RUMFORD — Children from Rumford and Mexico elementary schools, and Dirigo Middle School will have lots of chances to have fun this summer when Western Foothills Summer Adventures begins next month.

Coordinator of the after-school and summer fun programs, Allie Burke, said a four-week program for elementary children begins July 5 for the second year. For incoming sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders at Dirigo Middle School, there is a two-week Yes We Can! summer camp beginning July 12.

The elementary children’s program will be based at Rumford Elementary School. A variety of activities are planned, including planting and tending a couple of raised bed gardens at the school, learning cooking, local trips to libraries, fire departments, and downtown areas, games, swimming at Black Mountain, scavenger hunts, arts and crafts, and learning strange scientific facts from a “mad scientist.”

Planned for each Friday of the four-week adventure are field trips to the D.E.W. Animal Park in Mount Vernon, the University of Southern Maine planetarium and nearby beach, the Maine State Museum, and Mount Blue State Park.

Much of the funding for the program, which runs from Tuesday to Friday through July 29, comes from a 21st Century federal grant.

Bus transportation is provided for youngsters from several pick-up and drop-off sites. Breakfast and lunch are provided each day.

The cost for children is $10 per day when registered in advance, and $15 per day for drop-ins.

Activities are from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily.

Middle schoolers at Dirigo have a chance to participate in two, three-morning sessions aimed at re-enacting reality show challenges as seen in “A Minute to Win It,” and “Mythbusters.”

Lots of hands-on science, experiments and fun, such as stacking seven doughnuts on foreheads, or sticking a deck of cards, one-by-one, into a watermelon, will be among the offerings.

Each middle school session runs from 8 a.m. until noon.

Cost for the three mornings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday is $15 for one week, or $25 for both weeks.

For more information or to register in advance, contact Burke at [email protected] or 357-6987.

In a related matter, Burke said the after-school/summer program received an $810 grant from the Maine Community Foundation to be used to build and plant two raised bed gardens each at DMS, RES, and Meroby Elementary School. The RES garden will be planted as part of the summer adventures program. The others will likely be planted in the fall.