Activities

Geek Camp is an opportunity to try something you have never tried before. That may mean exploring an interesting technology or learning to play a new game. It may also mean attempting a new technique with a technology you do know. We want all campers to use the week to collaborate with others. Sometimes that means being the boss, but it also includes being able to take direction and contribute to someone else’s project.

While some campers come to the week with a particular project in mind, we offer this list as inspiration to try something different and use any mistakes to iterate (make your project better).

Geek Camp Challenges

Make a movie

Video is a staple at Geek Camp. From the beginning, experimentation with capturing and editing video with accessible tools like iMovie can be empowering. Take that experimentation to the next level by adding a cohesive narrative to the project. Make a silent movie, telling the story through interstitial text instead of audio. Recreate your favorite rock video of make a trailer for a fake movie. Interview other campers as they improvise research for a mockumentary, or act out your favorite kids book.

Produce a movie

Movies require more than a video camera. Producing a movie involves securing a script and a director, supporting the creative work during the shoot, and overseeing the post-production. At Geek Camp, the producer might help the project by creating a costume, preparing the set, and getting feedback on first cuts of the video, to inform some final edits.

Animate a movie

Storytelling through video does not have to involve human actors on screen. Make a stop-motion movie using a long sequence of photos of drawings, play-doh or other toys. Enhance your animated movie by painting animation backgrounds to add to the movie in post-production.

Create an ARG

Design and create an ARG that can be played by campers. An alternate reality game leverages real-world sites, both physical and digital, as scaffolding for an interactive game. They can include puzzles and scavenger hunts, and often involve transmedia storytelling. Some ARGs have elements of role-playing games, where players are immersed in the narrative by assuming character roles.

Game-a-thon

See how many different games you can play in a single day. Include solitaire and party games to see how the social dynamic changes as more players are added. Our game shelf includes some suggested offerings like Ticket To Ride, Formula D, The Captain is Dead, Evil Baby Orphanage, Village In A Box, Dixit, Telestrations, Balderdash, Settlers of Catan, Evolution, Superfight, Smallworld, Mastermind and more.

Code Without Computers

There are many computer programming languages, but most share a common set of concepts, such as functions, variables, loops, and class objects. Even without opening up a computer, there are ways to explore those ideas through gaming. With a group of friends, play Robot Turtles, Code Monkey Island, the Function Game and Class Warfare.

Produce a daily podcast

In some situations (such as walking to work), audio is easier to consume than either text or video. Alone or with a partner in the booth, interview a guest about a topic of interest. Or, in the tradition of radio, tell a story in several parts.

Other Project Ideas

Create a Quiz
Make an electronic bugbot
Construct a marshmallow catapult
Recreate a superhero transformation
Publish a comic book
Take the Green Screen Challenge
PowerPoint Roulette

Questions to Answer

Why does wool felt?
How tall can you make a marble run?
How do you make a plastic paper clip by hand?
Is Oobleck a liquid or a solid?
What happens if you microwave dry ice?
What are the key differences between Codecademy and Tynker?

Badging Activities

The following list of Geek Camp challenges combine geek and meta activities. As they complete, the challenges can be applied toward earning Badges.

Gaming

Start at a random Wikipedia page and surf through links until you arrive at a Geek Dictionary topic.
Have someone teach you a game they know.
Recruit at least 5 other people to play a table-top game.
Play Telestrations without whiteboards.
Play ‘Say Anything’ with 4-7 other people.
Learn a new smartphone game
Before the end of a game you are playing, switch hands/pieces with another player.
Play ‘Say the Same Thing’ with a stranger and ask them how they would improve it.
Race a friend to find the same material parts needed to build a catapult.
Using cleaning materials, devise a game that tidies a station.
Investigate how game parts are manufactured
List all of the possible consequences of your rules changes when attempting to improve a game.
Spend 15 minutes with 4 other people researching everything you can about ‘Evolution’ before playing the game.
After intentionally make a grammatical error, challenge people on social media to find the most mistakes in the least amount of time.
Change rules of a game to make it play faster without taking away enjoyment
Make containers for a seek-and-find game that involves leaving and finding secret messages.
Invent a social game for campers to play.
Write a critique of a game you made after playing it the first time.
Write the instructions for a game created at Geek Camp.
Change the rules of a one-winner-only game to make it collaborative.
Play it Forward: When someone helps you with a project, help two other people who share some trait with that person
Write a story about 7 random objects, and turn that narrative into a game.
Organize a small group project to prototype a new card game.
Photograph and print cards for a Meme game
Play Formula D using custom cars that fit the playing space.
Create a game that is easy to explain.
Add a scoring system to Gloom to make it easy to see who is winning.
Design and build the same simple computer game using Scratch and Game Salad.
Make a templating tool to mass-produce unusually-shaped cards for a game.
Compete with 2 other campers to get the most interactions in a single day when promoting a Geek Camp project.

