(3/27) Spring has arrived and summer is approaching fast on its heels. Parents across Adams County will soon be scouting out quality summer activities for their children. The Adams County Arts Council’s arts-learning center, the Imagination Station, offers a host of creative options for kids who’d like to explore their inner artist. The high-quality arts camps cover many art disciplines, from poetry and visual art to musical theater. Art camps have a maximum enrollment of just 12 campers, thus ensuring lots of personal attention and fun learning opportunities. There are also classes for kids to choose from, as well.

Summer Camps.

In conjunction with the Gettysburg Festival, the Imagination Station will offer A Way with Words: The Art of Poetry Writing and Performance from June 23 through 27, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., for kids entering grades 7 through 9. This camp will combine creative thought, writing, and performance to show young poets and poets-to-be how to write poems and present them individually or collectively, giving voice to their ideas and feelings in ways that build self-esteem and self-confidence.

In Puppets, Portraits & Masks, campers aged 5 to 7 can create cool puppets while learning a little about puppetry the world over. They’ll make life-sized self-portraits and explore symmetry and asymmetry, exaggeration, and color as they create masks. This camp meets from July 7 through 11, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Kids ages 9 to 12 can take a Hands-On Art Voyage from July 7 through 11, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. In this camp kids will create artworks while "traveling" to different places and periods of time. As they "visit" India and Southeast Asia, they’ll make shadow puppets and explore Hindu epic adventure. In Ancient Egypt, they’ll create clay cartouches using hieroglyphs and their own invented symbols. In Ancient Greece, they’ll look at the architecture and get ideas for making their own picture frames.

Theater buffs ages 13 and up can learn some tricks of the trade in Musical Theater: Tricks, Tips & Techniques. Campers will learn about the audition process, prepare a monologue, and work on sight reading. They’ll also explore different styles of musical dance and singing. At the end of the camp, they’ll perform a mini-cabaret for parents. This camp, held from July 14 through 18, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., will meet at the Gettysburg Dance Center, 775 Old Harrisburg Road, Gettysburg.

Kids ages 8 to 10 can find new uses for found objects in Fabulous Found-Object Fashion, which meets July 14 through 18, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Campers will use found objects such as old fabric, recyclable material, newspapers, and magazines to create wearable art from skirts and hats to scarves and jewelry. The week will end with a found-object fashion show.

Kids ages 5 to 7 can learn new skills as they explore patterns in nature in Designing with Nature, which meets July 14 through 18, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. After a walk to observe and sketch the natural world, campers will explore basic printmaking and bookbinding techniques using specimens they’ve collected. They’ll focus on principles of design found in nature as they create their own bound sketchbooks.

In Thinking 3-D, kids ages 8 to 10 who love to build can transform their ideas in sculptures. Imaginative creatures, flying machines, and found-object paintings are just a taste of what’s to come in this camp, which meets July 21 through 25, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Kids ages 9 to 14 can explore many art media in Art Exploratorium, which meets July 28 through August 1, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Campers will create art in two- and three-dimensions as they develop new skills in drawing, painting, carving, and sculpture. They’ll create a variety of projects using pencils, charcoal, acrylics, watercolors, carving medium, and clay.

Those interested in the world of fashion can learn valuable skills in Fashion Illustration, which meets July 28 and 29, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m., and July 30, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Using both realistic and stylistic approaches, kids ages 10 to 17 can practice drawing the fashion figure from live models and magazine images while exploring figure proportion, pose, fabric structure, and garment detail.

Classes for Kids:

For kids grades K-3, the Imagination Station is also offering a special Saturday class, Music in the Garden." This 2-hour class will be held on two different Saturdays, June 21 and June 28, from 9-11 a.m. Instructor Anthony Messano will lead this introductory music and art class which combines simple children’s songs with images and drawings the children create.

Potter Jack Handshaw will also be teaching his popular Porcelain Hand-building for Kids & Adults, where kids ages 7 and up paired with an adult will learn basic hand-building techniques. During the first three classes students will conduct pieces using high-fired porcelain and, in the last class, they will glaze them in a glass kiln. This class will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 17-25 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. at Handshaw's studio near Fairfield. This is a great parent-child team class.

Instructor Lori Nelson will conduct a Clay Sculpture class for children ages 10 up (younger children welcome with parent or guardian) on Thursdays, July 10 and 17 from 6-9 p.m. (final class time to be arranged). Students will create one large sculpture (a castle) or two smaller pieces (animals, flowers, etc) from stoneware. Final class will be held at the instructor's studio to glaze the pieces. This is also a great class for a parent-child team.

Unless otherwise noted, camps and classes will meet in Imagination Station’s arts-learning space, located at 18 Carlisle Street, Gettysburg, across from the Majestic Theater.

To register or for more information, call the arts council at (717) 334-5006 or visit www.adamsarts.org.