Our Specialist Day Camps
Our camps are structured by Vanessa McSween. A Design, Technology and Engineering specialist, with over 27 years of experience of teaching children of all ages and a wide range of subjects. She believes strongly in hands on, engaging learning and is passionate about the importance of STEM in preparing our young people for life in a modern and developing world.
We have a friendly team of teachers and assistants who know that to get the best out of the children, they have to be happy, safe and confident to have a go, even if things do not go according to plan the first or tenth time. Pastoral care is important to us and parents choose to come to us because of this.
In addition to our dedicated teaching staff, we have a huge number of young people who are passionate about STEM Den. They have loved coming to classes when they were younger and now want to share their expertise by supporting our classes as volunteers. We are hugely grateful for the time, inspiration and confidence they give as they support us.
We are Ofsted registered and were last inspected in December 2023. All our staff are DBS checked. We comply fully to standards for First Aid Training. All our staff are safeguarding trained.
To place a booking CLICK HERE
St John's School, Potter Street Hill, Pinner, HA5 3ZF
Please note: Two week's notice is required for a refund for cancellation.
If you are a STEM Den 'regular' and have completed the activity already on offer on the day you would like to attend, then please do email us, as quite often we can tailor the program to accomodate your specific needs. If you are building a portfolio for a STEM or DT&E scholarship at a Senior School this could be you!
October Half Term 2025
Monday 20th October - Delightful Diwali
Come celebrate the Festival of Lights with a day of STEM and culture! Our special Diwali workshop is a unique opportunity to explore science, technology, and art in a hands-on and festive way.
Build a Framework Lantern: Dive into the world of engineering by designing and constructing your own framework lantern. You'll learn the secrets behind what makes these structures incredibly strong.
Craft a Clay Diya: Get your hands dirty as you mold and decorate your very own traditional clay diya (oil lamp), a symbol of light and good fortune.
Code a Rangoli Design: Discover how technology can be used to create art! We'll use basic coding to design beautiful and complex rangoli patterns, just like those made to welcome the goddess Lakshmi and bring prosperity.
Join us for a day of dazzling designs and dynamic discovery!
Tuesday 21st October - Shadow Puppet Theatre
Get ready to step into the spotlight and unleash your creativity! We're building a collaborative shadow puppet theatre from the ground up.
Collaborate and Create: Work in teams to design, build, and decorate your very own shadow puppets and theatre stage. It’s all about teamwork and bringing a story to life!
Lights, Camera, Action!: We'll explore the science behind light and shadows. You'll learn how light travels in straight lines and how shadows are formed when an object blocks that light. Then, you'll put your knowledge into practice as you choreograph and perform a show. Finally, we’ll use iPads to film and direct your very own production, complete with sound effects.
Showcase Your Story: At the end of the day, we’ll have a mini film festival to showcase your creations!
Join us for a day of teamwork, storytelling, and movie magic!
Wednesday 22nd October - Spooktacular STEM
Ready for a spooktacular STEM adventure? Day Three of our camp is all about ghoulish delights and awesome science!
Here’s what you can expect:
Spooky Carving: Get into the Halloween spirit by designing and carving your own pumpkin to take home.
Creepy Crafts: Learn the art of paper and card folding to create ghoulish monsters and eerie decorations.
Program a Haunted House: Become a ‘Mad Engineer’ and learn the basics of Crumble programming! You'll use this fun and simple coding to build a spooky house, complete with flickering lights and eerie effects.
Join us for a day of creative chills and STEM thrills!
Thursday 23rd October - Mechanical Marvels!
Get ready to become a master inventor on day four of our STEM Den camp! We're diving into the fascinating world of mechanisms and moving machines. You'll explore the engineering principles behind how simple machines work and how they create motion.
Here’s what you can expect:
Learn about Crankshafts: Discover how a crankshaft works and the science behind how it turns rotational motion into the up-and-down motion that powers many machines.
Build a Moving Automata: Design and construct your very own moving automata, a mechanical toy that comes to life with a turn of a handle!
Take Home Your Masterpiece: You'll leave camp with a working, hand-built automaton to show off to your friends and family.
It's a day of hands-on engineering and creative construction you won't want to miss!
Friday 24th October - Time flies when you’re having fun
Join us for the final day of STEM adventures! We'll start by becoming master clockmakers, designing and building our very own wooden clocks to take home. We'll cut, drill, and paint the wood before adding a working clock mechanism.
Then, we'll dive into the physics of motion with the Longest Marble Run Challenge. The goal? To use friction and gravity to create a track that makes a marble travel as slowly as possible.
It's a day of creative construction and hands-on engineering you won't want to miss!
CLASS AGE RESTRICTIONS - Please do not be offended if your child can not attend a class because they are not old enough... yet! We want the children to be safe, sometimes the activities are only suitable for older children. We are not insured for children under the age of 5 years. We want the children to be successful as well as independent. There are classes aimed for 5 & 6 year olds every day. These classes have teachers with experience of KS1, more helpers, the right height of furniture, shorter activities which change more frequently and break out activities such as Lego, painting and train tracks. We hope you understand.WAITING LISTS - In the case that we are fully booked you can ask to be placed on a waiting list.
Please email: stemdennorthwood@gmail.com
In the subject heading put your child's surname and the week number you are looking for. In the body of the email please specify the dates you are looking for, as well as your child's full name. You will be emailed from this address if a place becomes available, make sure our mail does not end up in the junk.
USING TOOLS - One of the reasons STEM Den is so special is that we teach children to use tools to help them build, innovate and problem solve. The tools we use can cause injury if used incorrectly. All of our children are taught to use the equpiment safely and they are supervised when using the tools. Children are expected to behave appropriately when using tools. Parents/guardians who take up a place at STEM Den understand and agree to their children using the tools and equipment for each activity. There are risks involved, which are outweighed by the many benefits. If you have any concerns, please talk to us.
For further information please read our terms and conditions.
What are the Science Crest Awards all about?
Plan, carry out and evaluate your own STEM based investigations to achieve a Nationally Recognized Award. Children aged between 5 and 10 will need 8 investigations all stamped off in their book, Children aged 10 and above take an all day challenge. Click here to find out more.
VEX robotics kits will be available every day on request, depending on availability. There are two different levels of kit depending on age and experience. We have VEX GO and VEX IQ. For our younger students from Rec to Year 3 we have VEX 123 or Educational Lego kits are ideal to start the journey of programming. For our youngest students aged 5 to 7 we suggest this is taught in small bitesize chunks around half an hour long.
Click the link to find out more.
Our LEGO, SPHERO BOLT, CRUMBLE and VEX kits are to be used within the camp only and cannot be taken home. You might like to buy a CRUMBLE kit. They are available from Redfern electronics to purchase for around £32 and can be used for hundreds of other project ideas. Software for this is a free download. For more details click here.)
Email if you have a topic you'd like to explore: stemdennorthwood@gmail.com
We may make changes to our program from time to time without notice but do our best to stick to the plan as much as possible. Adaptive teaching allows us to tailor the sessions to accomodate the children being taught.
Please do not be surprised if our advertised plan of action changes its course.
