Definitely not! All bright and talented students enjoy our programs.

No! We do challenge kids academically, but GRC is known for engaging children in hands-on activities and encouraging friendships among like-minded peers. Physical activity and recess are part of every day’s schedule.

Yes! Before Care is 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. and costs $120/session. After Care is 3:30 – 5:30 and costs $150/session.

A non-refrigerated lunch (with drink) and a willingness to learn and have fun! We strongly discourage electronic devices.

Limited tuition aid is available, based on need. Contact the GRC office for more details or download the application.

There is also one merit scholarship available for Advanced Space Academy. Download information.

If a camper withdraws before May 9, 2025, fees are refundable except $25 application fee. Between May 9 and June 8, 50% of fees may be refunded. No refunds are made after camp starts on June 9.  Special circumstances, like medical emergencies, will be considered. Payment must be made in full before the first day of camp

Every child gets a GRC camp t-shirt (and can buy an extra for $10 if desired).

Pictures will be taken during Summer Academies, and may be used for promotional purposes. If you do not want your child’s photo used, please contact the office in writing before the start of camp.

Entering Grade 1

What does a meteorologist do? How can we predict the weather? What are weather fronts and what happens when cold and warm ones collide? Create your own clouds and build a rain gauge, a weather vane & an anemometer! Can we create our own snowflakes? Explore extreme weather like tornadoes and blizzards—why do these happen? We’ll also go on an exploration of how the human body works. What are the different systems, like digestive, cardiovascular, and skeletal? Create a working model of the lungs, make blood in a bottle, simulate how stomach acid works and more!

THIS CAMP IS CURRENTLY FULL.

Entering Grades 2-3

Directing, storytelling, building, editing, designing! In this high-energy, hands-on camp, you’ll use all these skills to create your own mini movies using stop motion animation and iPads. We’ll start off using LEGOS and then step it up to using Play Dough or actual people. You’ll create characters, props, scenery & sound effects! Add in your own music or voice. We’ll also watch clips of different styles of stop motion animation for inspiration and to see how the pros do it. Explore your creativity while learning technical skills! The grand finale will be a mini film festival to premiere everyone’s creations.

Entering Grades 2-4

Experience three camps in one each day as you explore Math, Science and Creative Expression! In science, you’ll bend, bounce and break light as we shed light on what happens when your eyes and brain turn everything you see upside down and right-side up! Experiment with chemical reactions that create light. Create your own kaleidoscope and design a laser maze to explore reflecting light.

In math, you’ll manipulate everyday materials to discover the possibilities of chance results. Collect, organize and analyze data from racing frogs to playing PIG. Experience math adventures where “almost” is close enough. Odds are you’ll have fun!

Get creative with some of the math and science concepts you’re learning! Explore artistic elements like form and depth through shadow sculptures, chalk pastels and city silhouettes. Learn how different artists and illustrators have used light and be ready to explore techniques to bring brilliance to creations of your own!

(Students will be divided into age-appropriate groups and curriculum adjusted accordingly. Students will experience multiple transitions throughout the day between rooms and teachers.)

Entering Grades 4-9

Each summer we create a brand-new, sustainable pop-up business! Handle all the real-world aspects of this camp’s pop-up business: finance, sales, marketing & production. Learn about the environmental effects of your product. How can we lessen those? What are low-impact ways to create a high-impact product? Examine cash flow and stock distributions (and play the Stock Market Game!). What will your sustainable business model look like? Create a website to advertise and sell your product. Find environmentally friendly ways to package and distribute. Look at everyday products and their carbon footprints. How can companies minimize this? Scientific inquiry, advertising art, decision-making skills, financial and mathematical interests—bring any and all of these talents!

Entering Grades 4-9

Let’s do a deep dive and look at our animal friends that live in water. We’ll spend a week looking at aquaculture—how do you raise fish, build an aquarium, and grow plants/corals in various water environments? What are the drawbacks? The benefits? How expensive is it? We’ll spend the other week in the ocean – from plankton to blue whales, what animals live there? How have they adapted to survive, especially those in the deep ocean zone, with the lack of light and resources? What state are our oceans in, and what can we do to help? We will also take a look at terrestrial animals that rely on various water sources for their survival. We’ll get out into the environment as well with nature walks and hopefully a field trip or two to Missouri State Parks.

