Summer Programs Washington Montessori School
New Preston, Connecticut

For our oldest campers entering or experiencing Middle School, these one-week immersions are taught by industry professionals or long-time enthusiasts. Experiential opportunities abound – from Appalachian Trail backpacking trips to kitchen operations, our immersions dive deep and go far. Select Immersion programs have a small extra fee for materials, technology, or transportation. Fees are listed next to the specific camp.

2026 Dates & Themes

• June 22-26: Robotics & Coding (+$50)
  • Build a robot that can compete in a camper-designed game over this 5-day camp. No coding experience is necessary; both Command Line and Block coding are available to program your LEGO Spike Prime robot. Emphasis is on learning a platform and having some summer fun! Screen time is carefully monitored and interspersed with time in our gorgeous woods and expansive athletic fields!
• June 29-July 3: Adventures in Chemistry (+$50)
  • Join us for an exciting and hands-on week at Chemistry Camp, where you’ll explore the fascinating world of chemistry through experiments, a field trip, and real-world applications. Dive into the science of matter, energy, and chemical reactions as you investigate everything from the properties of matter and atomic structure to the role of molecules in baking. You’ll conduct experiments with slime, volcanoes, and chromatography, and investigate the behavior of everyday chemicals. You’ll even visit a real chemistry lab! Learn how reactants interact, how to isolate chemicals, and how these reactions play a role in everyday life, including cooking. From building your molecules to experimenting with baking ingredients, this camp offers a fun and engaging way to understand the chemistry behind the world around us. Prepare to get your hands dirty, make cool creations, and take home a molecule you’ve built yourself at the end of the week!
• July 6-10: Introduction to Outdoor Adventure (Open to Rising 5th Years)

  • If you enjoy the outdoors and you’ve always wanted to try out camping and backpacking, this is the camp for you.  Led by experienced guides, the Intro to Outdoor Adventure program will introduce you to all of the skills and equipment you need to have a fun, enlightening, and safe outdoor experience. During the week, we will head out onto the trail to learn how to navigate a trail, use a map, and explore the outdoors.  We will have sessions on firebuilding and outdoor cooking, safety and wilderness first aid, packing and fitting your backpack, and setting up a tent. After several “shakedown” hikes, we will pack up our gear and head out onto a section of the Appalachian Trail for a two-day, one-night backpacking trip. Welcome to the adventure!

• July 13-17: Advanced Outdoor Adventure (+$50)
  
  • Welcome to a challenging week of adventuring for the experienced backpacker! During the week, we will be learning about Leave-no-Trace principles, safe and efficient backpacking practices, how to use equipment, outdoor cooking and nutrition, plus safety and wilderness first aid.  The week’s plan includes: an equipment review, backpacking basics, setting up tents, food planning, and a practice hike with map-and-compass skills. We will also take some shakedown hikes with loaded backpacks and work on firemaking, camp stoves, and outdoor cooking.  Finally, we’ll head out to the trail for our 3-day, 2-night, rugged outdoor adventure, traversing some of the most scenic sections of the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut and Massachusetts. We’ll work together as a group to make sure that everyone stays together, helps each other, and takes the time to appreciate the landscape and natural world. Campers should be reasonably fit, have some level of experience, and be enthusiastic and ready to take on a challenge.
• July 13-17: Tell Your Story (Open to Rising 5th Years)
  • Our writing immersion camp welcomes students who are keen on discovery. Through the medium of storytelling, we will embrace the memories we’ve always wanted to save, the imaginary worlds we’ve always been obsessed with, and the people we’ve always loved. Rather than sitting at desks, staring at words all day, we will become active writers. The woods will become our poetic friends. A field trip will take us to a nearby town to observe. Scenes, emotions, and characters will be reenacted to visualize our words. By the end of the week, we will learn about concrete skills such as three-act structures, character development, pacing, tone of voice, interiority, and more. Students will apply these skills to their own writing projects, heading home with a portfolio of substantial work. They should come prepared to expand their horizons on what writing does for our minds, bodies, and communities. As Virginia Woolf says, “For it would seem that we write, not with the fingers, but with the whole person.”
• July 20-24: Woodworking & Carpentry (+$50)
  • Our woodworking immersion camp is designed for students of any skill level.  The week begins with an introduction to the tools and materials of the carpenter, including different types of saws, hand and power tools, chisels, and drills. You will learn to use the tools safely and efficiently, and get some practice with a variety of tools and materials. We will explore the qualities of different types of wood, wood joints, and fastening methods.  We’ll take field trips to the shops of local woodworkers and furniture makers, and shop for materials at our favorite lumber yards. We’ll then apply our skills to a group building project for an on-campus structure.  We’ll complete our week with a personal project that you can take home.  Students should be prepared for a week with fun and challenges.  Woodworking is a valuable skill that will last you a lifetime!
• July 27-31: Be A Chef (+$75)
  • We all love making great food and exploring different cuisines. In our week-long intensive program, “Be a Chef,” students learn about the art, history, culture, and science of cooking. The course covers the nuts and bolts of the kitchen, from knife skills, to the science of how and what we taste, to food transformations. Students learn how to read a recipe and measure ingredients, as well as the fundamentals of nutrition. Most of our week will be spent working in a professional kitchen and will include visits from professional chefs and field trips to area restaurants and purveyors. Each experience will introduce different cuisines and add to our understanding of the art. In addition, we’ll explore where our food comes from with visits to local farms and markets. Students will leave with real cooking skills and an understanding not only of how to follow a recipe but of the principles behind the art.