Best Summer Program & Best Learning Center In Queens
2023, 2024 & 2025
Camp Dates & Themes
Origami Engineers: Geometry in Motion
Code Creators: From Morse to QR
Illusions & Insight: Optical Illusions, Brain Science, and Visual Engineering
Pipes & Pulse: How Fluids Keep Worlds Alive
Off-World Engineers: Building Life Beyond Earth
Crucial skill development
Students will also strengthen their critical thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration skills as they work through each challenge.
Critical ELA & Math skills
We build on that curiosity through hands-on learning, all while continuing to enhance their reading, writing, & math skills.
Prevent Summer Brain Drain!
Keep your child engaged and practicing essential skills with our best STEAM Summer Camp yet!
Full STEAM Immersion
Highly qualified and engaging instructors
Fun in the Sun!
Brain Breaks
Pizza Fridays: A Slice of Fun!
Early drop-off and late pick-up
For your convenience, early drop-off will be available as early as 7:00 am, and late pick-up will be available as late as 6:00 pm for an additional fee.
Weekly Themes
Origami Engineers Geometry in Motion
Turn flat paper into moving creations, surprising structures, and math you can hold in your hands.
Dates
June 29h - July 2nd
Grades
3rd - 8th
Time
9 am - 4 pm
Capacity
14 - 16 campers
Camp Overview
In this first week of camp, campers will discover how something as simple as a single sheet of paper can become a powerful STEAM tool. Through origami folding, flipping, and transforming, they’ll see how this centuries-old art is really engineering in disguise where precision, creativity, and math all work together. From simple folds to striking designs, they’ll watch a flat surface turn into something completely unexpected.
Camp Details
The Role of Geometry & Design
Behind every impressive origami model is a hidden world of angles, lines, and symmetry. Campers will explore how shapes shift as they fold, how patterns build on one another, and how geometry quietly governs each transformation. With every new challenge, they’ll start to recognize the structure and logic hiding inside their creations.
Fold, Flip & Transform
Throughout the week, campers will move from quick, satisfying builds to more intricate, multi-step origami creations. They’ll read and interpret visual instructions, anticipate what each fold will do, and refine their technique as models become more complex. The result is a week that feels part puzzle, part art, and part engineering studio.
Hands-On Engineering in Paper
Using nothing more than origami paper and precise folds, campers will experiment with forms that stand, shapes that move, and designs that fit together in surprising ways. Each project invites them to plan, adjust, and problem-solve as they work toward a finished piece that’s both precise and uniquely their own.
Beyond the Fold
To bring everything full circle, campers will explore how origami and folding have inspired real innovations—from compact everyday objects to cutting-edge engineering and design solutions. By the end of the week, they’ll leave with a collection of their own origami creations and a new appreciation for what’s possible with just paper, imagination, and a sharp mind.
Pricing
Until January 31st
$599
Free Registration1 camp shirt included
Until March 31st
$675
+ Registration Fee ($59)
After March 31st
$750
+ Registration Fee ($59)
Code Creators: From Morse to QR
From dots and dashes to data-packed designs, decode the past and engineer the future.
Dates
July 6th - July 10th
Grades
3rd - 8th
Time
9 am - 4 pm
Capacity
14 - 16 campers
Camp Overview
From dots and dashes to blocky black-and-white patterns, this week is all about sending messages in unexpected ways. Campers will explore how we communicate without words—across time, space, and even silence. Whether it's blinking, beeping, tapping, or scanning, they’ll unlock the science behind codes and the systems that make them work.
Camp Details
The Role of Communication Systems
Campers will uncover how humans have used technology—from the earliest telegraphs to today's QR codes—to transmit information through sound, light, and patterns. Along the way, they’ll see how simple rules and structures can turn into something powerful.
Morse, Binary & Beyond
What do Morse code and QR codes have in common? More than you'd think. Campers will explore the logic behind these systems, experiment with creating their own, and push the limits of what a message can be.
Hands-On Engineering & Experimentation
This week’s builds are bold, brainy, and just a little bit mysterious. Campers will turn everyday materials into tools for communication—and put their creations to the test. From signal strength to scan success, they’ll tinker, troubleshoot, and iterate to make sure their message comes through loud and clear.
Pricing
Until January 31st
$699
Free Registration1 camp shirt included
Until March 31st
$799
+ Registration Fee ($59)
After March 31st
$899
+ Registration Fee ($59)
Pipes & Pulse: How Fluids Keep Worlds Alive
From beating hearts to buried pipes, exploring the networks that keep everything flowing.
