IDEAS Xpedition Camp at Columbus School For Girls
Offers Boys and Girls an Exciting New Theme Each Week of the Summer
An All Inclusive Experience!
Daily Swimming, Extended Care and Snack are all included in the weekly tuition.
The Only Camp In The Midwest With ExerGames
Campers Cannot Get Enough Of The Most Popular Game Around. Where Tech Meets Sports!
IDEAS’Xpedition Camp will sell out each week.
Register today to secure your reservation. To preserve an incredible experience, certain to exceed the expectations of both parents and campers, this camp will sell out. Low Ratio. Daily swimming. Campers separated into grade appropriate groups. Safety is our priority – always!
Why Attend IDEAS Xpedition Camp?
Led by experienced adults who work in education, children enjoy a safe, nurturing and fun summer camp environment. IDEAS Xpedition Camp offers stimulating and traditional weekly themes, complemented with an abundance of varied daily activities and traditions. Review the themes below and register today. Perfect for kids who are either experiencing camp for the first time or returning from a fun experience last summer.
2025 Date and Themes For IDEAS Xpedition Camp
JUNE 9: Amazing Flying Objects
Campers, you are cleared for take-off! From homemade Frisbees to drones, this camp explores the science of flight. Campers will work together in teams to design and launch their very own incredible flying object. Design a kite, fly a drone, discover Air Bowling, and join us for The Ultimate Airplane Challenge.
JUNE 16: IDEAS Perfect! 2.0*
Dude! It’s IDEAS Camps Perfect! Xpedition campers will take trick shots to the outer limits in a week of trick inventions and battles. Who can hit a moving target from the farthest distance or land the most challenging water bottle flip in IDEAS Camps history? Now do it again, but behind your back or dizzy. As campers up the stakes of their daily trick shots they will create, film, and edit their own reel of ultimate wins and hilarious fails. As a finale, campers will host a live IDEAS Camps Perfect Ultimate Showdown for the whole camp, challenging counselors to compete in the same tricks they’ve been practicing all week.
*No Camp on Thursday, June 19 in recognition of the Juneteenth Holiday. Tuition will be prorated accordingly.
JUNE 23: Ultimate Escape Room Challenge
Do you and your team have what it takes to break out in time? Work together to find clues and solve puzzles in this ultimate team challenge experience as you race against the clock to unlock IDEAS camp’s top secret Escape Room. Then, in small groups, set up your own escape room challenge, complete with DIY props and a unique narrative to put your opposing teams’ wits to the test. Ready, set, ESCAPE!
JUNE 30: Video Production for YouTube *
YouTube is a place to bring your innovative visions to life. Explore vlogging, tutorial production, and capturing the greatness that is all around you. Learn to storyboard, create characters, stage exciting events, and gain followers in this one-of-a-kind summer camp experience. Don’t forget to SMASH that Like button, subscribe, and register for Video Production for YouTube!
*No Camp on Friday, July 4 in recognition of the Independence Day Holiday. Tuition will be prorated accordingly.
JULY 7: Stop Motion Animation
A whirlwind of costumes, props, claymation, and fun, campers will plan, shoot, and edit their own stop motion animation movie. Campers will be provided with boxes of materials that they can use to create their very own film. IDEAS animators will go through the entire process of stop motion in small groups chosen by campers based on their interests. At the end of the week, the animators will present their Stop Motion Animation Films to the entire camp. Let’s start, stop motion!
JULY 14: CSI Investigators
Elementary my dear, IDEAS Campers! Step into the shoes of a crime scene investigator at IDEAS Summer Camp. Working together as a crime scene unit, campers will take photographs, gather evidence, and search for clues. This hands-on camp will inspire your young investigator to work as a team, use critical thinking skills, and solve the mystery. Remember, crime scenes can get messy, so wear comfortable clothes that can get dirty!
