Kids Day Camps
Registration for 2026 is now OPEN!
Train & Steam Themed Day Camps at Auburn Heights
Does your child ages 10-15 like playing with trains? Have them come play with ours this summer!
These immersive camps are limited to just 10 participants, ensuring each camper gets hands-on time in every activity. Spots fill up fast—don’t miss your chance to let your child have a memorable experience!
Step into the boots of a train engineer for a day at our Train Engineer Express one-day camp! Designed for youth ages 10-15, this hands-on experience brings railroading to life as campers take on real tasks of a locomotive crew.
Highlights include:
- Handling authentic vintage train tools, including trying to drive railroad spikes and lifting railroad ties
- Playing interactive games to master engineer responsibilities such as learning train signals and wheel configurations
- Finally, getting to drive our 1/8-scale diesel locomotive around the property!
Model Railroading – One-Day Camp experiences
Intro to Model Railroading: Tuesday, July 21
Perfect for beginners! This one-day camp introduces youth ages 10-15 to the exciting world of model railroading. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your layout, this immersive experience provides easy and affordable tips to build and maintain your own model railroad.
Highlights include:
- Building a scenic diorama to use in a current (or future) layout
- Learning modeling basics, such as constructing mountains, rocks, trees and buildings
- Getting hands-on laying track and assembling HO and O gauge layouts. Discover how track and scenery come together to bring layouts to life
- Finally, having plenty of time to run model trains!
Advanced Model Railroading: Wednesday, July 22
Campers do NOT need to have participated in the Intro to Model Railroading camp to sign-up.
For model railroad enthusiasts who have some experience or have completed our Intro to Model Railroading camp, this advanced session is designed to level up skills with more technical and creative model railroading techniques. By the end of the day, campers will have a deeper understanding of additional techniques and hands-on experiences to apply to their own layouts
Highlights include:
- Constructing realistic backgrounds that bring your layout (or your previously constructed diorama) to life
- Performing basic car maintenance such as cleaning, troubleshooting and replacing couplers & wheels
- Learning how to read and follow track plans to construct an HO or O scale layout
- Getting hands-on instruction in Digital Command Control (DCC) to customize train operations.
- Finally, having plenty of time to run model trains!
How to be a STEAM-punk – One-Day Camp experience
(Wednesday, June 24)
How to Be a STEAM-punk is a one-day immersive camp that invites young innovators (10-15) to explore where Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) collide with creativity and invention. Inspired by the age of steam and the spirit of innovation found throughout Auburn Heights, this camp challenges participants to think like inventors, engineers, and artists—all in one unforgettable day.
Campers won’t just learn how things work—they’ll experiment, build, test ideas, and redesign as they explore motion, energy, mechanics, design, and problem-solving. Activities encourage curiosity, collaboration, and creative thinking, drawing direct inspiration from the historic steam technology preserved at the Marshall Steam Museum.
This camp is offered in partnership with Auburn Valley State Park, combining indoor exploration with outdoor discovery. Campers will use the park’s natural and historic landscape as a living classroom, observing how innovation, transportation, and engineering interact with the environment.
Perfect for tinkerers, builders, artists, and curious minds, How to Be a STEAM-punk blends history, creativity, and modern STEAM concepts into an engaging experience that shows how imagination and innovation can change the world.
Highlights include:
- Hands-on STEAM challenges inspired by historic steam technology
- Building and testing mechanical and creative inventions
- Exploring gears, motion, energy, and simple machines
- Blending science and engineering with art and design
- Collaborative problem-solving and design thinking
- Outdoor exploration and learning in Auburn Valley State Park