Last week at Captain Charles Wilkes Elementary School, rockets launched from the playfield and boats raced in wading pools.

What was causing all the hullabaloo? It was the annual and ever­ popular STEAM Camp organized by the Bainbridge Island School District.

This year almost 200 second through seventh graders participated and spent the week exploring science, technology, engineering, art and math ­­­— all the components that create the STEAM acronym. Art has been a recent edition to the camp, and one that teacher and camp director Carrie Strayer says is vital to innovation.

“We found that as we pushed the STEM-­only components, art was pushed aside, and students’ creative thinking was stifled. Art is imperative to innovative thinking,” Strayer said.

In fact, many well­-known inventors like Albert Einstein and Samuel Morse had vigorous artistic sides;­­­ Einstein played the violin and Morse was a painter.

Walking through the camp’s classrooms, it’s easy to see the STEAM components in action: a student­-made robotic bird flaps its wings when hooked up to a computer; remote-controlled cars are raced through obstacle courses, their data tabulated and analyzed; a student­-created stop­ motion film tells the story of “Bob’s Wonderful Day”.

“The students are engaged and engrossed in their projects,” said teacher Katie Leigh. “They’re interacting with the technology they love while learning.”

Leigh’s class of fourth- and fifth-graders designed websites and brainstormed app possibilities. The topics ranged from botany to gymnastics and were so well designed it was hard to believe they were created by 10-year­-olds.

“What the kids are capable of is astonishing,” Stayer said. “I love walking through the classes and seeing their scientific and creative minds in action.”

The STEAM Camp will be back next summer and registration will be through the Bainbridge Island School District website in the spring.