JULY 21: Crazy Chemical Reactions
How do you know a chemical change has occurred? Each day campers enter the IDEAS Camps Laboratory, they will investigate one of the five ways chemical reactions can be observed: vaporization (production of gas), precipitation (creation of a solid), change in color, change in temperature, and change in properties. Exciting experiments combined with fun science-themed games like Molecule Capture the Flag and a periodic table scavenger hunt will make for a wild week!
JULY 28: League of Extraordinary Campers
Join the League of Extraordinary Campers! This unique first-time offering allows our eldest campers to leave their mark on the rich culture that has become IDEAS Summer Camps. Provided with the opportunity to sit on the IDEAS Camper Council, campers will work together with camp leaders to make decisions and help choose next year’s camp offerings. Campers will experience a week packed with opportunities to lead as they bring new songs, skits, and games to morning and afternoon meetings, as well as host camp competitions that happen daily. Campers will take home a custom T-shirt, identifying them as an official member of the League of Extraordinary Campers!
IDEAS Xpedition Camp Weekly Activities Include
Camp activities are approximately 30-minutes long and are intended to provide campers with a fun and educational opportunity to experiment with a variety of unique and innovative “minor” programs. Please check the camp schedule for the activities being offered each week.
GaGa and Backyard Sports
Traditional indoor and outdoor sports including: GaGa, Soccer, Volleyball, Beach Games, Cornhole.
Interactive Play-Fitness Games
Get your body moving and your steps in as campers experience the Camp Rock Wall, Ninja Obstacle Course, Relay Races, Scavenger Hunts, and more.
Innovation Lab
Design, create, and innovate through exploration and discovery. Campers will be challenged to use their critical thinking skills.
Engineering, Architecture, Design
Get ready to extract the thrills from the video screen and reconstruct the gaming experience directly into a live setting (without the video screen!). Teams attempt to outwit and out-maneuver one another to score points during friendly competition.
Technology Visual Arts
Utilize traditional technology and robots to design, paint, and create visual arts.
Escape-a-Thon
It’s time to pick locks, “Escape” the room, navigate 3D puzzles, solve Tangrams & Riddles, experience ultimate Scavenger Hunts, and decode Cyphers.
Create-a-Game or Sport
Endless fun! Create and play your own Minute-To-Win-It, Marble Olympics, or Dude Perfect game. Challenge your friends.
Digital Media
From the green screen to YouTube productions. Campers enjoy a wide array of technology and cartoon animation.
Daily Swimming
Summer is hot so we like to cool down daily with Open Swim & Swim Games led by Red Cross Certified Lifeguards and Swim Instructors.
A Typical Day At IDEAS Xpedition Camp
Complimentary Morning Extended Care
(7:30am to 8:45am – included and free)
Normal Camp Hours
(8:45am to 9am)
Each Day Begins With:
Morning Meeting & Counselor Challenge Games
ACTIVITY 1
Morning Activity 1
ACTIVITY 2
Morning Activity 2
COMPLIMENTARY SNACK
(Before 10:30am – included and free)
ACTIVITY 3
Morning Activity 3
ACTIVITY 4
Outdoor Backyard Sports or Indoor Interactive Games
LUNCH
Campers Bring Their Own Lunch
All of the above is an example of a daily schedule. Activity times and programs change week-to-week.
ACTIVITY 5
Afternoon Activity: Activity 5
ACTIVITY 6
Afternoon Activity: Activity 6
ACTIVITY 7
Afternoon Activity: Activity 7
ACTIVITY 8
GaGa, Create-a-Game & Sport, or Water Sports
Each Day Concludes With:
Afternoon Meeting & Counselor Quest Challenge
All of the above is an example of a daily schedule. Activity times and programs change week-to-week.
Normal Camp Hours Pick-Up
(2:55pm to 3:15pm)
Complimentary Afternoon Extended Care
(3:15pm to 5:30pm – included and free)
About Xpedition Camp
IDEAS Xpedition campers enjoy an all-in-one camp experience, exposing boys and girls to enjoy a variety of innovative and hands-on programs. This one-of-a-kind summer camp strikes the perfect balance between the participation in a focused weekly activity, interactive play, swimming, daily sports and games, and a variety of multiple creative and innovative complementary activities. Some examples of Xpedition theme-weeks include: Fish Tank Entrepreneurship, Crazy Chemical Reactions, Imaginarium, Ultimate Escape Room Challenge and so much more.