Making

Practice drawing techniques on the 3Doodler
Safely dismantle a toy and contribute two of its parts to someone else’s random story or invention.
Investigate Todd McClellan’s process for ‘Things Come Apart’
At random, choose 7 items from the Misc Box and create a vehicle for a super-intelligent rodent.
Invite 7 people to each pick one item from the Misc Box for you to use in a new creation.
Annotate a DYI instruction to make it easier for the next person to know what to do.
Post a picture of 7 unassembled parts and ask 5 specific people to predict what will be made out of them.
After sending instructions to make something to a friend via email, have them send back a picture with their completed work.
Write a worst-case scenario to describe the outcome of an existing plan.
Starting with a DYI plan, write a one-page post that speculates on the business, social and technical impact of using cheaper materials.
Without asking first, create an origami object that you think someone else would want, using that person’s favorite color.
Follow the construction directions of someone with whom you recently had an angry disagreement
Test out an original how-to instruction by recruiting another people to try and build from your plan.
Build something twice, once using substitute parts, and compare the outcome.
Tell a story about the creation of a Toy Golem
Ask someone you don’t know what they were feeling as they took apart something you made for them
Try to complete a DYI project for something unfamiliar.
Make an Ikea-style instruction book to build a Pinblock creation you made
Take a picture of each part of an object you dismantled, and annotate their Instagram posts as Wunderkammer.
Until you have used at least 5 items, post a picture of three random parts from the Misc Box and augment your invention with the one selected by the first person to respond.
Take a picture of each individual item from something you disassembled and use those images to make a mosaic of a portrait photo of another camper.
Starting with an existing plan or recipe, investigate possible substitute materials or ingredients and what properties make them different.
After following a DYI instructions, re-write the plan to make it easier for the next person.
Reverse engineer a squirt gun.
Tilt shift a photo taken during Geek Camp.
Write building instructions that anticipate common mistakes and encourage the reader to work through them.
Organize a scavenger hunt for natural materials to substitute for a DYI project.
Create a DYI kit to build an original creation, including instructions and all needed materials.
With guidance from someone who has done it before, write a how-to document that explains the code to make a Web piano.
Write a blog post explaining your decisions when constructing a wearable accessory from 5 random parts.

Science

Help someone re-run an experiment they have already tried successfully.
Make a prediction about how a tool will react with different materials.
Gather materials needed to conduct a new experiment.
Invite the quietest person to assist in a science demonstration.
Write your expectations prior to participating in an experiment, and then add your thoughts after it is over.
Be a participant in someone else’s social experiment.
Before designing a new survey, look up the history of survey research.
Apply an insight from a science experiment toward improving some other Geek Camp activity.
Research how other people have attempted to test a hypothesis you have made.
Ask a local designer the same questions as the famous Charles Eames Q&A.
Write an abstract for a science experiment
Describe 5 examples of social experiments that the participant does not know and have them predict the outcome.
Collaborate on an edible experiment with someone and let them eat the treat.
Devise a way to make ice cream in a bag while doing other things.
Using 5 different materials, determine the best material to build a toy boat.
Have people put pencils on their face and then rate YouTube videos on their humorous content.
Make a list of the responses you believe your family would have to 5 specific scenarios, and then compare to their actual answers.
Publish an online web survey using three different survey tools.
Apply some neuroscience findings to how you promote a Geek Camp project.
Create an experiment that explores factors that entice people to participate in an activity.
Using a science experiment as inspiration, create a comic explaining the phenomenon as mythology.
Use snapchat to create an experiment that adapts the Telephone Game to test the effects of memory on accuracy.
Organize a survey that asks about social media use.
Publish a video explaining the science behind an experiment.
Invent something powered by Mentos and Coke
With a partner, improve an existing experiment that tests physical response.
Predict the effects of meditation or physical activity on cognitive skills using Luminosity tests.
Make a projectile launcher using two different physical reactions.
Create and administer an exploratory survey asking questions of 3 or more experts on a subject.
After identifying a way to measure happiness, design an experiment to investigate which joke inspires the most happiness

