Welcome to Smithsonian Associates In-Person Programs

Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill is rich in political and architectural history. Carolyn Muraskin, founder of DC Design Tours, leads a tour of the iconic neighborhood. Hear stories about the original city plan by Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the tumultuous construction of the U.S. Capitol, the rise of the magnificent Beaux Arts Library of Congress, and the backstory of the imposing Supreme Court building. And learn about the influence of prolific designers like Thomas Jefferson, Robert Mills, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Daniel Burnham.

Parents must bring campers to the assigned Before-Camp room in the Ripley Center to sign in daily. At 9 a.m., campers will be brought up to Drop-off and then to their camps.

Note there is no camp on Thursday, June 19, 2025.

Do you see a pattern here? Campers search for designs in art, architecture, and nature as they explore a variety of traditional and modern printmaking techniques in and around the museums on the National Mall. They express their creativity while experimenting with color, lines, quirky patterns, and whimsical images on potato prints, monoprints, gyotaku (Japanese fish printing), collagraphs, and screen prints (on paper, T-shirts, and bags) to demonstrate that printmaking is indeed a versatile-and fun-art.

Through the eyes of artists, under the scientific microscope, and through the lens of culture, campers explore the gardens surrounding the Smithsonian museums, on the National Mall, and within the U.S. Botanic Garden. They discover the Smithsonian’s Victory, Butterfly, and Rose Gardens. Campers design a garden, create a terrarium, investigate wriggly critters, and plant and harvest vegetables. The week rounds out with a trip to discover a secret garden in the shadow of the Capitol.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a dragonfly! Have you ever wondered how things fly? And why birds and insects can, but people can’t? Campers visit the Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy Center, and the National Zoo to discover the science behind flight. They learn about the Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Bessie Coleman, and Charles Lindbergh and their historic flights. They also build wings, paper airplanes, helicopters, and kites and create their own flying prototype.

Campers explore paleontology from the formation of Earth through the Ice Age. They visit the Deep Time exhibition at the Natural History Museum to discover how paleontologists work and the tools they use. They learn about the Earth’s history, ancient plants and animals, and how changes in climate and environments affected living creatures. They also create timelines, become fossil hunters, and dig for 3D-printed dinosaurs.

Campers dive in and discover the wonders of the watery world as they visit Sant Ocean Hall at the Natural History Museum, the American History Museum, and the National Zoo. Along the way, they learn about the life and cycles of the creatures that live there including sea mammals such as otters, whales, and dolphins. They discover the lore of famous ships and the sea captains who explored the world’s great oceans. Campers build ocean dioramas, coral-reef exhibits, and underwater volcanoes for their Watery World exhibit at the end of the week.

Campers, pack your space suit and get ready to blast off into outer space! Lead the life of an astronaut for a week and plan your own space journey by learning about a different planet each day. Campers make their own space suits and planetary mobiles, enjoy space ice cream, and take a trip to the Air and Space Museum. A concluding presentation captures their adventures and explorations.

Journey beyond the stars, where campers create and explore planets in a galaxy far, far away. Visits to the Natural History and Air and Space museums and the U.S. Botanic Garden inspire the otherworldly habitats, alien life forms, and artful android models and spacecraft that will fill their own Smithsonian-inspired universe. They also use a bit of movie magic as they create backgrounds and sabers for an interstellar reveal at the end of the week.

Campers spend the week learning how to draw and paint with watercolors and acrylics, gaining an understanding of techniques and color theory. They study masterworks at the Hirshhorn and the National Gallery of Art, and work “in the field” at the Hirshhorn’s Sculpture Garden, the Castle’s beautiful Haupt Garden, and the U.S. Botanic Garden. They show off the artistic results in a Friday exhibition.