At Xpedition Camp, we challenge campers to expand their interests while encouraging them to open their creative minds. We emphasize individual skills, basic fundamentals and techniques, and overall well-being in a positive, safe and fun learning environment—all while developing character and self-confidence.
Each week offers boys and girls a new weekly camp theme, providing them with interactions, experiences and stories which will become the focus of attention during both the ride home and at the dinner table.
Activities & Philosophy
IDEAS Xpedition campers will flourish with a healthy balance between daily hands-on projects and interactive high-energy daily activities that include both indoor and outdoor activity and play. Parents, you will not have to worry about your Xpedition campers sleeping well in the evening as they fall asleep dreaming about the next camp day’s fun-filled, interactive, and action-packed camp day! Daily indoor and outdoor activity and play are extremely important for all campers attending IDEAS Xpedition Camp and there will be no shortage each day with a lineup and variety of both timely and timeless kid’s games and activities.
We believe there is a direct correlation between the movement of the body and an enhanced capacity for the developing mind to innovate and create. Therefore, each day all IDEAS Xpedition campers participate in a variety of play, from the enjoyment of traditional sports and games to IDEAS’ interactive playground activities that use lights, sounds and video to transform our multi-purpose rooms and gyms into engaging, immersive video games. All activities and games are team-based and challenge campers to either beat the clock or engage in friendly competition.
Our Leadership
Rest assured parents, because we are obsessed with the details of sourcing, hiring, and training excellent instructors and counselors to work at IDEAS Camp. Since 1997, our company has a wealth of incredible experience sourcing, hiring and training well-qualified professionals to lead your children, who are entrusted under our supervision and care, each and every day.
All IDEAS Xpedition campers are led by experienced and creative adults who have extensive experience working in education and/or working in a camp setting. Each IDEAS instructor who works with your son or daughter is fully vetted and has passed local and nationwide criminal background checks, in-depth reference checks, and a behavioral personality test – all to ensure that our company core values are upheld and our expectations are fully met each and every camp day.
Moreover, we have a dedicated team at IDEAS Winter Headquarters who work year-round to ensure each camp team member is a proper fit and represents our high level of standards including: safety, experience, courtesy, respect, professionalism, flexibility, and enjoyment. Our entire team of full time and seasonal professionals is filled with persons who lead-by-example, put others before themselves, serve as mentors and friends, and lastly celebrate your camper’s effort over results.
Our Training
IDEAS dedicated full-time Talent Acquisition team works year-round at IDEAS’ Winter Headquarters, all of whom have children of their own and obsessed with the execution of a proven and extensive professional hiring process. Moreover, we work throughout the year to develop an immersive multi-day, 30+ hour training experience which includes teachings, materials, professional development, and lessons presented: online, during webinars, in-person and on-the-job.
Our Other IDEAS Camp Programs
Our Reviews
“I wanted to let you and your instructors know that my three boys had the time of their life this past week. It’s Friday night and they are all asleep and it is only 8 pm. Every day they came home and told me what they had learned and shared all of the fun activities you provided them. This is our third week attending IDEAS Camps and your weekly themes are so diverse we will most likely sign up for a few more weeks towards the end of the summer. Keep up the great work guys. You have a special formula.”
Todd M.
Marisa W.
“My four kids attended your camps this summer. You may remember us/them (and our crazy dog during drop off) and our ridiculously messy car. I am writing to apologize about the chaos we brought to carpool every day, but more importantly, I am writing to let you know how much all of us appreciate your helpful counselors and friendly environment. My kids not only learned about technology, but they also made new friends. Lastly, Michael and Tom have already mentioned they want to go to a STEM college! How funny…especially since they are still in middle school.”