Gupta said they fashioned the Funtastik Labs program after their two kids, who loved to explore and take on different projects in every room of their home in Katy, where they have lived since 2015.
“They would set out all the stuff they needed and then start working on it,” Gupta said. “It would get messy when paint would be involved. There would be different liquids to make slime, and even when it was blocks or Legos—there would be lots of pieces that would eventually make their way into the carpet, and we would be picking them out one by one. But at the same time, we really didn't want to discourage it.”
Gupta said the couple had the idea to open a space to reduce the mess and keep kids safe, but still encourage their creativity, and welcomed other parents to take advantage of their supplies.
And so Funtastik Labs began offering birthday parties, field trips, and spring and summer camps for kids ages 3-12. It has revised its programming to support weeklong, half-day structured summer camps with much more detailed themes.
“Like Future Doctors camp,” Gupta said. “Where all week long they focus on stuff related to medical sciences: from how to use a stethoscope to the structure of DNA, learning what viruses look like and building a model of blood, the lungs and the heart. We can get into that because of the longer format. That also made it so there are other kids around to work with, so they have more fun.”
Gupta and Sangol's goal is to allow kids to get more invested in their interests and add greater value for parents by keeping them longer than just a couple of hours, Gupta said.
"These aren’t little arts and crafts-type projects,” Gupta said. “The kids gain a deeper understanding of [science, technology, engineering, arts and math] here.”
This summer, Funtastik Labs is offering 18 different themes, such as Junior CSI Detectives, Slime Wars, Robotics Champions and Picasso’s Apprentice, that explore science, technology, engineering, arts, math and combinations of these subjects.
The dates for Funtastik Labs' summer camps are Monday through Friday from May 31-Aug. 12. The hours for morning camps are 9 a.m.-noon; afternoon camps run from 1-4 pm.; and full-day camps are from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. For more information, visit www.funtastiklabs.com/summer-camps or call 281-819-6393.
