Summer Inspiration

For the past four summers I have been the director for a local summer camp called Camp Architecture.  The camp is a week long and is focused on giving kids hands on experiences within the fields of all things architecture and design. Various professionals in the field help plan different projects and field trips for our campers, and they always do such a great job. If this sounds like something your child would be interested in you can find more information here.

Camp for me is not only the perfect summer job, but it helps me get a head start on lesson planning. Each year I am inspired by all the creative projects planned for camp. This year we had an opportunity to work with an interior designer from a local design firm. She explained to us how interior designers begin planning by using mood boards, which is a place to collage your vision before you start actually decorating a space. Mood boards ultimately help communicate how a space should feel.

After the kids designed their boards they then began building their own miniature space. This was one of the most popular projects we did at camp. They used lots of different scrap materials like design samples and swatches, construction paper, pipe cleaners, craft sticks, etc. The kids were so engaged and I was blown away by their creativity. There were many kids I would let come design a space in my home. Below are some of the finished miniature space. As you can see, they were very detailed.

So for those of you still reading, you have just seen a sneak peak at one of the projects I am planning on incorporating into middle school art this year. I hope the kids like it!