Dates
July 20th - July 24th
Grades
3rd - 8th
Time
9 am - 4 pm
Capacity
14 - 16 campers
Camp Overview
This week, campers investigate two very different—but surprisingly similar—worlds: the circulatory system inside the human body and the pipe networks that run beneath our cities. Through targeted models, comparisons, and problem-solving challenges, they’ll explore how fluids move, how blockages create issues, and why thoughtful design matters. By the end of the week, hearts, blood vessels, and city pipes start to look like variations of the same big idea: systems built to keep things moving.
Camp Details
Pressure, Pumps & “Traffic Jams”
What happens when pressure builds, drops, or flow is interrupted? Students will explore how pumps, valves, and branching pathways influence direction, speed, and efficiency. They’ll see how narrow passages, sudden blockages, or poorly planned routes can create “traffic jams” that impact an entire network—whether it’s inside a body or under a street.
Designing Effective Networks
Throughout the week, campers will work with simplified circulation and pipe layouts, adjusting pathways, connections, and routes to improve performance. They’ll test how well their networks deliver flow, identify weak points, and iterate on their designs. Each challenge pushes them to think about cause and effect—how a single change in one part of a system can ripple through the rest.
Networks Everywhere
To bring everything together, campers will look for similar patterns in other systems—plant vessels, transportation routes, even certain digital networks. They’ll leave with a deeper appreciation for the hidden structures that keep both bodies and cities functioning, and for the science and engineering behind every smooth, reliable flow.
The Role of Flow & Pathways
Campers will examine how blood travels through arteries, veins, and capillaries alongside how water and waste move through supply lines, drains, and sewers. They’ll consider starting points, endpoints, and all the branches in between, recognizing shared patterns in both biology and infrastructure. It’s a concrete introduction to systems thinking across science and engineering.
Pricing
Until January 31st
$699
Free Registration1 camp shirt included
Until March 31st
$799
+ Registration Fee ($59)
After March 31st
$899
+ Registration Fee ($59)
Off-World Engineers: Building Life Beyond Earth
Survive the mission. Design the systems. Own the choices.
Dates
July 27th - July 31th
Grades
3rd - 8th
Time
9 am - 4 pm
Capacity
14 - 16 campers
Camp Overview
What if you couldn’t open a window, step outside for fresh air, or call for quick help from Earth? This week, campers become off-world engineers, tasked with designing what it actually takes to live somewhere else in the solar system. Through hands-on models, scenarios, and design challenges, they’ll plan bases for the Moon, Mars, or orbit—thinking through air, water, food, power, and protection as one connected system. It’s part space science, part engineering studio, and part “what would you do?” simulation.
Camp Details
Life Support with No Safety Net
Campers will explore what makes off-world environments so unforgiving: thin or nonexistent atmospheres, intense radiation, extreme temperatures, and no quick resupply. They’ll think through how a habitat creates and protects the basics—air, water, pressure, power—and what kinds of backup systems are worth the space and weight. Each activity asks them to balance risk, resources, and reliability the way real mission teams do.
Mission Decisions Under Pressure
Off-world, every choice has consequences. Campers will step into simulated mission roles and work through “what now?” moments: a failing system, a delayed supply ship, a damaged module, or an unexpected spike in demand. They’ll decide what to fix first, what to ration, and which risks are acceptable—learning how crews prioritize when they can’t solve everything at once.
Nothing Works in Isolation
Rather than treating air, water, power, and crew routines as separate checklists, campers will be pushed to see them as parts of one larger system. If they reroute power here, what goes offline there? If they change how water is used, what does that mean for food or sanitation? Throughout the week, they’ll practice tracing cause-and-effect through a complex setup and adjusting plans when a single change ripples outward.
Taking Mission Mindsets Back to Earth
By the end of the week, campers won’t just have imagined life on the Moon or Mars—they’ll have spent days thinking like systems engineers and mission planners. They’ll walk away with stronger habits of anticipating problems, weighing tradeoffs, building in backups, and explaining their reasoning—skills that matter whether the challenge is keeping a crew alive in deep space or tackling complex problems here on Earth.
Pricing
Until January 31st
$699
Free Registration1 camp shirt included
Until March 31st
$799
+ Registration Fee ($59)
After March 31st
$899
+ Registration Fee ($59)
Environmental Chemistry:Build a Greener Future
Embark on a week-long journey to discover how chemistry can help protect our planet. This eco-focused STEAM camp is perfect for aspiring scientists and nature lovers who want to make a difference.
