Week Six Recap: Nature, Innovation Challenges, and Community Service
Our final week of Kalimah’s 2025 STEAM & Culture Arabic Immersion Summer Camp in Germantown, Maryland was filled with positive energy, creativity, and memorable moments together in the kitchen, on the playground, in flower and vegetable fields, and at our modest recreation of Khan El-Khalili market (souq).
Mrs. Maricel came twice this week to help campers create functional key fobs and beautiful lined fabric tote bags using sewing machines and age-old needles and tools. They continued to create more decorative and functional items to sell at the souq (market experience) throughout the week. Some of the creations included greeting cards and bookmarks decorated with Arabic calligraphy and Arabic geometric patterns and motifs.
Campers put their innovation to the test in multiple team challenges to design, build, and present devices using recycling materials. One of those challenges was to create the most realistic camera with all its standard parts—a fitting tribute to Ibn al-Haytham and his contributions to the evolution of photography.
Engineering time with Engineer Sarah brought another challenge: building functional wind-powered vehicles using simple household and recycling materials. Campers then experimented with oobleck, exploring its unusual behavior as a substance that’s neither fully solid nor liquid, sparking curiosity about states of matter.
In the kitchen, campers continued the challenge to speak only Arabic while making chocolate-dipped strawberries and chocolate-covered pretzels. They decorated and packaged the pretzels and negotiated the best price for which to sell them at the souq on Friday. Those along with icy mint lemonade were on every customer's purchase receipt!
A field trip to Butler’s Orchard gave campers a chance to strengthen their new friendships as they harvested vegetables, picked flowers, and played on slides and tricyles. After the field trip, they collaboratively repotted cactus plants into decorative cups and small clay pots—all while connecting to nature and continuing to explore healthy and unhealthy foods and habits.
The camp concluded with a mini showcase of skits, songs, and dabke performances followed by the recreation of souq Khan El-Khalili. As a community service project, the souq was a fundraising event open to the public with the goal of donating all sale proceeds directly to kids in need. At the Souq, campers put their language and math skills into action, speaking Arabic while pricing, purchasing, selling, and handling money in a real-life market—building confidence, cultural connection, and practical skills.
Week Six was a celebration of everything our campers learned, created, and experienced this summer. We are proud of the growth in their abilities to comprehend and speak Arabic as well as their willingness to take on STEAM challenges and to proudly engage in cultural practices. We gladly watched them form new friendships that sprouted during camp. It makes us happy to see them carry these skills, memories, and friendships into their daily lives and future.