Entering Grades 5-9

Hark, young scholars! Partake in a fortnight of merriment and discovery as we venture into the wondrous realm of Twelfth Night! Help bring this beloved comedy to life by studying its witty language, exploring its timeless themes, and learning the art of stage performance. Together, we’ll design and create costumes, sets and props that capture the magic of the Elizabethan era. Every student will shine on stage, taking on a unique role in the final performance. Let us rehearse with zeal, craft with care, and celebrate the joy of theater most joyous!

Entering Grades 5-9

WANTED: Book lovers. Creative writers. Dig deep into your imagination and experiences to create stories. Learn how to plan out your writing, and develop your characters. Learn about different kinds of poetry and read and create a variety of poems. Participate in a poetry slam to celebrate each camper’s writing. Learn about the importance of a writing community and supporting each other to produce the best writing you can. Share your favorite reading with book talks (and hear from camp adults as well)! Put your imagination in print!

*This camp is not intended to teach students to improve their writing mechanics but to foster a love of reading, writing, and collaborating! Students WILL receive feedback on their writing; however, the feedback will be more centered on ensuring the story makes sense, rather than the mechanics of the writing.

Entering Grade 1

Don your paleontologist hat for dinosaur explorations! Hatch a dinosaur egg, while considering carnivores, herbivores and omnivores. Explore continental drift. Construct fossils and explore body types and teeth structures of dinosaurs. How did they evolve in the different geologic periods? How did their bodies change from fish-like creatures to a tyrannosaurus rex? What made them all extinct? Then join the ‘safari’ as we locate tropical rainforests on a map. Why is the rainforest important? How do plants, as well as animals like monkeys, bats and frogs, survive? Make your own tropical spice blend. What other rainforest resources do we use every day? Lots of hands-on activities and projects.

Entering Grades 2-3

What is a prairie? A pollinator? In the first week of camp we will explore the fascinating tallgrass prairie ecosystem, discovering the characteristics of prairie plants, and which animals call the prairie home and why. We will experience native prairie plants first hand when we use some to dye fabric. During our second week, we will investigate whether bees are the only pollinators, why pollinators are crucial to our world, and what pollinators get in exchange for the service they provide. Making our own insects and flowers will give us a bee’s-eye view of the pollination experience.

Entering Grades 4-5

Work through engineering design challenges inspired by a broad range of literature! In this high-touch, hands-on camp you’ll read texts and identify problems that characters face. Brainstorm solutions based on the character’s needs and constraints of the text. Then work with your team to design and build realistic solutions for the characters to use. But you’re not finished! Test your solution, then refine it to make it even better! Collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking are key elements. Problem solve with your favorite characters in this “novel” summer camp! Did you take this last summer? Come on back—we’ll have new stories and some new materials to work with. (Novel Engineering is an approach originally developed by Tufts University to teach students the engineering process and link it to problems to fix, all through engaging literature.)

Let’s explore space missions! Manned, unmanned, near and deep space. Where are we going? How about the poles of the moon to examine ice crystals? Or should we send a robotic mission to Europa? Design a lander or probe and plan your mission! How do we get there? And get back? Design, build and program a robotic LEGO rover to explore the surface once we get there. Learn about the rockets that launch humans and probes on their missions to space while building and launching your own model rocket. (Students will be divided into smaller groups by grade, and curriculum adjusted accordingly. Advanced Space Academy will be for grades 7 – 9.)

Entering Grades 4-9

Dost thou accept this challenge? We’re going full tilt medieval this summer! In this session, we’ll look at France, England and Germany during the Early and High Middle Ages, roughly 500 A.D. – 1300 A.D. Design and build castles and the best siege machines – when do you use a catapult? A trebuchet? We’ll look at medieval weaponry and explore archery. What was life like in a medieval castle? What did one wear? Or eat? What do brass rubbings reveal about weaponry, clothing and heraldry? We’ll joust our way through the life of a knight and look at the Tales of King Arthur. Our battle game will return, medieval style. We’ll journey forth to the Art Museum, and finally say fare-thee-well to camp with a celebratory feast.

