Programs for Elementary & Middle School Students
Below is a list of programs to explore. Each program is different, so follow the links and contact the program directly if you have questions. For example, many have financial aid or fee-waiver program available. Each program has different application deadlines and some offer sessions outside of the summer months. Remember to check back regularly, since program websites are updated periodically. Summer programs may not be updated until winter or spring 2025.
Summer camp note: Some summer camps are located on Stanford University campus but run by other organizations. See the Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE) site of additional list for those summer camps, which are updated seasonally, here.
Brain Day
“Brain Day” is an annual event in which volunteers from the Neuroscience program take real human brains to middle school classrooms across Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, and Menlo Park. It leads hour-long, hands-on demonstrations in which kids get the chance to see and hold human and animal brains, often for the first time.
Campus Walking Tours
The Stanford Visitor Center offers a range of no-cost tours, exploring the highlights of Stanford’s beautiful campus.
SPLASH
Splash! offers a Saturday or Sunday on campus full of academic and non-academic classes taught by Stanford students. ESP invites students to attend classes that could vary from completely “non-academic” stuff like cookie baking and origami, to complicated and challenging classes on machine theory or quantum mechanics. Contact the Splash! for program directly for questions about need-based financial aid.
Stanford Math Circle
Math circles are weekly gatherings of high school, middle school, and elementary school students working on problems involving complex and advanced mathematical topics, guided by mathematicians and educators.
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies (SPCS)
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies offers online classes for academically talented youth, residential programs on campus during the summer for high school students, and a fully accredited online high school. Winter Quarter 2025: Jan. 13 to March 20, Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies will host Math Circle online for the winter quarter, grades 1-12. Open to elementary, middle and high school students. Course fee is $495, one day a week, one to two hours, depending on grade level. Limited availability. Registration ends Dec. 9
Stanford seeME
Stanford seeME is an outreach event to introduce young students to engineering! The Mechanical Engineering (ME) department at Stanford opens its doors to high school and middle school students in Spring 2024, where they will learn hands-on engineering from current Stanford students. By connecting middle- and high-school students with little or no background in Engineering, to diverse graduate students who are passionate and eager to teach it, we hope to create meaningful experiences that encourage every participant to explore a potential academic or professional career in Engineering. seeME lets students explore hands-on classes such as: wind energy, driverless cars, predicting the spread of disease, industrial engineering, fire, and data science.