Course Details
From analyzing water quality to creating eco-friendly solutions, campers will learn practical ways to tackle environmental challenges and promote sustainability.
Testing the Earth
Investigate the health of our environment by testing water quality, analyzing soil pH, and exploring how these factors affect ecosystems.
Eco-Friendly Creations
Create biodegradable cleaners and natural compost piles while learning about pollution reduction and sustainable practices.
Renewable Energy Exploration
Discover how renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and biomass can power the future while reducing our carbon footprint.
Sustainability Superstars
Campers will brainstorm, design, and present their innovative ideas for eco-friendly solutions, leaving the week empowered to make real-world impacts.
Grades
3rd - 8th
Time
9 am - 4 pm
Capacity
14 - 16 campers
Until January 31st
$799
+ Free Registration
Until March 31st
$899
+ Registration Fee ($59)
After March 31st
$999
+ Registration Fee ($59)
Frequently Asked Questions
Here at Tip-Top we’ve had a rigorous cleaning regimen for years. At the end of each camp day, all surfaces (e.g. tables, chairs, etc.) are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. No less, throughout the course of the day we disinfect high-touch surfaces like doorknobs and bathroom facilities. At midday, while campers are enjoying play time in the park, an abbreviated cleaning is performed in our classrooms.
In years past we’ve hosted summer camps virtually, as fun as these were, the families at Tip-Top Brain were itching to attend STEAM Summer Camp in-person again.
Our Summer Camp day starts at 9:00am, however, parents can reach out to arrange drop-offs closer to 8:00am or as early as 7:00am.
Between 9:00am and 12:00pm, campers receive instruction from our top-notch instructors in ELA and math through our state-of-the-art curriculum.
Once noon hits, our campers take a much-needed 30 minute break for lunch. Following lunch is 1 hour of outdoor play in our local park equipped with bocce courts and basketball courts, as well as your standard fun playground equipment (e.g. jungle gyms, swings.)
Following lunch, we dive into everybody’s favorite part of the day: our STEAM-themed activities. In years past, this has looked like designing and printing 3D robots, or creating origami DNA molecules. This constitutes the rest of our camp day, which concludes at 4:00pm.
No different than the start of the day, for parents needing to pick up their child(ren) later, we have accommodations available.
Campers participate in a myriad of fun activities throughout their camp day. May include, but not limited to:
- Bocce, Basketball, Hopscotch
- Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing
- Guest Speakers from Leaders in their Fields
- Creative Interdisciplinary Themed-Projects
There are only two “groups” at camp so to speak, kids entering K-2nd grade and kids entering 3rd-8th grade. This is the primary distinction between our campers, matter of fact, these students go through their camp day on entirely different floors! Otherwise, these groups of no more than 12-14 students are attended to by at least two instructors at a time (a very low student-teacher ratio!.)
Our educators are the best and the brightest Queens has to offer, as candidates go through an extensive interviewing process to ensure they not only “know they’re stuff” so to speak but also to ensure they are personable and effective teachers. While working here at Tip-Top we continue to invest in our tutors so they can be the best instructors possible. For more on our instructors, check out their biographies here.
Safety is a top priority to us at tip top brain. Upon a visit you might notice the front door is locked. Ourania, the center director, will buzz you in once verifying your identity through cameras positioned in the front of our facility, where the only entrance is located.
The deadline to register for our 2025 Summer Camp is Saturday, June 14th. However, we suggest you enroll your child ASAP, as seats fill quickly.
Yes! Parents can save $50 when they enroll two camps, and $75 when enrolling in three camps, and $100 when enrolling in all four camps.
Yes, we do have a payment plan available. For more details, contact Ourania, our center director via [email protected] or (718) 440-3541.
Yes! So long as you provide written permission for your child to walk home at the end of camp each day, they are more than welcome to! Quite a few parents of our teen and “tween” campers utilize this option.
For the most part, campers cannot use their phones during camp. We understand some campers may need to bring their phone to camp. In this case, their cellphone must stay stowed in their backpack for the duration of the day. Yes, that includes lunch and recess. There are a bunch of awesome benefits to putting down your cellphone for a bit, especially for kids.
As you can imagine, we are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or damaged cell phones, and we do suggest keeping them at home.
Yes! However, no different than cell phones, we are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or damaged toys. Of course, we’ll likely ask your child to keep their toy(s) in their backpack for the majority of the camp day. Our students are welcome to bring these toys out during recess.