Entering Grade 1

Plunge into the mysteries of the ocean. Meet sea animals, large and small, friendly and dangerous. How do their babies live? Make edible aquariums. How is a coral reef like a giant apartment building? Clean up a mini oil spill and find out how we can protect the ocean. Then explore the sun, moon, planets and stars! Create a replica of the surface of the moon. Look at its sea, volcanoes and Apollo landings, and build your own miniature ‘moon rover.’ How far can you jump on the moon? Calculate your weight on other planets. Harness the energy of the sun in your solar oven to roast toasty marshmallows.

Entering Grades 2-3

Stories & Structures! Dialogue & Design! Plans & Plots! Like to read? Like to build? In this high-touch, hands-on camp you’ll read a broad range of texts and identify problems that characters face. You’ll brainstorm solutions based on the character’s needs and constraints of the text. Then work with your team to design and build realistic solutions for the characters to use. But you’re not finished! Test your solution, then refine it to make it even better! Collaboration, communication, creativity and critical thinking are key elements. Problem solve with your favorite characters in this “novel” summer camp! Did you take this last summer? Come on back—we’ll have new stories and some new materials to work with. (Novel Engineering is an approach originally developed by Tufts University to teach students the engineering process and link it to problems to fix, all through engaging literature.)

Entering Grades 2-4

Join an adventure through history on America’s most famous highway! Route 66 will come to life as we explore the golden age of road trips, jukeboxes, and soda fountains. From the struggles of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression to the triumphs of WWII and the Civil Rights Movement, uncover key historical moments, stories of icons like Rosie the Riveter and Will Rogers, and take “pit stops” along the way. Use hobo language to navigate the “Hooverville” you build. Create a dinner menu with your WWII rations and food in your “Victory Garden”. Learn about sundown towns along Route 66 and how a “Green Book” helped keep Black travelers safe during the era of segregation. Who were the Civil Rights leaders and feminists of the 1960s and 1970s who helped shape legislation that continues to protect citizens today? Map Route 66 from Chicago to L.A., visiting places like Cadillac Ranch in Texas, the Blue Whale of Catoosa in Oklahoma, and the Santa Monica Pier. Use inspiration from our road trip to design your own unique roadside attraction! What Route 66 relics are still standing in the St. Louis area? Let’s hit the “Mother Road” and “get your kicks” on Route 66!

Entering Grades 4-5

We’ll cover the basics of stop motion animation techniques and then dive deeper into directing, storytelling, building, editing, and designing! There will be daily challenges to learn different techniques to incorporate into one final film complete with a full story, dialogue, and main characters. The grand finale will be a mini film festival to premiere everyone’s creations. If you were in the younger class last summer, come back and build on your skills, learn more advanced techniques, and create more complex movies! And if you weren’t, we’ll quickly get you caught up and making movies.

Entering Grades 2-9 – FULL for entering 4th-5th grades

Now that we’ve gotten to space (see session 2), what about life and work in space? We’ll explore how to survive, what resources you’ll need. What about UV shielding? Oxygen supplies? Water? Experiment to see what space settlers might get the elements they need to survive. Think about space pets – maybe a tardigrade? How do plants and animals behave in zero G? How would they adapt? What jobs will there be in space? And is there other life in space besides us – we’ll take a look at the possibilities and investigate whether any exoplanets are earthlike. Surely robots will help space settlers do their work. We will learn about coding and building our own Lego robots and rovers. (Students will be divided into smaller groups by grade, and curriculum adjusted accordingly. Advanced Space Academy will be for grades 7 – 9.)

Entering Grades 4-9

Come one, come all. The Late Middle Ages were a time of crises – plague, famine and war! The rise and fall of legends were chronicled by many authors. Daily life for the peasantry was a struggle for most, while Lords and Ladies, Kings and Queens all played a dangerous game in the conquest of power. We will examine the extreme wealth divide – differences between royalty and the serfs in their homes, daily chores, food, clothes, and life expectancy. Explore the art of stained glass and brass rubbings. We’ll improve upon the castles and siege machines built during the previous session as the battle for power on the continent rages on. Launch your own claim to power in a game of political intrigue at court, where your wits are the only thing keeping your claim within reach. Finally, take your leave of Summer Academies as the legend you’ve become by celebrating with a grand medieval feast.