Every summer my wife and I need to find interesting ways to keep our three sons busy while school is out. Typically we sign them up for a mix of day-long activities, looking to balance location, cost, availability, and our boys’ interests.
One winning option is the University of Waterloo’s Engineering Science Quest. In their words:
Engineering Science Quest (ESQ) is a not-for-profit program that operates with the goal of exposing children, in the Kitchener-Waterloo region and beyond, to the worlds of Engineering, Science and Technology through a variety of fun engaging hands on activities. ESQ is offered in conjunction with the University of Waterloo’s Faculties of Engineering and Science.
The budding engineers and scientists are grouped by the grade that they are about to go into at school, and each week of ESQ has a theme around which are built activities that draw on various science and engineering disciplines. For example, my seven-year-old was excited about showing me a little model that he built which shows how a lung works! That he was as excited by this as he was by doing archery at another day camp earlier in the summer is a testament to the programming and staff at ESQ.
I may not get to experience it directly, but ESQ is one of the great things about living in Waterloo.