Culture

Take a still from a Geek movie you haven’t seen and caption it.
Add a sketchnote of a definition to our Geek Dictionary
Add a new term with a reference link to our Geek Dictionary.
Add an picture (with proper attribution) to a Geek Dictionary entry to illustrate what that term is about.
Have someone to show you how they researched a topic, and try to use those strategies to investigate a recent Geek news item.
Add a comment to a blog post about a current geeky news item
Help construct a physical form of a digital meme created by another camper.
Explain a topic from three different perspectives.
Find other examples of a Geek Dictionary, and explain three specific lessons our Geek Dictionary project can learn from them.
Recreate a meme using play-doh.
Write the backstory for the actual circumstances of a photo used for a new image meme.
Create a variation of the “Hey, Girl” meme that reflects best practices for improving mental health.
Apologize to someone using three different memes.
Create a 5-slide powerpoint explaining a term from our Geek Dictionary.
Create a custom search for Google that pre-selects sites that are likely to have new Geek information.
Write a blog post about your experience preparing for and giving a talk about an important moment in Geek history.
Promote a hashtag chat about a current Geek news event you will facilitate.
Contribute two questions to a quiz about information contained in our Geek Dictionary.
To help someone explain a Geek Dictionary term, recreate an illustrative image using PinBlocks.
Guess the one-word response 5 other people will use to describe your Pinblock creation of an Internet meme.
Explain an infamous Internet incident from the point of view of the instigator
Create a web page listing 10 geeky things to do in Bloomington.
Convince 10 people to post content propagating your new meme.
Introduce a new photo meme and get 5 other people to post their version.
Organize a discussion in which participants role play different perspectives about Edward Snowden’s actions.
List other three contemporary events that may have contributed to a specific Geek news item.
Compare the user experience of two different meme creation tools.
Ask someone you meet what they thing #GamerGate is and video the response.
Create a silk screen design of an Internet meme.
Make a t-shirt depicting a variation of a digital meme.

Coding

Using the Inspect Element browser tool, temporarily edit an existing web page to promote or report on a fictional project.
Using the inspect element tool on a web browser, edit the content of a page to reflect another camper’s perspective.
Install a typing tutor on your laptop.
Estimate how many person-minutes it will take to add Processing to a laptop
After building a new system, add comments to the code that recognize the contributions of each team member.
Be a user experience tester for someone else’s system.
Explain the differences between Facebook and Google-Plus in the context of their launch stories.
Write a blog post that compares two social media sites
Ask for coding help from a local developer via email
Using social media, solicit 5 ideas for a simple application a new programmer could write.
Ask someone to list three pain points in their life, and then design a mobile application to address one of those problems.
Examine three music tools, and then create a paper prototype that incorporates the best interactions of each.
Offer to install Twine on someone else’s laptop to entice them to create a non-linear story together.
Using CodeAnywhere, try to design a small static website with 2 other people not attending Geek Camp.
Complete 7 levels of Fantastic Contraption.
During initial setup, identify the trouble places and a way for the next person to avoid that problem.
Change three properties of a Processing program.
Change the Tickle program in Processing to respond differently depending on how long you interact.
Articulate the differences between CodeTogether and CodeAnywhere
Make a paper prototype for an iPhone app that will improve your life, if built.
Change the colors and sizes to improve the mood of a person using the program.
Organize a team with a mix of Minecraft experience to try and discuss a Minecraft alternative.
Get 10 people to try 3 key tasks on 2 different web-based image editing tools, and then compare their feedback to your own experience.
Make a computer input that responds to light level.
Create a custom starter template for someone else to edit as their first project in a local development environment.
Allow a person viewing a website to choose between two visual themes.
Install Alice to build an 3D gallery walkthrough that incorporates scans of your original paintings.
Create a webpage that uses a Twitter API library to change screen content.
Using Processing, build a tool to show you meta information about an uploaded image file.
Work with an experienced author to build a new interactive fiction using Twine.

Media

Provide a constructive comment to another person’s blog or social media post that extends the conversation.
Directly mention someone not at Geek Camp when sharing your activity on social media
Select an EarthCam stream and record your reaction to what you experience while watching for 10 minutes.
List and find items needed to recreate a music video for a parody.
Ask a local geek for their reaction to a geek camp project
Calculate the expected reach of a Geek Camp project.
Write the inside-jacket teaser for a story inspired by five random items.
Describe a new tool you wish you had and how you might go about creating it.
Add pop-up information to a video documenting a Geek Camp activity.
Write about three changes you could make to a Geek Camp project to improve the speed and success of its outcome.
Articulate the storytelling benefits that distinguish YouTube, Vimeo and Viddler.
Click Wikipedia’s “Random article” link three times and write a 100-word story for Cowbird.
Select 6 items from the Misc Box and use them to create a story.
Make a new version of a small object with the 3Doodler
Record your talk-aloud narration as you try to use a web-based image editor for the first time.
Pick three values you hold or aspire to, and then write a blog post describing why they are important to you.
Provide a first-hand account of a Geek concern
Explain the similarities between three transmedia projects: Prankster Planet, Frankenstein MD, and Collapsus
Get as many people as possible to play Photo Bingo, using Instagram to capture photos of things on your card that you find.
Document on Vine how someone builds a new design.
Using any news story linked from CNN.com as inspiration, record an interview of a fictional relative of someone mentioned in the article.
Devise a simple formula for storytelling using a deck of cards.
Make a 20-second stop-motion video using a camera and 3Doodler
Shadow a director as they make a parody video
Create a new video inspired directly from two other Geek Camp projects
Use the five most recent photos in a photo stream to create a full-page panel for a graphic novel.
Manage a transmedia project where different campers tell one story from at least three different perspectives using multiple communication platforms.
Make a new version of another camper’s project as an homage.
Using spoken, written and recorded words, create an ARG that can be played by campers.
Create a punch line caller to finish a spoken joke by texting a command.