calm, physical strength, and a deep respect for themselves and others.


July 13-16, 2026, Kreher Agriculture Center Room K1121
Get ready to unleash your inner scientist! At this action packed Science Camp, you'll dive into mind blowing experiments and hands on challenges that reveal how the world really works. Ever wonder what makes something sink or float? Want to create bubbling chemical reactions or melt ice in surprising ways? You'll get to test it all! Throughout the week, you'll make predictions, run experiments, and figure out the "why" behind every cool result. You'll sharpen your problem solving skills, team up with fellow scientists, and experiment your way through discoveries that feel like real life magic. If you're ready to explore, create, and get a little messy, this camp is your ticket to an unforgettable science adventure!


July 13-16, 2026, Sangamon Hall Room 2210
Where history takes center stage! Pack your bags, it's time to travel through time! In this exciting four-day camp, young performers will journey from the massive arenas of Ancient Greece to the bustling lights of today's stages. Each day is a new adventure filled with fun acting games, creative costumes, and hands-on challenges that let campers become stars from every era. Get ready to explore, perform, and bring history to life in the most theatrical way possible!


July 13-16, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2250
Get ready to read, think, and create! In this fun and creative class, students will explore the graphic novel New Kid by Jerry Craft and discover how pictures and words work together to tell a powerful story. Together, we'll look closely at how graphic novels use layout, dialogue, images, and scene changes to bring characters and settings to life. Students will learn how these elements help explain the problem, solution, and theme of a story all while enjoying engaging discussions and shared reading each day. After exploring how authors and illustrators craft graphic novels, students will become creators themselves! Throughout the week, they'll plan and create their own original graphic story, either by hand or using digital tools. Whether they love drawing, writing, or both, everyone will have a chance to shine. This camp is perfect for students who love stories, art, and expressing themselves in creative new ways!


July 13-16, 2026, Menard Hall Room 2229
In the Design Zone, students step into the roles of architects and interior designers to conceptualize, draft, and build their own miniature environments. Students begin by learning the fundamentals of spatial planning and scale drawing, translating their creative visions from 2D sketches into detailed blueprints. The class culminates in a hands-on construction phase where they use various materials to create 3D architectural models, focusing on how form and function interact within a space. By the end of the program, students gain a practical understanding of geometry, engineering, and the design thinking process.


July 13-16, 2026, LLCC-Jacksonville Room 1116