Summer Day Camp
San Francisco
Tinkering School is an immersive, hands-on maker experience in the heart of San Francisco. Come build with our amazing and creative camp staff. Each session we welcome a new crew of campers and the project theme is always unique, so every Tinkering camp session is one of a kind.
2025 Registration is Open
Location: Tinkering School campus in the Presidio - 682 Schofield Road, San Francisco, CA 94129
Schedule: Monday through Friday, 9 am to 3:30 pm
Aftercare: Monday through Friday, 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Sessions: 2025 summer session registration is open
Programs:
Tinkerers
Our Tinkerers range from 12 to 16 years, with different age groups attending each week. Tinkerers are trained to use power tools, and work in groups to build projects that they dream up and design.
Past projects we’ve built include: a 25ft tall dancing marionette. A NASA-style space mission complete with launch tower, rocket, and mission control. A human size foosball table with suspended campers as the ball kickers. Tinkerers have lifted themselves into rafters, built cars they can actually steer, and created humongous robots that deliver flowers… this list could go on for a looooong time :-)
YOUNG TInkerers
Young Tinkerers are our 8 to 11 year old campers! They begin their week with tool training, and spend the rest of the week building with wood, working on art projects, tinkering, exploring the Presidio, and playing. Check out the bridge that our Young Tinkerers built!
Pre-Tinkerers
Pre-Tinkerers are our 6 - 7 year old campers! Focused on nature and embracing curiosity and mistakes. This group will incorporate nature walks, purple park, structured play, simple arts & crafts, and an introduction to tinkering.
CREATIVE Art STUDIO
8-13 year olds, come explore 2D and 3D art with us! You’ll get an introduction to carving with safety techniques.
If you attended Tinkering School in past years, you likely saw campers working on or participating in wood carving, wire sculpting, clay work with armatures, and painting.
LARP
Come join us for a week of Live Action Roleplaying (or LARP) at Tinkering School camp in the Presidio! We'll use an array of props – padded foam equipment made to look like swords and spears – to create a shared story of fantasy adventure. LARP plays out as a combination of sports, drama, and tabletop role-playing games in which each player acts as a character who they themselves create. (A mighty warrior? Or perhaps a powerful wizard?) Together we’ll fight battles, find treasure, learn magic spells, and weave a fantastical tale unique to our players’ imaginations.
Tuition:
Pre-Tinkerers - $675 per week ($540 for week of July 1, no camp on July 4)
Young Tinkerers - $675 per week ($540 for week of July 1, no camp on July 4)
Tinkerers - $775 per week ($620 for week of July 1, no camp on July 4)
Art - $675 per week ($540 for week of July 1, no camp on July 4)
LARP - $675 per week ($540 for week of July 1, no camp on July 4)
Aftercare: $125 per week
Multi-week discount! Sign up for more than one week, and you’ll receive a $25 discount for the 2nd and additional weeks.
Financial aid is available! Please register for the session(s) you’re interested in, and select “Financial Aid” on the payment page. You will be asked to put down a $5 deposit to hold a space for each session. We will reach out to you with next steps. Questions? Email info@tinkeringschool.com for more information.
Cancellation policy: Cancellations initiated before May 23, 2025 (30 or more days from the first day of summer programming) receive a refund, less the $100 non-refundable deposit. Any cancellations that occur after May 23, 2025 will receive a refund only if we are able to fill the spot.
If you cancel a session on your own, the system will default to giving you credit toward future classes. If you'd like a refund (instead of credit), please reach out to info@tinkeringschool.com directly.
Registration: We’re using UltraCamp’s registration system for camp signup. Please feel free to create an online account prior to registration day.
Availability and Waitlists:
We are being conservative with our availability as we ramp up our staffing for the summer. If a session that you want is full, don't worry, please sign up for the waitlist. We will be releasing additional seats as we firm up our hiring plan. We are currently unable to predict when seats might be made available.
Check out our Day Camp Blog to see some epic tinkering over the years!
