Camp Invention

By Staff
Activities designed to get creative juices flowing
Clif Knight, Hartselle Enquirer
Inventions ranging from a robot with the ability to recover lost socks to a poison spray that was meant to keep household pets away from homework are among the handmade creations that emerged from the drawing boards at Danville-Neel Elementary School last week.
And, that's not all. The 38-second through sixth graders who participated wrote a movie script complete with special effects, created a mind-boggling species of giant-sized bugs and took apart machines they brought from home.
The camp focused on four main subjects: What's Bugging You! Movie Magic, Take It Apart and The Case of the Disappearing Homework.
To keep homework from disappearing, campers were challenged to discover answers. Ashley Schumaker said a poison spray she discovered will do the trick. "It makes the homework smell so bad a dog won't touch it but it doesn't have any ill effect on humans."
"This is our second year and it was so much fun," said Jennifer Whitley, camp director. "I had one mom tell me her kids look forward to three things: birthdays, Christmas and Camp Invention."
Four teachers assisted Whitley with the camp. They were Holly Powell, Kelly Meadows, McKenzie Henderson and Tiffany Wells.
Area schools represented at the Camp were Danville-Neel Elementary and Middle Schools, Crestline, F.E. Burleson and Barkley Bridge Elementary Schools in Hartselle and Decatur Heritage. Laura Miller of Petersham, Mass. took time out from a vacation with relatives to attend the camp.
The students were asked to tell what they liked best about the camp. Here's what some of them had to say:
"My favorite part was going to Mrs. Meadows room and working on "The Case of the Disappearing Homework."-Ashley B.
"I liked taking apart and making things. If I can make money, I want to come back next year,"-Brad G.
"I liked getting to make new friends and make stuff."-Kaleb G.
"What's Bugging You? was my favorite," said Jessilee J. "It's cool because the bugs we made are bigger than real ones. I got mine to stand up."
"I liked everything."-Brittany B.