The show must go on – even if we are in the middle of a pandemic! All it takes is coming up with new ways of doing things.

University of St. Thomas undergraduate students in St. Paul, MN have created an eight-week virtual summer camp for deaf and hard of hearing children to keep them educated and excited this summer. Every week, there is a new STEM lesson ranging from nature & outdoors, science & engineering to games and magic. Called the “PLAYground”, this virtual summer camp also has a dedicated website that consists of video lessons in English, ASL, Spanish, Arabic and soon Somali. Lesson plans can also be downloaded in these languages.

University students hand deliver boxes with all material to every participant, who range from kindergarten to eighth grade. The excited participants look forward to their boxes and zoom call every week!

The PLAYground website at https://www.playgroundcamp.org/ is completely accessible, and all the lessons can be accessed by just about anyone. If you are looking for inspiration to do something similar, or know someone who can benefit from these lessons, do check out their website for more information.

Here’s a “what’s in the box?” video from week 2 of the program:

Videos and lesson plans in other languages can be found on their website too.

Source: Fox 9