- Interactive At-Home Workshops: Four creator-led DIY activities transform homes into creative playgrounds.
- Family Engagement: Projects designed to bring teens and parents together, promoting shared laughter and learning.
- Digital Safety Focus: TikTok encourages healthy online habits via a “Digital Safety Partnership” guide for families.
- Community Showcase: Participants share their creations with #TikTokSummerCamp, building a global gallery of summer fun.
- Blurring Digital & Real-World Play: The initiative reframes screen time as an opportunity for hands-on, offline creativity.
Teens and families can now follow creator-led tutorials to spark imagination and learning all season.
TikTok’s new #TikTokSummerCamp initiative reimagines how families engage with the app, transforming passive scrolling into an immersive, hands-on experience. Rather than simply consuming videos, users are invited to step into the role of active creators, gathering materials and following detailed tutorials that guide them through every step of each project.
This campaign taps into TikTok’s strength—its vibrant creator community—while addressing a common parental concern: how to turn screen time into meaningful family bonding. By positioning beloved creators as “camp counselors,” TikTok leverages familiar faces and trusted voices to lead participants through creative challenges that encourage experimenting, problem-solving, and shared discovery.
What emerges is a model of digital engagement that prioritizes real-world learning and intergenerational cooperation, helping families carve out moments of connection in an increasingly distracted world.
Hands-On Creativity with Real-World Tools
At the heart of #TikTokSummerCamp are four immersive, maker-style activities—each crafted to spark curiosity, build practical skills, and foster creative thinking. Rather than merely observing canned demonstrations, families collect common household items and follow creator-led tutorials step by step.
The four summer camp projects include:
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Slime Time Lab
Guided by a creator who combines scientific enthusiasm with hands-on flair, participants experiment with different slimes—fluffy, clear, or glittery—by measuring and mixing ingredients like glue, borax, and coloring agents.
@alexandra_lourdes Of course we turned our slime into this…🤣😍 Can’t wait to see your slime creations! Head to #TikTokSummerCamp in the TikTok search bar to create your own! #TikTokSummerCamp #TikTokPartner
This tactile exploration introduces basic chemistry principles such as polymer formation and viscosity. As campers tweak ratios to achieve the perfect stretch or bounce, they learn cause-and-effect through trial, error, and observation, all while enjoying the therapeutic benefits of the slime’s satisfying texture.
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Stargazing Station
Under the mentorship of a DIY-obsessed parent-influencer, families construct a simple refracting telescope using PVC pipes, lenses, and mounting hardware that can be found at local craft stores. Beyond the assembly instructions, the activity weaves in lessons about focal length, light refraction, and celestial navigation.
@athomewithshannon TIKTOK SUMMER CAMP IS HERE!! 💫We are so excited to partner with TikTok on their summer camp series that offers four hands on DIY activities inspired by TikTok that families can recreate together! WE loved making the Stargazing Kit together! This is such a fun activity to create your own star gazing station for your backyard and have your family go out at night and look up to find constellations in the sky! I remember doing this as a little girl! Especially fun to look through the red flashlight too! You will love the #TikTokSummerCamp ideas!! A lifesaver for moms everywhere! We loved exploring all the activities!! Head to #TikTokSummerCamp in the TikTok search bar to create your own! @TikTok @tiktok creators
Children discover how eyepiece size and lens curvature affect magnification, then take their homemade telescopes outdoors after dusk to spot planets, lunar craters, or distant stars—transforming backyards into mini-observatories.
- Sandy Island Zen
This mindful craft invites participants to design miniature beach dioramas within shallow trays or repurposed containers. Guided by a houseplant guru turned sand-sculpture coach, campers layer colored sand, tiny pebbles, and miniature foliage to emulate shorelines, complete with improvised “raking tools” for creating intricate patterns.
@brandontheplantguy This TikTok summer camp kit was SO much fun to create! I found my zen 😍 Head to #TiktokSummerCamp in the TikTok search bar to create your own! #TiktokPartner #CapCut
The repetitive motion of smoothing and reworking sand encourages concentration and calm, illustrating how simple design elements can influence mood and focus. It’s both a lesson in aesthetic composition and a hands-on introduction to basic landscape modeling techniques.
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GlowBug Builders
Led by a family-focused creator known for turning everyday objects into whimsical decor, participants transform empty plastic bottles into glowing lanterns. The project teaches principles of light diffusion, electronics basics, and upcycling: campers paint or wrap bottles, insert battery-powered LED strips or fairy lights, and decorate with translucent paper or natural materials like leaves and twigs.
@dadlifejason I love doing summer camp crafts! They are a highlight of the summer camp experience for me and my kids. Now I get to share it with you! Head to #TikTokSummerCamp in the TikTok search bar to create your own! #tiktoksummercamp #summer #summercamp #tiktokpartner
When lit, these lanterns cast soft, dancing glows—perfect for summer evenings—and demonstrate how simple circuits and materials repurposing can yield striking visual effects.
Through these guided, screen-to-life experiences, TikTok moves beyond pure entertainment, positioning itself as a bridge between digital content and hands-on learning.
By framing creativity as a process of exploration rather than passive consumption, #TikTokSummerCamp shows how technology can enrich—and even re-energize—traditional maker and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) approaches.
Fostering Healthy Digital Dialogue
Beyond playful projects, TikTok embeds a deeper purpose into its summer camp program: facilitating open conversations around digital responsibility.
Recognizing that family discussions about online behavior can feel forced or awkward, #TikTokSummerCamp creates organic entry points for parents and teens to address screen-time limits, privacy concerns, and respectful engagement.
As families gather to mix slime or sketch constellation maps, they’re encouraged to reference TikTok’s “Digital Safety Partnership” template—an adaptable agreement for setting mutual expectations about app usage. This component acknowledges the dual reality of modern life: screens are inescapable, yet their benefits multiply when managed thoughtfully.
By pairing practical tutorials with gentle prompts about responsible online habits, TikTok not only entertains but also empowers households to co-create healthy digital boundaries that respect both exploration and offline connection.
Building a Global Gallery of Summer Stories
Central to the campaign’s appeal is the invitation to share every masterpiece—whether it’s a perfectly formed slime swirl or a makeshift telescope aimed skyward—using the #TikTokSummerCamp hashtag.
This call to action fosters a sense of global community, as families compare creative twists, trade troubleshooting tips, and celebrate each other’s ingenuity. The in-app hub aggregates these posts, serving as both gallery and inspiration board where fresh ideas emerge daily. This social feedback loop transforms solitary crafting into a shared cultural moment, uniting participants across continents in collective creativity.
Moreover, featuring standout contributions within the camp hub spotlights diverse voices and approaches, reinforcing the message that there’s no single “right” way to engage—only the fun of making something new together.
Cultivating Creativity Beyond the Season
While #TikTokSummerCamp runs through the summer months, its ambition extends well beyond a seasonal promotion. By demonstrating how guided content can spark sustained curiosity and hands-on exploration, TikTok lays the groundwork for ongoing creative initiatives. T
he skills families develop—resourcefulness, collaborative problem-solving, and the confidence to experiment—carry forward into everyday life, enriching school projects, weekend hobbies, and future digital endeavors. In this sense, the virtual camp becomes a catalyst for lifelong learning, showcasing the platform’s potential to inspire action rather than mere observation.
As the final slime dries and lanterns dim, participants carry home more than tangible crafts; they leave with a rekindled zest for making, questioning, and connecting—proof that, with the right tools, any space can become a stage for youthful imagination.
