The Sun Camp Kit

Overview

To address equity with this STEM program, we decided to make camp supply kits for families and groups who need them. I felt it was important to ensure that those who may not have the money for supplies or who did not have easy access to hardware or crafts stores would be able to participate. I wanted to make sure as many folks as possible could have access to the hands-on activities as possible. This was part of the reason we made the activities asynchronous, rather than doing the activities as part of a scheduled Zoom session. We wanted to maximize the opportunity to create.

Based on the overall budget, I decided to prepare 100 kits for families and 25 kits for clubs or organizations. The club kits were designed to be used with 24-30 students. This meant that the cost of family kits needed to be under $25 (including the box, etc.) and $100 for the club kits. I also needed to account for shipping and tax.

Once the program summary was set, I was able to develop what materials would be needed for each kit. I focused on the materials that were either somewhat expensive (like magnets) or that were challenging to get (like UV-sensitive beads). We did not plan to supply extremely common items (like cardboard) or optional items. Due to budget constraints, I was also unable to include tools like scissors.

I created spreadsheets to plan supplies. I started with a sheet for families and one for groups, as they needed different amounts of materials. I then checked companies like Discount School Supplies, Oriental Trading Company, S&S Worldwide, Staples, Uline, and Dollar Tree. Once I knew the number of materials I needed for each kit, I combined the total needed for both family and club kits and broke it down based on the amount you could buy in bulk. The details are shown in the spreadsheet below.

Because we have a limited budget and supplies we asked questions at registration so that we could prioritize families and groups who need them most.

Budget

Kit Insert

I created a kit insert to help guide participants as they planned for Sun Camp. The insert lists the topics for each week, the materials needed, and the times and dates of live Q&As. It also provides a QR code to link back to the Sun Camp website where all the information will be linked and archived.